The game where Monster Hunter went from "only really popular in Japan" to "global juggernaut." The Iceborne expansion saw a lot of changes and the return of some notable monsters like the Brachydios, Alatreon, and Fatalis but caught some flack throughout its lifespan for some of those creative decisions. Clutch Claw was fairly contentious and was seen as overly centralizing, and a fair number of end-game monsters borrow too heavily from MMO design by incorporating DPS-checks to stave off guaranteed death. The introduction of Raid hunts, like Safi Jiiva and Kulve Taroth, are cool but some solo options for people playing either on their own or after the game's initial life span would have been appreciated as these encounters can now feel out of reach due to the overall scale of the endeavors. Aside from those issues, and how some very iconic weapons were made way less interesting to keep with the game's artstyle, the overall experience is damn good. Combat is methodical but smooth, the monsters look amazing, the soundtrack is a banger, an the replay value is out of this world. You can easily drop hundreds if not thousands of hours in this game if you so desire.

Reviewed on Feb 17, 2024


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