Friend got me this as an early Christmas present after we spent around a month playing Generations Ultimate together. As somebody who is really used to the old school Monster Hunter games I wasn’t sure how jarring it would be to have much more fluid controls, but I got used to it quickly enough, and most of the quality of life improvements were much appreciated. I really liked the new monsters in this one, there’s probably a couple standouts for me but they’re all good. The graphical improvements over GU are very noticeable and the music is gorgeous. Overall a really good game, though it’s a significant departure from older games so if you’re the opposite of me and getting into the series more broadly from playing the newer titles, just be warned they’re a lot more difficult, at times bordering on clunky or unfair with certain mechanics(though that’s part of the charm I suppose).

Monster Hunter joins games in complete vestigiality of their own systems. In trying to make the game more "fun" and movesets more complicated, it streamlines gathering, sharpening, any kind of resource management, planning around the hunts with item needs and even variety of gameplay in any meaningful sense into oblivion, leaving an admitedly entertaining multiplayer character action game, with none of the strategic depth and slow methodical approach and somewhat lowfi charm that birthed and sustained the series more or less up until world.
Games are a victim of comfortable player bases

I should split this review in two parts: story and gameplay.

Story
Story is the weakest. Coming from more than a couple hundred hours in MHWorld, it's story felt heavy in it's worldbuilding, having impact and meaning in it's core lore. Rise, on the other hand, is quite the opposite. It's plain, untasteful and could be skipped without anyone noticing. I wish they had gone with the same path story-wise like World. But it isn't there. I just faced the credits with a "is this the end?" face.

Gameplay
Well, skip everything bad I've just said and go play this game if you're into HUNTING.

The gameplay feels smoother and it's just plain FUN. The wirebugs adds so much means to move yourself freely from both zones and fights and sometimes just feels like an Action RPG with the weight of Monster Hunter's signature weight. And you have DOGS AND CATS as comrades and get them stylized as you, I love them.

I will continue playing from time to time, to take down some monsters, sharpen my long sword and enjoy the thrill of HUNTING.

Had a fantastic time with this game overall. Coming from Generations Ultimate, the improvements made in this game is astounding. Wirebugs and maps being more vertical, change the game a fair bit giving players the ability to play each of the five maps very differently each time. This also goes without saying but the many quality of life features that was added to the game, such as having the choice of eating before a hunt or if a player had forgotten to eat before a hunt they can do from the tent at the main base. The music and presentation are fantastic in this game, especially the music I never got tired of listening to the music during my time playing this game with the hub and the desert area being some of my favorites in the game. There are a couple of small things that did bother me, such as the boring grind from HR 50 to HR 100. I felt as if though the final hunt should have been the HR 50 hunt, but it wasn't and the last fight was another 50 ranks down the line. The HR 100 isn't bad, it is an interesting fight but I feel as if the build up from HR 50 to 100 wasn't as exciting as it could be. I would suggest to have some of the apex monsters be some of the urgent quests on the way to HR 100 to keep players engaged. As I had started to lose my interest in the game a bit around the HR 90 mark. But that grind for HR levels aside, this iteration of Monster Hunter is an absolutely amazing experience, as for me, it improves in many areas where I felt Generations Ultimate could deal without. Great time sink if you have friends to play through the game or a fan of boss fights.

Pontos Positivos:

Jogabilidade e Mecânicas: A jogabilidade é elogiada por ser dinâmica e oferecer uma variedade de armas com estilos únicos.
Ambientação e Temática: O jogo é ambientado em uma vila inspirada no Japão feudal, o que traz um charme especial para a experiência.
Desafio e Progressão: Os jogadores encontram um equilíbrio entre desafio e progressão, com monstros que oferecem batalhas emocionantes.

Pontos Negativos:

Gráficos no Switch: Alguns jogadores sentem que os gráficos no Nintendo Switch não são tão impressionantes quanto poderiam ser.
Conectividade: Há relatos de quedas na taxa de quadros e problemas de conectividade em algumas versões do jogo.

Jogos Semelhantes:

Monster Hunter: World: É o antecessor direto e compartilha muitas mecânicas com "Rise".
Dauntless: Um jogo free-to-play com um estilo de caça de monstros semelhante.
God Eater: Uma série com uma abordagem mais narrativa ao gênero de caça de monstros.

Duração do Jogo:

Campanha Principal: Em média, a campanha principal pode ser concluída em cerca de 22 horas.
Complecionista: Para aqueles que buscam 100% de conclusão, o jogo pode oferecer até 163 horas de conteúdo.

