Rise

Having sampled a fleeting 4 or 5 hours traversing “Monster Hunter Wilds” desiccated new land during Capcom’s open beta, the best compliment I can give and what is certainly “Wilds” most satisfying quality, is being an almost identical replica of Monster Hunter World. This may seem like damning with faint praise, but is exactly what I’m looking for in a Monster Hunter sequel. Infamous for its convoluted mechanics, that requires significant patience to even handle any competency, it’s a relief to find that a game I have dedicated considerable time to learn, functions almost identically. Sure it features its own individual qualities that differentiates it from its predecessors, freshening what some might consider repetitive of perhaps even lazy game design. But as someone with limited time/patience to learn new mechanics, the brevity in complicating an already complex system is an exciting prospect for me.

The new additions do add, however superficial, are useful. Taking down the numerous beasts you come across has always been an exercise in patience, stamina and durability. These are conflicts that require the utmost of team synergy to overcome. Weak points exposed by continued attacks, are now highlighted and can be exploited. As a bow user, persistent button prompts with the R1 trigger allow you to bombard the afflicted area, rendering the creature immobile and allowing for powerful, accurate incisions. You can also navigate this barren wasteland with much more efficiency, mounted to the back of “Seikret”, a kind of camel/lizard composite. A mobility option used in “Monster Hunter Rise”, albeit with a different mountable ally. With it you can chase down retreating monsters quicker, while enabling a dynamic verticality across this huge environment. Though this is fun, it is a difficult creature to control at first, as it tends to scurry off before you’ve had the chance to adapt its speed. And much like every Monster Hunter game before, the controls aren’t exactly intuitive.

There is also adaptive weather conditions. In one instance an intense thunderstorm buffeted the wilds, causing me to retreat back to the safety of the hub. How this effects you during exploration or combat is unclear, at least to me anyway, as I was too scared to venture out, for fear of being toasted. Overall there isn’t anything here that will blow you away as a returning player, just a few quality of life adaptions and the thrill of the hunt. What is clear is that if you have enjoyed previous installments in the series, particularly “Worlds”, then you will almost certainly enjoy this.

Well, it happened again. Similar to my burgeoning obsession with Skyrim, that consequently resulted in me purchasing six separate iterations of the same Nordic escapade, on five different platforms, Monster Hunter: Rise has once again inspired another possessive compulsion that can only be sated by a dedicated and sustained period of play. A tremendous burden that will likely bleed into my civilian routine. Menial tasks that will be interrupted by sporadic lapses into pondering self reflection. A subtle head tilt coupled with a gentle chin rub, silently contemplating whether it’s more important to craft a more powerful bow or robust armour. Personally I yearn for these brief delusions that pause the reality of my life, with the fiction of being a warrior capable of vanquishing large beasts, whose carcasses I can scavenge and secure materials to craft my own pelts. As well as the malicious treatment of animals I’d never even contemplate in the real world, that somehow seems normalised by such a hostile and tribal environment.

“Monster Hunter: World” was my first introduction to the pleasures of being a provincial poacher. Despite “World” being regarded as the most accessible iteration in the series, the cumbersome mechanics and intricate nature of the combat somewhat complicated my initial migration into the world of Monsters. But with some diligent refinement, the initially convoluted combat all started to make sense. Tracking the highlighted creature through an extensive habitat, inhabited by a varied congregation of dangerous beasts. Engaging in ferocious, sometimes long battles. Identifying weaknesses and targeting these vulnerable areas with well timed arrows, while evading the varied ranged and close quarters combat of monsters that in reality would squash you like a grape. My favourite part of these confrontations though is watching like a passive observer, as two of these gargantuan behemoths engage in their own territorial skirmish. Before recognising my presence and sending me scurrying in retreat like a child who has broken their mothers favourite vase.

Though Monster Hunter Rise certainly emulates similar prevelant traits that make it such a compelling series, there are a few irritations that impede this former erstwhile Switch exclusive. With Nintendo’s hybrid console presenting one of the problems. Because of the Switches performance limitations it frankly just doesn’t look as good as World. Now aesthetics aren’t everything, but the environments have a discerning vacancy to them, as if the game hasn’t quite finished rendering yet. Because of this the areas you explore don’t feel as dense as they did in Worlds. The matchmaking in Rise also gives you little control over what games you’r joining, instead focusing on an asinine system that focuses on randomised matching. Which to me feels a lot less like a collaborative experience. And though only a mild irritation, the exuberant food preparation of the native Palico has been replaced by the modest dumpling like nourishment called Dango. Which is not nearly as satisfying to watch as the giant slabs of meat that get flung into the air in “World”.

Yet despite these concerns, I’m still enjoying my resurgence back into the eccentric lands of Monster Hunter. Customising a look that is both intimidating and practical, knowing full well that I’m going to be slapped around like a stuntman in a Steven Siegel movie at any given moment. It’s good to be back.