I first heard of Monster Hunter, when Monster Hunter World released on PlayStation 4 back in 2018. So when I found out that game was being ported to PC I was pretty excited to play a game that was so successful and had garnered critical acclaim. At first, I wasn’t impressed with it because the game had so many tutorials for the first 5-6 hours and 14 different types of weapons to use. But once I fought with mighty Anjanath and brought him down I was completely hooked that I lost my 300 hours in World.

Then there was Rise, a Monster Hunter experience for the Nintendo Switch. This version of the game came out in Jan 2021 and just like its predecessor earned rave reviews. So when I heard Rise was also getting a PC port I was pretty much excited to jump back into the franchise again. So 5 days after its release on PC when I was sure that the game was good on PC, I finally took the dive. And let me tell you, Rise is no World.

Upgrades & Downgrades

First thing I noticed when I booted rise was it felt like a Handheld game on the big screen(of course it was supposed to be) but as soon as I got my Longsword and went down hunting monsters, I got over it.

Graphics of Monster Hunter Rise aren’t that great when compared to the graphics of Monster Hunter World on PC but still, we have to take into account the fact that Monster Hunter Rise is a switch game and for a switch title it looks great. Where this game shines is in its art style and inspiration of feudal Japan which works as a nice change from World’s more artistic western approach.

Being a port of a switch game it’s pretty easy to run. The game comes with a lot of graphical options and full support for mouse and keyboard and controller (although I would recommend a controller for this). I had no crashes no frame rate drops no stuttering during my 135 hours of playthrough which has kind of become rare in PC gaming these days.

And then there is the music. There is something about every Japanese role-playing game where they always get the music/soundtrack right and this case is no different. From the moment you boot up Monster Hunter Rise, the female Japanese voice that rings in your ear will enchant you into staying on the title screen for at least 2 minutes.

This excellent intro song does not extend to the boss themes though. This is where I feel the game could have used slight variations. Every monster in the game uses the same theme depending on the area you are hunting them. However some powerful beasts like Magnamalo and elder dragons have been given a different theme and they are good but they just didn’t stick in my head. A notable exception to this is the theme of Teostra which suited his design and the way it fought. Other than that the music was more average than good.

Rising Above The World

Monster Hunter Rise tries to do a lot of quality of life changes. One big one is introducing Palamutes as your secondary buddy along with Palico which you can use to traverse the environment faster. Plus Monster Hunter Rise also gives you the ability to add hire more buddies from buddy handler Lori and send them to hunt monsters for you like for example let’s say you want to craft a complete armor set from his body part but you are missing the part you need for your complete armor set and you feel like you don’t want to hunt that monster again this problem can be solved by sending your hired buddies also known as “MEOWCENARIES” who can go hunt down that monster for you and get the missing part for you.

Multiplayer is another section in which rise sees a massive improvement. Monster Hunter Rise uses a new multiplayer system entirely different from Monster Hunter World. In World to play multiplayer you and your friend had to see the same cutscene to play co-op but in Rise quests are now divided into two parts village quests and hub quests.

Village quests include story missions which can be played solo and Hub Quests which have higher difficulty but along with an option to play 4 player co-op which makes matchmaking quite simple compared to the world’s matchmaking in the world to play a mission.

Although there is one thing I dislike about Rise is that the location of monsters is shown on the minimap from get-go, while in Monster Hunter World you had to track a monster which gave me a sense of accomplishment. Still hunting down monsters is fun.

Arena challenges also make a return in which thrown in an arena to fight a monster or sometimes two monsters at the same time which can be quite challenging as you have to fight a monster in an arena rather than in an open environment.

Monster Hunter Rise also adds new types of quests called Rampage quests in which you have to protect your village from the rampage of various monsters along with your village, and you are given the responsibility to place your village troops in a manner so that monsters can’t break the gate of village to enter it.

What’s common between Master Chief, And Monster Hunter

Nowadays you may see a common trend in video games and that is grappling hook from games Batman Arkham franchise to Halo Infinite grapple hooks have become a medium to travel fast in open environments. Well Monster Hunter Rise also makes use of this by adding a similar rechargeable mechanic called wirebug. Unlike Monster Hunter World’s big maps where traversal and climbing could feel like a chore, the wirebug mechanic in Monster Hunter Rise helps in faster traversal of the area. The wirebug also comes in handy when you get knocked out by a monster using LT+A on your controller would make your player in a conscious state again.

Fight Your Way

All 14 weapons from Monster Hunter World make a return with 11 melee weapons and 3 ranged weapons and each weapon comes with its unique style and skill set. The weapons also make the use of wirebug called silk bind skills with each weapon having its unique silk bind skills. Similar to Monster Hunter World you are given a training area to test every weapon and learn combos and decide which weapon is good for you.

This might be a good time, to talk about hitboxes. Hitboxes haven’t changed much from World to Rise. Monsters can use their tail to knock you down, but one-hit-kill monsters have reduced significantly in Monster Hunter Rise. Still monsters like Magnamalo can do a one-hit kill if you are not careful and especially the elder dragon Valstrax which you unlock much later in the endgame has two attacks that can do one-hit kill.

Turf wars too are more frequent now thanks to the addition of stinkmink. Which you can use rub on your body and get a monster to chase you and lure them to another monster’s turf unlike in Monster Hunter World where it had to be generated randomly. Earlier, you had to be lucky if you wanted to see a turf war but with Monster Hunter Rise this has been completely changed due to the additions of monsters location on minimap and stinkmink, which can give you the upper hand in your battle against a monster.

Because unlike Monster Hunter World, the losing monster doesn’t run away. Instead in Monster Hunter Rise, the losing monster can be ridden using your wirebug. More importantly while under your control the monster can attack your target and do a significant amount of damage.

REAL TALK

Although Monster hunter Rise is not a perfect sequel to the world that doesn’t change the fact that the game isn’t fun whether you are coming back after playing world or you are a newcomer to the franchise, I would highly recommend this game to anyone who is looking for an RPG with a complex combat system.

For players who are worried about whether Rise is just a handheld version of Monster Hunter World, would be surprised by the faster and more deliberate pacing of Rise, which allows for better multiplayer, more significant events, and a slew of quality of life improvements. My recommendation would be to try it ASAP.