Campanha:

A campanha de “Monster Hunter Rise” é focada na defesa da vila Kamura contra uma variedade de monstros. A narrativa é direta, mas envolvente, e serve como um pano de fundo para a ação principal do jogo.

Vale a Pena?

Definitivamente! “Monster Hunter Rise” é uma adição valiosa à franquia, oferecendo uma experiência rica e gratificante tanto para novatos quanto para veteranos da série. Com uma campanha sólida, jogabilidade refinada e conteúdo pós-jogo extenso, o jogo promete muitas horas de entretenimento.

As a long time player, what did MH Rise offer to me?


A modern redesign of my favourite maps:

One of the things that blew my mind about Rise is how they recreated older generation maps, modernising them in a much needed way. Not only are they now in high definition but they have also been reworked into seamless maps. Some of those were my favourite and Rise makes you feel like you’re replaying a game from Gen 3 again.

The greatest addition to the maps is a lot of verticality. You can climb and find a lot of secrets or resources. Fights don’t take advantage of this though, for the most part.

The only regrettable aspect is that you can still see the corridors separating areas, an obvious leftover from the original design idea. We’ve learned that the developers didn’t initially intend to make the maps like this but after seeing the development of World, they decided to rework the maps. In my opinion, the result is worth it.


Solid roster and old favourites:

One of the undeniable additions that Rise did to World is bringing back many of the older monsters, which needed to be reworked into the newer engine. The selection is great and they didn’t just focus on the big classic ones, we get a lot of the smaller ones like Arzuros or Lagombi too and I think it’s great. Once again, the game just digs into my Gen 3 nostalgia.

The newer ones are also cool and Rise has a unique identity in that regard. For once, the monsters are not based on nature as much as they are designed on Japanese folklore. Still, I think they fit well into the series. I don’t think I was disappointed with any of them and I was especially impressed with Magnamalo, which I learned to love after grinding it in the demo challenge.


Further improvements to MHW’s weapon redesigns:

Rise takes the weapon redesigns in MHW and continues to improve them. As an example, the Switch Axe has many more moves during which it can now change forms. Additionally, the game brought back the hunter arts from MHGU into a new form and they’re also great additions. The combat is dynamic and perhaps the most refined the series has ever seen.

Some problems arise though. First, the new wirebug skills can be quite spammy for some weapons. The hammer meta for example is to throw Impact Crater as many times as possible. Of course, nobody forces you into doing that and it’s perfectly playable otherwise, just don’t aim for speedrunning times.

I also am not a fan of the Hunting Horn rework, it feels like a completely different weapon from World. Using the right move according to your position does not matter any more and the main combo is pretty much to spam A. It feels much faster paced and less heavy.


Some problems regarding immersion:

Immersion is a big deal for me and I have always loved what the Monster Hunter series has done. I am a person who enjoys spending hours gathering or going on hunts to kill small monsters, knowing I am hoarding a wealth of materials I would never need. It was a relaxing activity for me. I also happen to like the item management part and I wasn’t a fan of World removing a lot of them: pickaxes, hot/cool drinks… Well, Rise is pretty much the same in this regard.

The monster AI is where immersion suffers the most and I dare say it’s the worst the series has seen. For example, the ways the monster moves in the now seamless maps can get quite ridiculous and it also happens way too often. The monster encounters are also not only annoying but immersion breaking. They are very scripted events and the outcome is always the same: monsters which are not your target have a mount threshold which is very low so whenever they meet your hunting target, one hit from it will make them available for mounting so it’s always the same pattern. Whether you mount or not, which monster you chose to knock down: the outcome is always predictable and you just choose the most optimal choice, if not the most annoying.

You can also instantly locate them now, removing the entire searching process. This is not entirely a bad thing but it does contribute to giving the game a more arcadey feeling. I hope the next game will improve in this regard and find a proper immersion formula.


Some things have improved, others have not. I also don’t disagree that the games are getting easier. However, I am still very hopeful for this series. I can tell the devs understand what they’re doing and I appreciate that they always try to do something new, whether it’s hit or miss. If I want to play the older games, I still can and if I don’t enjoy an entry, maybe I’ll like the next one more!

Solid entry in the Monster Hunter series. Played on both PC and Switch!

Major pros compared to previous titles? Absolute freedom of movement. You're no longer limited to just the ground.

Major cons compared to previous titles? Game felt...very linear until the very late game DLC. I understand keeping shiny new monsters behind high level areas, but at the same time, I shouldn't have to grind for tens of hours more past the complete end of the game to see the new stuff.