Monster Hunter Rise - Preview of the exclusive Nintendo Switch

The release of Monster Hunter World had indelibly marked the future of the brand. By introducing new mechanics and dynamics, expanding the game world and smoothing out the Monster Hunter formula, Capcom was more than capable of evolving the series, moving it in a direction that favored quality. However, the last chapter, released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC in the now distant 2017, lacked one small amount of monsters present in the title, which left fans with a bad taste in their mouth. The removal of many key figures in favor of a higher overall quality, although so many opponents have been introduced in the DLC Iceborne, however, has divided the main saga of the brand into two different types of gameplay. On the one hand Monster Hunter World, which favored quality; on the other there was Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate for Nintendo Switch, celebration of the series and incredibly full of monsters, content and missions to face. Although few have really suffered the weight of this division, fought over preferring the beauty of World or the flab of Generations Ultimate, they felt the need to find a point of agreement between the two.

It goes without saying that the surprise announcement of Monster hunter rise on September 17, 2020 he somehow managed to make everyone happy, especially the owners of the Nintendo Switch. The gameplay of the title is immediately presented as a direct continuation of the dynamics, controls, animations of World. Furthermore, the graphic sector is extremely attributable to that of Generations, that is simple and sometimes frivolous, but still incredibly suitable for the context. During the day yesterday, January 7, a presentation of the title was broadcast, which revealed a lot of news. However, the announcement that made everyone happy was that of the free demo made available just this morning. We've been playing Monster Hunter Rise for several hours, and we really have a lot to say.

If Monster Hunter World also made the game world the protagonist, Monster Hunter Rise puts him in the foreground bringing him in symbiosis with our character. A series of mechanics designed to make the gameplay more dynamic immediately turned out to be a great milestone in terms of innovation in terms of exploration. The feeling of traveling around the map with the chosen hunter is extremely similar to that of World, but it has an immediacy of the commands and a speed of the animations that made Generations Ultimate more instantaneous and manageable. The last chapter of the series immediately arises as a hybrid between the two types of Monster Hunter, the classic one and the modern one.

The game world is the real star of Monster Hunter Rise

However, as we have already stated previously, the game world is the protagonist of Rise, the real great element from which the entire exploratory and combative sector evolves. The introduction of the thread insects is therefore more than apt, as well as representing the large variable that gives versatility to the gameplay. Their use, within the demo, is purely related to travel and the possibility of riding the wyverns (which we will talk about later), but we do not exclude that in the final version it may have other uses. The commands to use these insects start mainly from the ZL trigger, which combined with other keys allows you to take advantage of a great variety of movements. During the exploration, to give just one of a thousand examples, we will be able to let ourselves be launched on walls to climb them briefly and climb up heights if we manage to reach an edge. We will also be able to make us jump forward, use them to swing in the air and then do a double jump; the uses are really many and must be studied according to different situations. As you can imagine, this mechanic offers an additional value to the movement on the map, previously bound to long and boring walks that were at most seasoned with the need, by the player, to prefer one path over another or to stop and interact with a point of interest.

The freedom of exploration can be traced back to that of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but it is precisely by making a comparison that uncertainties immediately come to light: first of these is the brevity of the race on a wall, or the impossibility of climbing it from the ground. In short, only by aiming the viewfinder and shooting a wire insect on a wall will we be able to climb it. Without forgetting that we will not be able to climb on all surfaces and that the uses are limited by timers. To leave us with a dry mouth, however, is a sad one lack of points of interest in the places we can climb: if we leave behind the goal of the mission and we set out on an adventure, we will certainly spend a lot of time having fun trying to climb many walls and climb towards the most unacceptable places, but often we will find ourselves in portions of the map where there is almost nothing to do. We'll see if Capcom adds variety to the various areas of the game worlds, as this flaw is likely to be one of the few in Monster Hunter Rise. However, we admit that a great job has been done in managing the zones in the demo, so far much simpler and less articulated than those of World, which is not necessarily a bad thing. It would be a mistake to think that the work carried out has not been taken care of if we consider the maps in their horizontality. The presence of the thread insects has given the development team the possibility of expanding the game world thanks to a dynamism that, although not exactly unprecedented, has been completely renewed. The result is a map that extends over two floors, which mixes horizontality with verticality in an excellent way, but which so far has not fully convinced us: the area we have explored so far was extensive, of course, but the lower areas remain vastly larger than the upper ones, leaving us with the doubt that in the full version the clashes with monsters will so much different and varied compared to the previous chapters.

