A staple of our gamer generation, Monster Hunter has been around for years; a proven formula that fans can’t wait to get their hands on, almost like Call of Duty where it’s the same gameplay but either looks better or they add some razzle dazzle to keep you coming back for each new iteration. Monster Hunter Rise for PC originally came out on Nintendo Switch March of 2021 but was upgraded and released on PC January 12th of 2022 to kick off the New Year with a mighty roar.
As typical of all Monster Hunter games you start off as a lowly new hunter who has to make their way up the ranks to be allowed to hunt bigger and badder beasts. Until you get to HR, or high rank, you will be up against some average monsters; a lot of Monster Hunter staples such as the giant chicken-like Kulu-Ya-ku, the sky terror Diablos and of course the disgusting Pukei-Pukei. As a standard of all Monster Hunter games, you will of course fight the art box big bad as party of the story; it’s what they do. If you played Monster Hunter World, you remember your loveable companion, the Palico, a Felyne friend that is your buddy through thick and thin and would assist you in fights. This time around you also have the Palamute, a Canyne friend to make your group a trio and take the role of damage, heals, or utility so you can have your own party even when your friends aren’t around. In case you were wondering; those were the correct spelling for those terms too.
For the most part, combat in Monster Hunter Rise has not changed. All the weapons behave the same, a bow shoots arrows, a sword and shield slices and blocks, and an insect glaive lets you be a trapeze artist in the air; you get the point. I say “for the most part” because if you are like me who primarily played Monster Hunter World when it came out and only very little of the Gameboy variants you are introduced to wire bugs; nifty little bugs that are on a recharge mechanic in game that you can throw out and grapple onto for some nifty aerobatics. The wire bugs also come with combat skills for every weapon, they really allow for higher mobility and fancier looking attacks. The change to PC really makes those attacks that much better with the higher FPS allowing for, in my opinion, quicker reactions. You start each quest with two bugs but can find more temporary ones flying around the maps, you simply walk up to them and collect them to increase your maximum capacity and allow even more freedom to traverse.
As you progress and take on the monsters of the world you will collect their bones, skins, and other pieces to craft your armor and weapons. Armor is about more than looks in the Monster Hunter series; they come with skills or abilities that will make you stronger. It can be something as simple as increasing your yield from mining to making it easier to break off monster parts but building the right armor that goes with your playstyle and weapon is what is going to keep you playing this and any other game in the series. I personally love a good crit bow build, unlimited arrows, and the ability to shoot from a distance has always been my preferred method of combat. Let my friends be the ones to get in their faces. There is a fun little function called “layered armor” that allows your sometimes amalgamation of colors and spikes to look like something else. A lot of these are earned from in-game events that happen every so often. My companions currently look like Rush the dog from Megaman and Tails from Sonic.
Monster Hunter Rise had a huge upgrade to make it look that much better on PC, going from 30 FPS to 60 or even uncapped with 4K graphics makes even the Switch native look pretty good on PC but at its core, it’s still a Switch port. You can tell there are some limitations they had to deal with such as the lack of destructible environments in world. I don’t want to simply compare it to Monster Hunter World because it does play well overall but it’s hard not to compare those small details. The maps are big and allow you to traverse it pretty easily either by using your wire bugs or riding your Palamute friend around. One cool thing since we are on the topic of the maps is that scattered throughout there are these different colored glowing birds called “Spiribirds” that grant you a permanent bonus to either your health, stamina, attack, or defense until the end of the quests. I believe to make it easier on the player to roam around solo they introduced these little guys to help us out as we completed quests.
Here is where I have an issue with Monster Hunter Rise. During the game there are two quest givers you can choose to do missions for in the Village and the Hub. Who can tell me which is the story one? I was going off doing quests in the Hub raising my rank, gathering materials to upgrade my armor and weapons for myself and my Palamute and Palico buddy. I even got to high rank levels and was fighting off against some big boys, including the box art monster a few times! Imagine my surprise when I see my friends getting achievements for things I’d killed a few times already and me being extremely confused, so I decided to go back and finish some of the “Village” quests that were, to put it bluntly a lot more boring than the Hub quests that I was completing for the guild and getting lots of goodies for, plus the village quests were much lower rank than I was currently fighting; no scaling at all. At one point I was thrown into what is called a “Rampage” where you fight multiple monsters by setting up archers, traps and defend your gates from waves of monsters finished off with a boss monster at the end, there was no tutorial for this mechanic or anything; I had to learn on the fly. Turns out that this is part of the story that I had skipped, so, I kept going.
Lo and behold I fight the title monster AGAIN after finishing some village quests and suddenly see credits scrolling. I had beaten the campaign. I had no idea. Monster Hunter Rise presents these two quest givers at the same time, so I thought I was doing as I was told and raising my rank with the guild the whole time. Turns out, the Village quests are the story of Monster Hunter Rise and it’s a short campaign; probably took me all of 7-10 hours to complete; that’s taking it slow too. I understand there is a ton to do after post game, but this felt way too short when compared to how much I completed that wasn’t part of the story. I fully understand that this is on me, that I got too far in what I suppose is the “multiplayer” portion, and so I lost out on a lot of tutorials for things I encountered and banged my head into to complete. Was it frustrating? Yes. Could it be improved? Sure. But did it take away from my accomplishments so far? No, not really, but at least make it more obvious that things I’m doing don’t matter.
You may be reading this and thinking I must really dislike Monster Hunter Rise, quite the opposite. I really enjoyed it. The gameplay is as fun as always, I love the buddies you get and how much armor and weapons there are to make and customize. But as someone with over 500 hours into its predecessor across both console and PC, I have higher expectations. I look forward to the new Sunbreak DLC releasing later this year, as well to put more hours into it. Monster Hunter has turned into one of my most-played games in the last five years and one I look most forward to whenever I hear a new one is coming out.
