I was a big fan of World (especially Iceborne) and when Rise came out I was a bit disappointed : the game feels a bit too "straight to the point"; what I liked about World was the (a bit stupid) ecological aspect to it, following the monster's trail, catching little creatures for your room, completing the "pokédex"; the game also had prettier colours and light, and overall felt a bit more living to me.
One year later I gave it another try and played differently. I played exclusively in my bed, a little bit everyday, considered it more like an arcade game and I enjoyed it like that.

I got my cowboy outfit and revolver hammer which were very cool, and i love to cook BBQ while out on a hunt. I don't really "get" the combat otherwise and don't get a whole lot of personal enjoyment over mashing two buttons over and over against HP sponges. Somehow feels like there's a ton of content and not a whole lot to do at the same time.

I don't think this is a bad video game, it's just not really for me. One of those games that starts to feel like you're only playing out of obligation to the holy progression bar and less out of the raw enjoyment of what it is you're doing from moment to moment. Fun enough for a little while with friends as long as it's on game pass. The highest praise I can give this is its truly excellent character creator that I wish more games would take from.

maybe the worst mh entry, the game is too easy and too simplified even at the highest difficulty. crafting, gathering, hunting, and character building are all too quick like the game doesn't want you to stay long.

the good: whisper bug skills and switch skills are great since they give some weapons completely new ways to play and expand/fix some weapon's problems.
Magnamalo's design is great.
the bad:
all most everything else but especially the final boss of rise, the tower defense mechanics, and the horrible grindy damage sponge mission at the end of sunbreaks

At first, I was disappointed by MH Rise. It lacked the detailed ecosystems, lush graphics, and (so I thought) polish of World. This was never, however, intended to be World 2, and shouldn't be judged as such. Originally exclusive to the Swtich, Rise is far closer to a mix of the modernized QoL improvements of World and much of what made the countless handheld entries of the past so unique, themselves.

When I realized that the new monsters were based on Yokai and each had their own black and white samurai/horror film introduction (complete with film grain) I began to fall under its charms. The singing waifu in a kimono on the title screen made me initially wonder why the series was going in such a generic, more overtly Japanese direction, style-wise, as opposed to the cavepunk trappings World. I soon realized that it was a match made in heaven (and I believe not a first for the series, technically). Rise in my opinon, has the most character of all the Monster Hunters I've played. There is so much charm and love in every corner of this game.

Purists who love the games represented in MH Generations: Ultimate might balk at aspects of this entry, as will lovers of World (like I initially did). I ask, however, "Why not find reasons to love them all?"

I know I do.

