Monster Hunter Rise has finally arrived on next gen consoles. The Capcom title is now available on Playstation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and if you are an Xbox Game Pass subscriber you will already find it in the catalog. Sure, monster-hunting enthusiasts have been catching and crafting armor and weapons out of monster skins on Nintendo Switch and PC for a while now, and now is the time for other users to put themselves to the test, or perhaps go back.
Let the hunt (again) begin!
When you think about Capcom in recent times, it is mainly associated with the game series of Resident Evil, of which we are waiting for the new remake. But the software house is famous for having also created other great little pearls, such as Devil May Cry and, precisely, the Monster Hunter series. Finally we can enjoy Monster Hunter Rise also on next gen consoles: the title has arrived as a Nintendo Switch exclusive in 2021, which then arrived on PC and is now finally available for ninth generation platforms. Unfortunately, the octave has been excluded.
It is true that the Monster Hunter series has always been considered niche and, in some ways, for hardcore gamers, but know that the sixth chapter is a starting point much more open than the previous ones.
Monster Hunter Rise is set inside the Kamura Village, a seemingly serene place, but which will soon be threatened by a calamity. It will then be up to you hunters to solve the problems of the village by completing quest after quest, collecting materials and killing every single beast that could harm the place and its inhabitants.
The game loop focuses on completing the latterwhich are quite varied, but where the same thing is always done in a nutshell: hunt monsters. An element that in theory could be boring in the long run, but which never turns out to be so. Because you will be able to try out new weapons, improve your equipment and play in the company of friends. It may seem difficult at first, but once you get into the loop, it’s really hard to get away from it.
Like all the other chapters of the series, Monster Hunter Rise will also allow you to choose your class based on the weapon you decide to use. Obviously you can try them all and choose according to your style of play. Not to mention that the choice is never final, which increases the number of hours of play dramatically.
The feeling you get while playing is very physical, in the sense that you can feel the heaviness of the weapons and equipment. The commands are however very reactive and you can move with dexterity. But before you start using i insect threads and hunting monsters, it is advisable to take the time to read all the tutorials and try to internalize themotherwise you may feel like you are doing nothing.
In case you have played other versions of the game, know that you will not be able to restart with the old progress, and you will have to start from scratch. Also, the multiplayer it will not crossplay. So the matchmaking will only include either PlayStation players or Xbox players (in this case, however, PC users are also included). The icing on the cake of the negatives of this next-gen console version of Monster Hunter Rise is certainly the absence of the Sunbreak DLC right away, even if it is clear that it will arrive in the future.
The Switch legacy
Instead, taking into consideration the graphic rendering of Monster Hunter Rise, it is here that the legacy of Nintendo Switch is felt with every fiber. In the sense that it almost seems split in two: the CGI cutscenes are really well done, while when you go in-game it is possible to notice a considerable detachment. Of course, this shouldn’t be too surprising, given that this is still the game that was born as exclusive for the Grande N consolebut those who really don’t know anything about the game, or who perhaps expected a better cleaning of the structures, would certainly have expected something extremely better from a “next-gen version”.
And the performances? At least from this point of view, they are truly phenomenal: Monster Hunter Rise runs at 60 frames per second and remain stable even with lots of particles and hits with great visual effects. Definitely a positive of the not so photorealistic graphics. During our test we didn’t run into bugs or glitches, so we can say that from a purely gameplay and performance point of view there are no criticisms to underline. The only ones great shortcomings are the’lack of crossplayfrom the crossprogression and the absence of Sunbreakwhere at least the latter will soon be filled.
Review
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Monster Hunter Rise (Tried on XBX/S)
7.8 Final Vote
Monster Hunter Rise is certainly a valid product, above all because it manages to open up even to less hardcore players, and its arrival on next-gen consoles can only do Capcom good. Too bad for the absence of Sunbreak, crossplay and crossprogression, which will force you to repeat everything from the beginning in case you have already started it on another platform. From a graphic point of view it is possible to note the heavy Switch legacy, but the performances manage at least in part to make up for this smallness. All in all it’s an impossible port not to buy, if you’ve ever been interested in the Monster Hunter series.
