There Is Just So Much Going On In Monster Hunter Rise

There Is Just So Much Going On In Monster Hunter Rise

Capcom has just shown off a ton of new gameplay and features from Monster Hunter Rise, and boy is there a lot to work through.

Due out on March 26 as a Nintendo Switch exclusive, Monster Hunter Rise is being pitched as a main follow-up to Monster Hunter: World and the whole series. In other words: gear up for a fully fledged Monster Hunter experience, which includes dealing with monsters so large there’s no way they can fit on the Switch’s actual screen.

In lieu of a proper preview event — the Switch isn’t capable of doing beta codes or previews in the same way, say, Steam might — Capcom and Nintendo supplied 35 minutes of new gameplay footage. There was a lot of detail, including shots of the game’s multiplayer functionality, armour and weapon crafting, details of Kamura Village, and tons more.

Just for clarity — all shots below are from the official B-Roll provided by Capcom.

Your Monster Hunter Rise blacksmith looks a bit like Granddad Geralt.

monster hunter rise
Image: Monster Hunter Rise (B-Roll)

This is Hamon, the blacksmith. There’s actually a ton about the armour and weapons to chat about, but we’ve gotta appreciate that very furrowed brow first.

You can join quests if they’re in progress.

monster hunter rise

On the Quest Board, you’ll see a range of available quests, their rating, some environment info and how much time is left. The gameplay footage provided didn’t showcase the drop-in, drop-out co-op in action — it started a quest with a full party afresh — but Capcom specified that it’ll be available. You also don’t have to play online; you can go to Senri the Mailman to switch between online and offline modes.

Once you’ve started a quest, you’ll be teleported into the proper territory. There will be a tent nearby where you can switch out your buddy, their gear, skills and behaviours. You can also eat a meal here if you didn’t do so earlier.

The wirebug might be the coolest thing.

monster hunter wirebug
Image: Monster Hunter Rise (B-Roll)

Not only can you use it in the village — which, thank God — but the wirebug lets you scale mountains and traverse cliffs so easily.

I mean, just look at it.

There is absolutely nothing about this that I don’t love. I should add that the wirebug is obviously a key component of combat. Being able to soar into the air to do a massive heavy attack is not only cool, but pretty necessary depending on what you’re fighting.

Monster Hunter Rise’s dango is serious business.

monster hunter rise
Image: Monster Hunter Rise

Making sure you’re properly prepared before a battle has always been a Monster Hunter staple. That’s naturally all part of the Rise experience too, and so choosing what dango you want to eat is a pretty big deal.

Yomogi, who runs the tea shop in Kamura Village, is the vendor you need to visit. When you sit down for a meal, Yomogi will give you the choice of three bonuses (one for each dango on a skewer). This obviously helps you prepare for upcoming quests, but it also means you can get different types of bonuses than what your armour or weapons provide. That’s maybe not so important in the early stages, but it’ll surely come in handy towards in later gameplay.

Fun note: you don’t have to spend money to buy the dango. You can also spend points or dango tickets, if you’ve got them.

You can ride your Palamute like a dog.

monster hunter rise

I have nothing else to add on this. It looks awesome and, obviously, helps you get around faster. Don’t you want to ride the puppy?

That said, as much as I love this very good boy, I’ve got some questions on the proportions. Did their stomach just … disappear?

The training arena is super helpful.

If you head to Sekirei, you’ll be able to access an arena that lets you practice combos, movement and attack strategies. You won’t be able to change the opponent you’re fighting — it’s just a stone frog. But you can customise its head position, direction, whether it tracks you, some of its attacks, and more.

monster hunter rise

We saw more footage of the Bishaten, one of Rise’s new creatures.

mosnter hunter rise
Image: Monster Hunter Rise (B-Roll)

Rise has a bunch of returning monsters from the franchise, but the Bishaten is one of the newest additions. It’s found in the Flooded Forest, and has some really interesting animations.

You’ll have to battle off Giganha, carnivorous fish that come to the Bishaten’s support when you first start fighting. The Bishaten also has a good range of AOE attacks, wide swings, what looks like a close-range purple poison attack, and a really strong point-to-point charge.

The Bishaten also throws a lot of persimmons at you, which .. it’s a bit unusual. It definitely visually breaks up a lot of the muddy waters, even if it looks like a giant dog just pegged a balloon at you.

Here’s a good shot of the village and everything available in it.

monster hunter rise
Image: Monster Hunter Rise (B-Roll)

Plenty to keep you busy. I love the aesthetic, too.

Wyvern riding isn’t just an easier way to get around.

Image: Monster Hunter Rise (B-Roll)

Once monsters enter a downed state from Silkbind damage or the use of a Puppet Spider — spiders you can capture upon starting a hunt — you’ll be able to hop on board. Mounted monsters can then be used to attack other monsters, as seen with the Royal Ludroth above.

Controlling different creatures naturally gives you access to their abilities, which can naturally be super handy if you need to apply some debuffs to your target. If you haven’t seen it before, there’s a full breakdown of how wyvern riding works below.

There’s smaller creatures you can discover during a hunt that apply bonuses for the whole quest.

monster hunter rise
Image: Monster Hunter Rise (B-Roll)

I mentioned the Puppet Spider before, but you can get a lot more than just easy wyvern riding. Finding the stinkmink basically acts like a giant taunt, drawing monsters towards you.

If you want something a little more generalist, it’s worth looking out for Spiribirds. These birds will give you defence, attack, health and stamina improvements for the duration of your hunt. Always useful.

You can send your recruited buddies on separate gathering quests.

monster hunter rise
Image: Monster Hunter Rise (from B-Roll)

You’ll recruit a ton of buddies over the course of the game, but your bench doesn’t have to stay lazy. Rise will let you make use of your roster through Felyne Chief Kogarashi, head of the Meowcenaries.

The Wyverian twins will have solo-only and co-op quests.

You’ll get quests from the Wyverian twins Hinoa and Minoto, and you can see Minoto above. Hinoa is the one you want to visit if you just want the solo Village Quests, while Minoto has subquests and hub quests that you can do alone, or with friends.

The weapon trees can be a bit intimidating. Or awesome.

I mentioned before that there was a lot to work through with the weapons and armour. I mean, look at Granddad Geralt’s options just for all the weapon trees. Not all of them were revealed in the gameplay video, but what’s there is seriously extensive.

And that’s just one weapon. Here’s a look at the range you can expect:

monster hunter rise

Uh, shit.

That’s a lot.

Good thing Monster Hunter Rise is launching in March; I might need the rest of the year just to get all the weapons.

Oh, also: Monster Hunter Rise is coming to PC in 2022.

This bit came out late Friday evening via an interview with Fanbyte. Capcom confirmed that the game’s PC port — and the Switch version — is still in development. But Capcom are hoping to make the transition for PC users a little bit easier this time, following the frustration Monster Hunter World PC players had with the delays in content.


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