Fun game with an amazing soundtrack. The gameplay, in my opinion, is an improvement from the last MH title, with a lot of QoL changes to some weapons, making some playstyles that were a bit weak in MHW viable and even creating a lot of different ways to play the same weapon (specially if you play Sunbreak after playing the base game), something that MHW didn't focus on very well. The wirebug mechanic is very fun, creates a very fast combat system and gives the player new tools to play with (the silkbinds).
Being a MHW player, i expected the same immersive gameplay the previous title of the franchise offered, with a well developed story, realistic environment and, overall, a story-focused game with a good gameplay. If that's what you're looking for in MHRise, i should warn you that that's not gonna be the case. The game does not focus on giving you an immersive atmosphere or an elaborate story but, instead, puts all of its effort in making the gameplay as fluid as possible. As i said, the weapons are amazing, the silkbinds are amazing and wirebugs are a great mechanic. MHR's gameplay and combat make up for the decent plot/storyline it lacks and this fast paced, combat focused arcadey experience is what the game is all about.
That being said, let's talk a bit about what the experience is actually like. At first, i found the game nice, specially because of the silkbinds, but got bored fairly quickly because of one thing: the early game sucks. This is true when it comes to both the base game and the Sunbreak expansion, which is a shame. If you played MHW and/or other MH titles, you'll be facing monsters you've already seen over and over and even the new monsters will get boring quickly, since the game fails to introduce new ones consistently. What i recommend to get through this part is getting a friend or some friends to play with you. You'll all be having a blast because of each other and it won't feel as boring; if you don't have any friends who can play with you, then all i can say is take your time. If you're not liking it, play a bit, go play something else and come back when you feel like it, be it hours, days or weeks later. Eventually, you'll get through it, and you'll reach the endgame which, in my opinion, is what's good about this one.
In the endgame (HR 7 through 100), they introduce more interesting returning monsters and REALLY cool new ones, which are definitely worth your time. ignore the village quests completely and focus on the hub, completing the village isn't necessary at all; what i did was playing from low rank up until HR100 on the base game doing everything the game had to offer, and it did not disappoint. Sure, it was hard to bring myself to play it at the beginning, but at HR7 and up until HR100, it was awesome. Fighting Ibushi and Narwa after having pretty much nothing new for a long time was a breath of fresh air, not to mention what comes after. Please, do yourself a favor and get to know every monster in this game, specially those exclusive to the events: the Apex variants. A couple of them aren't that special but all of the rest are very difficult, fun and challenging experiences. After you get rid of your HR cap, take your time, farm a few sets and play the game! as you level up, you'll unlock new elder dragons to hunt and, at HR100, you'll unlock what almost everyone will describe you as the coolest monster in the base game; that's what i did and it was a very fun experience. If you start playing Sunbreak before that, by the time you get to HR100, you'll probably be too strong for his fight to be fun, so, in my opinion, it's worth the wait. If you don't wanna do that, just save your loadout before leaving Kamura and use it once you get there, i promise, it's worth it!
All of that being said, i guess it's time to wrap this up. I can't lie that, at first, i was disappointed. This game was no "MHW 2", which was what i expected, having only played MHW before Rise, the story was crap and the early game was boring; with a little bit of time, though, i came to realize that this game was never meant to be a sequel to MHW, and had absolutely no intention on following its predecessor's ways, but instead wanted to focus on how fun, interesting, creative and complex this franchise's gameplay can be, and they did it very well.
If you, like i did, expect this to be a MHW sequel, i don't think you should spend your money and time in here; you're only gonna get disappointed and you're better off just playing some of the older titles, like MHGU or MH4U. On the other hand, if you don't care too much about the story, have a bit of patience and want a very fast paced game, which gives you a lot of freedom and an AMAZING gameplay/combat system, this game is most definitely for you. Monster Hunter Rise is a great game that starts off weak and then makes you want to never stop playing it. Either getting it on a sale or paying full price, the game is worth every penny and, if you finished reading this and you're still interested, then it'll definitely not disappoint you. Give it a shot!

OBS: I'm currently playing Sunbreak, and i hope i can write a positive review about it in the future. stay safe and have fun!

Pues primer Monster Hunter en el que consigo completar la historia al completo, es decir, al menos, terminarme jefe final del gremio (en este caso, del juego base, ya que Sunbreak aún no se ha lanzado en Xbox, será en abril y la jugaré de primeras). Me ha encantado, quizá sea el MH más simple, pero es super satisfactorio de jugar y divertidísimo, además de tener un monstruo franquicia la mar de guapo. Para mí, es un juego de sobresaliente por lo muchísimo que me he divertido.

PD: el martillo es la puta caña.

Top tier track: Barbarous Beast - Magnamalo

Playing it through the gamepass means that I'm not including anything added with the DLC update, because at the time when I started to play the Steam version was at 1.3 more or less, while the gamepass version was at 1.1 or so.

Game's great. It runs well, combat feels responsive and it's quite the challenge.

It hasn't however solved its convoluted stat system and menus. It's not intuitive at all and you'll need to ask a veteran friend where is what and how to get to it.

Sadly this MH is still one of those games where you need a guide to get into it, so if you really want to, try to get a beginner friendly player that can point you towards what you want without grabbing your hand too much; slowly building your experience is part of the fun.

I'm combining Rise and Sunbreak into the same game for the purposes of this rating. I played it as one continuous path from beginning to end.

I think Monster Hunter's core gameplay loop is absolutely engaging enough that I have to give this a good review. Rise really is a great game with some major caveats which periodically drive me crazy, but not enough to prevent me from coming back. Not amount of wonky camera action against the walls, stupid one hit kill moves, or twitchy speedy monsters that are too fast to hit has made me want to put down this game for good, or even really end a session prematurely. It doesn't matter that the monster distribution is a bit wonky and the crafting tree is hard to work with. The game is just so damn fun that these problems don't hold it back that much. I know this review just sounds like complaining, but it's all technical points - the game is absolutely worth your while (if your PC can handle it. I did have performance issues from time to time).

Gameplay: Great! Super Fun - Kinda repetitive
Music: Great!
Replayable? Yes!
Streamed? Yes

Extra Notes? Including DLC Sunbreak, also played on PC. Amazing game all in all, but heck of a grind for the "Final" challenges.