Monster Fantasy blends action, life simulation and co op with a focus on different players helping each other

Monster Fantasy is aiming to mix fantasy action, life simulation, monster hunting, social play, and cozy worldbuilding into one shared experience. The game is being developed by Chinese indie studio Jotoyo and was recently revealed as a project that draws from several familiar ideas without trying to become a direct copy of any one of them.

Producer Fei Fei said the team’s inspirations include Cross Gate, Animal Crossing: Wild World, Monster Hunter Portable, and the animated film Summer Wars. Cross Gate is especially important to the project because it treated combat and life simulation as equally valuable parts of the same world. That idea appears to sit at the center of Monster Fantasy’s design.

Instead of separating action players from life simulation players, the studio wants both groups to exist together. Fei Fei said games built around one type of player can easily turn social interaction into comparison and competition. Monster Fantasy is being designed around a different idea: players with different interests should be able to support one another and feel useful in the same shared world.

Monster Fantasy wants combat and daily life to feel like one connected world

The challenge for a hybrid game like this is making combat and life simulation feel natural together. Fei Fei argued that both Monster Hunter and Animal Crossing already succeed at creating strong presence in their own ways. Monster Fantasy is trying to bring those feelings closer together by making NPCs more vivid, giving players more adventure options, and letting peaceful activities create context for later combat and social moments.

The Mage class shows how Jotoyo is trying to avoid narrow role definitions. The class can heal allies, buff teammates, control monsters, and support a group, but it is not limited to staying in the back line. Fei Fei said the Mage can also transform the staff into a scythe and fight directly as a melee spellcaster when no teammates are around.

Tamed monsters will also play an active role in combat. Players will be able to issue commands to them, and that command system is described as a core part of gameplay. If left without direction, monsters may slack off or act on their own, which gives them more personality while also making player control important.

The combat is being designed to be accessible but not shallow. Players who are less comfortable with action games will be able to use gathering, crafting, and preparation systems to make battles easier. That approach fits the broader design goal of letting different player types contribute in different ways rather than forcing everyone into the same skill test.

Monster Fantasy will support online co op for up to four players. Progression will be tied to the host’s world, while other players can still bring and share equipment, items, and resources from their own progress. That should make it easier for friends at different stages to play together without completely separating their inventories.

The game is still early in development. Jotoyo is focused on building the first playable version, with a Steam public playtest planned for September. The team wants to launch on PC and consoles at the same time, although that is not confirmed yet. A mobile version is not currently planned.

Jotoyo also addressed AI use. Fei Fei said the team may use AI generated temporary placeholder assets during early development, but those will be replaced before public release. The studio says no AI generated assets or materials will appear in the released versions, and all final assets will be created by human artists.

Monster Fantasy also has an experimental large language model conversation feature for NPCs. It is optional, cloud based in the current testing stage, and meant to let players have more open conversations with characters once relationships develop. Jotoyo hopes it can eventually reduce reliance on traditional UI by letting some functions trigger through dialogue, but the feature is still separate from the core game.