Another Huge Success for the Monster Hunter Franchise

Back in early 2018, many new fans were introduced to the exciting world of Monster Hunter as World had perhaps been their first introduction to the series, but the lifecycle of the game spans way back as early adopters will remember the much earlier PSP and other handheld releases on the 3DS and Wii U. There had even been options available on iOS early on straying away from the more popular genres at the time, as table games through sites like Vegasslotsonline and other more simplistic titles were more popular at the time. However, as the first step toward a big modern platform, World didn’t disappoint. As early numbers come in for the latest release on the Nintendo Switch of Monster Hunter Rise, too, it seems all that had been put in place to make the previous games successful was being doubled down on too. It looks as if the game is off to a flying start and with a planned PC release coming in a years’ time, it looks to perhaps follow the same path as the previous title too.

The pros – Sitting on some high praise already coming it at 87% on Metacritic, 8/10 on IGN, and 88% on OpenCritic with a 4.5 overall rating on Google to boot, the game delivers on everything that fans have come to expect from a Monster Hunter title as the formula has remained unchanged. Fans of the Switch will already be all too aware of how much of a punch the little system packs and that is shown off with Rise too, as a great looking title with the same robust controls too. Much of the success being seen is largely coming as the game hasn’t deviated from what made it special, whilst adding in all of the best parts from the latest releases and a few other quality of life additions too. Also, with the upcoming changes planned much like World, will only look to expand on all of these great features too.

The cons – As with any new title, however, things can’t all be perfect and there are certainly some drawbacks to the game in its current state too. The biggest is that although it is great, it doesn’t quite feel like it made it over the finish line with some parts being a little incomplete. With no real end-game in place yet, some players may feel like they’re twiddling their thumbs a little once they’ve completed the bulk of the current game and with some comparisons being drawn to World and the lack of content currently in Rise, it may turn some players away. Updates are certainly in the pipeline to bring more progression however, so these complaints may be short lived. As with any new game there are also bugs too, with the most prominent being one that could see all of your hard work being undone. Specifically tied to using an in-game gesture on your action bar, it has been advised to avoid using this for now and that a fix is looking to come for this as soon as possible, but if you’re one of the unfortunate few who weren’t made aware prior then it’s a bit of a frustration. The good news is that Capcom are fully aware and have issued a statement early to alert as many players as possible.

All in all, the game is off to an absolutely solid start and shows no signs of slowing down. The Switch release will be able to iron out everything for the early adopters and the move to PC later this year or early next year will do the same as World by bringing about a whole new audience too, so long as the porting works well there’s no doubt it’ll be just a big a success as the previous. With updates coming as soon as April, there could be much more monster hunting on the cards for fans and new players alike.