So, after playing and beating Monster Hunter Rise I had heard they would do an expansion like Iceborne did for World. To be honest I didn't really have much expectation for the expansion (Sunbreak) even after it first got announced, I expected maybe a few areas and some new monsters and that's about it...
I was wrong, Sunbreak really does feel like what they were going for with Rise, not that rise was a bad game at all, but Sunbreak feels more polished in pretty much every kind of way. The lands you hunt in while not as many as Rise, feel every detailed and rich with appeal. The weapons now have extra moves as well as silkbinds that give the game that faster pace that Generations had giving a bit more of an arcade vibe. You are no longer tied to having to use one set of attacks, you can switch on the fly with the new switch skill scroll mechanic, further giving that arcade vibe and freedom to build your playstyle in a unique way.
The story is definitely a huge step up, the characters feel more like interesting people and while the stakes feel only slightly more higher than Rise, it still doesn't touch World or Iceborne...which I feel is a decent trade off, if the characters can hold lesser story up then it's just as good as a great story with lacking characters.
The new solo missions with the NPCs are a really nice touch and totally 200% better than the Rampages of Rise. The difficulty of the game has definitely been ramped up, not really to an overly hard degree, but rather steep at times compared to Rise.
If I had to give the game any slack, as someone who mains the Hunting Horn only, I felt that there are very few new Hunting Horns to make as in monster to weapon tree, most of the new monsters just enhanced one of the old Rise trees, so there weren't a lot of new horns or returning horn models from the past games, and honestly if that's my ONLY real complaint then they did extremely well.
I really enjoyed this from start to finish, it's a series I love and it's great to see it's getting it's due and is treated very well with a lot of love and care.
I was wrong, Sunbreak really does feel like what they were going for with Rise, not that rise was a bad game at all, but Sunbreak feels more polished in pretty much every kind of way. The lands you hunt in while not as many as Rise, feel every detailed and rich with appeal. The weapons now have extra moves as well as silkbinds that give the game that faster pace that Generations had giving a bit more of an arcade vibe. You are no longer tied to having to use one set of attacks, you can switch on the fly with the new switch skill scroll mechanic, further giving that arcade vibe and freedom to build your playstyle in a unique way.
The story is definitely a huge step up, the characters feel more like interesting people and while the stakes feel only slightly more higher than Rise, it still doesn't touch World or Iceborne...which I feel is a decent trade off, if the characters can hold lesser story up then it's just as good as a great story with lacking characters.
The new solo missions with the NPCs are a really nice touch and totally 200% better than the Rampages of Rise. The difficulty of the game has definitely been ramped up, not really to an overly hard degree, but rather steep at times compared to Rise.
If I had to give the game any slack, as someone who mains the Hunting Horn only, I felt that there are very few new Hunting Horns to make as in monster to weapon tree, most of the new monsters just enhanced one of the old Rise trees, so there weren't a lot of new horns or returning horn models from the past games, and honestly if that's my ONLY real complaint then they did extremely well.
I really enjoyed this from start to finish, it's a series I love and it's great to see it's getting it's due and is treated very well with a lot of love and care.