The GPS genre is fascinating. I say it’s a genre but it’s really just one game (Pokemon Go) and a bunch of others that have tried and failed to exist alongside it.
Most of those failures were made by Pokemon Go’s own developer Niantic, and while Go isn’t the studio’s only active game (Pikmin Bloom, Peridot, Monster Hunter Now are all still kicking, as well as Go’s IP-less precursor Ingress) it’s certainly the only one most people know about. The genre is so sparse we don’t even have a clear name for them. They’re augmented reality games, geolocation-based games, GPS games, or maybe just Pokemon Go clones - it doesn’t really matter what we call them, because with very few exceptions, they’re just games that try and fail to compete in Pokemon Go’s arena.
There are some long-running GPS games you might not know about, like Dragon Quest Walk, which was the second most popular GPS game in Japan for several years, and Jurassic World Alive, which has been going since 2018.
A big reason why Pokemon Go succeeds while others fail, aside from the fact that Pokemon is the most popular franchise in the world, is the fact that a GPS game feels like a natural fit for the type of gameplay it offers. It’s easy to understand why you’d want to wander around outside looking for rare Pokemon because that’s what Pokemon has always been about. That’s why Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, NBA All-World, and The Witcher: Monster Slayer didn’t resonate with people (despite all being massive franchises in their own right) while Monster Hunter Now is starting to thrive.
Mythwalker is the next game trying to grab some real estate on Pokemon Go’s turf. Developer NantGames doesn’t have the backing of a massive IP like Pokemon or Monster Hunter, but it does have a compelling hook that feels like a perfect fit for the GPS genre: it’s a classic RPG about a humble hero going on a grand adventure, and the adventure is in your neighborhood.
I got to check out Mythwalker at PAX West earlier this month and interviewed creative director Jesse Snyder, and I was impressed by how simple yet effective Mythwalker’s premise is. It’s a traditional RPG through and through. You start by rolling a character, choosing their class and species (there’s a humanoid dog race and a humanoid bird race, which are both adorable), and you’re ready to go.
You begin your adventure as a level one amateur and set off around your neighborhood picking fights with the local monsters and leveling up. Combat is simple at first: your hero engages the monsters in real-time on a top-down battlefield, and you can choose how to position them to avoid taking damage, and when to unleash special attacks. As you level up you unlock a plethora of abilities you can use to customize your character, which Snyder says adds a lot of strategic depth to combat.
While I explored the game I asked Snyder about every traditional RPG mechanic I could think of, and just about all of them show up somewhere in the game. There’s a gear loadout system which you’ll use to upgrade your hero and develop a build to synergize with your abilities. Gear comes in different rarities with different traits and stats, and you’ll be able to upgrade your favorite gear over time.
There’s a crafting system, and you’ll need to gather materials both from monsters and resource nodes around the map, then spend them to improve your equipment. Stronger monsters drop better materials, and grinding for materials to upgrade your weapons and armor is a core part of the gameplay loop, along with leveling up your character to unlock new abilities.
The game has a day/night cycle, and different enemies will appear depending on the time of day, giving you opportunities to collect different kinds of materials. The resource nodes, which provide different qualities of wood and metals depending on the quality of your tools, respawn periodically. Farming these nodes is another core part of the gameplay loop.
If it sounds like I’m just describing all the basic components of an RPG, that’s because I am. It’s the GPS of it all that makes Mythwalker a unique experience, not its approach to the RPG genre. That feels like a deliberate choice here. Rather than reinvent the wheel, NantGames is trying to make a competent, full-featured RPG, with all the things people love and expect, inside a GPS game.
While it’s a traditional RPG, there are some fresh ideas Mythwalker is bringing to the table. Grouping up with your friends will allow you to see them in game traveling alongside you, as well as battling with you in real time. You’ll join each other in every activity, including the resource gathering minigames. Snyder is big on the immersive qualities GPS games offer, so on top of a day/night cycle, you’ll also experience real time weather changes, and combat environments that mirror real world environments.
I don’t know if Mythwalker has what it takes to succeed where Harry Potter, NBA, The Witcher, Walking Dead, Minecraft, Ghostbusters, Catan, and Men in Black all failed. Its modest graphics and lack of a recognizable IP are strikes against it, but it also offers an unique experience in the GPS space, and one that’s already proven popular with players for decades. I’m going to give Mythwalker a fair chance and see if I can compete with my beloved Monster Hunter Now on my daily walks - mostly because it will let me play as a dog priest, a thing I didn’t know I’ve always wanted to be.