Exploration on land, on the other hand, benefits greatly from the arrival of the Canyne. Canine counterpart of the Felyne, have the same function within the gameplay, but on the contrary they can be ridden. With them we will be able to run quickly, jump, attack (with obviously very low damage) and even drift to increase speed for a short time. Their presence makes the movement between macro-areas considerably faster and justifies an increase in the size of the various areas. Capcom has in its hands one of the new figures of the brand, to be placed side by side with the classic Rathalos and Felyne, and we sincerely hope you don't miss the opportunity to let us customize them. However, we also expect to be able to modify and forge their equipment, in order to also receive additional bonuses.

All aboard the Rathalos

However, the combat system has been renewed thanks to the introduction of wire insects, from which it captures two great benefits: the first is the possibility of use them for different special moves for each type of weapon, while the second is the ability to ride monsters. After dealing a large amount of damage - and using the aforementioned special attacks - we will see on the screen the possibility of climbing on the back of a wyvern. We did not find any particular limitations in this sense, as we could ride both the smallest monster and the beautiful Mizutsune, using them both to move around the map and to attack other monsters. Move the Tigerx in the trailer, however, it really seemed much more fun and fulfilling I respect reality: moving the monster requires pressing the R key and unfortunately it will never be as accurate as we would like. The same goes for the attacks, which are almost always very difficult to score and which, on balance, do not even inflict too much damage. However, this is a flaw that can be solved without too many problems before launch, or that can be solved via perk or bonus as is usual in Monster Hunter. Maybe the village cook could make a stew that will allow you to fly when on the back of one Rathian!

Excluding the new features, the combat system of Monster Hunter Rise remains the same as in the previous chapters and, as well as for the general movements, inherits the animations and precision of World, combining it with the immediacy of Generations. The final result is thus the maximum expression of the combat system that makes the series unique, and we had a lot of fun during the demo. Moreover, if the Mizutsune is considered a "normal" level monster, we can't wait to find out what the strongest will be! What left us baffled, as far as the combat system is concerned, was the choice of don't give users the ability to change buttons at will. For this reason, as users of charged sword-axes, we had no small difficulty in pressing different keys to perform certain actions. This is undoubtedly a problem that will resolve itself by becoming familiar with the controls. However we continue to understand why we have not been given the option to swap the back buttons for the triggers. Why, Capcom?

The premises laid down by the Monster Hunter Rise demo are overall very positive, both as regards the introduction of wire and Canyne insects, and for the way in which Capcom has reinvented the way to explore the game world. The software house has once again shown itself capable of renewing its most iconic series and being more than capable of keeping an end goal in mind. The next chapter of the series is in very good hands, and we can't wait to try the final version to find out more details about the story and all the monsters we can fight. Some uncertainties remain due to a map not perfectly studied and a graphic sector that would not seem to have come out of the RE Engine. The textures remain dirty and parts of the map are just too edgy, but nothing that really ruins the experience. The release on Nintendo Switch is certainly a good choice, due to a user group closely linked to the series since the days of Monster Hunter Tri, so much so that the eShop crashes after the demo is published. However, the compromises reached, especially when compared to World, are all too evident. We don't think it will be too much of a problem as Rise apparently leverages the amount of content, which we at Resources4Gaming can't wait to discover.