The Monster Hunter series had very humble beginnings as merely a niche series that started to gain a foothold within the handheld market before truly exploding with Monster Hunter World in 2022. When that game released, Nintendo Switch owners were seeking their very own port, but rather all they got was an upgraded port of the 3DS game with Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate. Capcom was still very interested in bringing a more modern Monster Hunter experience to the Nintendo Switch though, which finally has come to fruition with the release of Monster Hunter Rise.
For anyone who is totally new towards the Monster Hunter franchise, the core gameplay for that series generally is what the title would make you think it is. That is exactly the case in Monster Hunter Rise, in which you make your own Hunter character and may continue quests to slay various monsters. However, there's much more into it , as there is lots of depth to the game in many different ways that will help you stay wanting more again and again.
Across most of the franchise, Monster Hunter area maps were segmented into separate zones that had load screens between both, but Monster Hunter World changed that dramatically by opening each area. Monster Hunter Rise requires a similar approach, with each map hanging around be one area that you could explore to your heart’s content without any sign of a loading screen. As with World, this makes the chasing after of monsters once they run away from you leagues better than it was before, as you feel like you're actually on their trail.
Exploration takes a advance in Monster Hunter Rise thanks to the inclusion of what is known as the Wirebug. The Wirebug has multiple uses in the game, including in exploring the map as well as in battle. At the outset of each quest, starting with two Wirebugs, which can be activated with the press of the mouse. Monster Hunter Rise adds a feeling of scale towards the game to a level which has not seen before, along with you able to use the Wirebug to seize onto cliffs and climb up them should there be no vines nearby, as well as wall run.
The Wirebug can even be used outside to move in one spot to the next more quickly, which can be helpful to dodge an opponent attack. When you are hit by an attack and sent flying, you may also use a Wirebug to carry out a Wirefall to quickly rebound. Each one of the weapons also provide what are named as Silkbind attacks associated with the Wirebug too, but you are restricted to how many you've. The good thing is that they'll replenish after a short cooldown, together with you being able to find extra ones around the map as well.
Monster Hunter Rise also introduces another major feature that serves as yet another quality of life improvement for the series, the Palamute. Palicoes were put into the series prior as cat companions you could use that will help you in battle and now you have your own dog companion too. While Palamutes could be designed much like Palicoes and are able to help you in battle, they go one step further allowing you ride your Palamute everywhere. This not only saves time when you are traveling round the map yourself, but is really a lifesaver when running after runaway monsters.
Monster Hunter Rise offers players 14 different weapons types to select from, including the Great Sword, Dual Blades, Bow, and many more. Although this is the very same lineup offered in Monster Hunter World, these weapons offer a great variety of different options. You have simpler weapons such as the Dual Blades that are great for newcomers, whilst having a lot more intricate movesets with weapons like the Charge Blade or Insect Glaive. This enables players to tailor the sport for their degree of experience and how comfortable they are with branching out. Like in the past, you are able to hone in on a single specific weapon and work towards mastering it or you can switch up and check out them all.
Not only do you have access to the different weapon types, but there are also numerous variations of each weapon that you could forge or upgrade at the Blacksmith. This will need you to find the right supplies and reach certain points of the game to in which you have access to higher level versions from the weapons. One really helpful feature is that you can rollback your builds to retain the parts utilized in these to go for another path with that same weapon.
Monster Hunter Rise has its own distinct structure with regards to quests, that are what the game itself involves. Like the majority of Monster Hunter games, there isn’t much of a story here apart from you having to go out and hunt monsters for people in the village or protecting the village itself from larger scale attacks. The quests receive by different NPCs located round the village of Kamura, such as the Village Quests given by Hinoa the Quest Maiden. These are essentially the same as story missions for that game, that are ranked in difficulty from Level 1 to Level 5.
Each level has a list of Key Quests that must be implemented to move the game forward, while there are also some extra missions mixed in that may you need to be done for reward money and materials. One of the most daunting elements of previous Monster Hunter games continues to be the steep learning curve and early difficulty, but Monster Hunter Rise feels a bit different here. The early quests are much more manageable and permit beginners to get acclimated before upping the problem too much, which is a major shift from past entries and helps make the game much more accessible. After completing each tier of Key Village Quests, you'll unlock what is known an Urgent Quest. These aren't really anything too special from the regular quests, however they must be completed to unlock a higher level of Village Quests.
While completing these, there are also Optional Subquests available which you are able to only select as much as five at at time. These task you with items like gathering a particular quantity of plants or slaying a certain number of small monsters. By completing these, you will get very useful items, including Kamura Points and often Armor Spheres, the second that will permit you to upgrade your armor at the Blacksmith. Talking to villagers in Kamura will also unlock special Requests that you can complete for them with the Village Quests menu.
Eventually, you will face what is known as a Rampage Quest, which is brand new towards the franchise in Monster Hunter Rise. Rampage Quests are wave-based battles where you need to defend Kamura Village from hordes of monsters. You're not alone here though, as this adds inside a tower defense mechanic into the mix where you can place offensive and defensive installations around the place to help fend them off. The defensive installations is going to be manned automatically, but the offensive ones you can use yourself to remove the monsters. There are also some traps you can lay or utilize to bring them down more easily.
These hordes are made up of simple to defeat monsters, which are then accompanied by an innovator which will take awhile to take down. You are able to go and fight them head on in addition to per usual, but the safer router is definitely to take benefit of the installations. Your goal is to defend the gates and stop them from making it into the village by breaking through every gate in the region. After the initial Rampage Quest that's area of the story, you have access to them anytime to do more of them. These are distinctly not the same as the rest of the quests hanging around, therefore it would be a great decision to include something similar to this to keep the sport fresh.
Similar to the Village Quests would be the Hub Gathering Quests, that are given elsewhere in the game. They are much more difficult compared to Village Quests, which can even be taken on with up to three other Hunters online. Arena quests may also be completed with another person, which pit you having a monster within an arena, though you are given specific equipment to make use of each time. Monster Hunter World made the online element of the game such an integral part which quests are what will keep Monster Hunter Rise going for years thanks to the online mechanic. Mixing online play and Nintendo Switch is usually a occur, but the netcode works near seamlessly awhile traversing the maps as well as in battle.
Online isn’t the only area that Nintendo Switch has struggled sometimes previously either, as performance is often a question mark with certain games. The good news here though is the fact that Monster Hunter Rise runs perfectly in docked and in handheld mode, with the battles being very fluid. A game like Monster Hunter Rise really needs absolute precision when it comes to combat, so having it operate correctly was very important. The sport certainly isn’t among the best around the Switch in visuals, however the environments are very well designed and add a lot towards the overall experience.
Monster Hunter continues to be growing in popularity and also the discharge of Monster Hunter Rise should help to take that to the next level. As opposed to a hampered port of Monster Hunter World, farmville is its own full scale game from start to finish. Making the game easier at the start would be a great option to help new players get their feet wet before throwing exactly what makes the series so excellent their way. Adding in the brand new game mechanics of the Wirebug and Palamute takes items to a higher level and make Monster Hunter Rise another must own game for that Nintendo Switch.
The Verdict
Monster Hunter Rise takes the best components from the series and mixes all of them with a few new mechanics to provide players a brand new experience that is the most available in the franchise up to now.
