![]() Perhaps most importantly for Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak, the end-game content is gloriously varied and exciting. I’m hopeful that the post-launch content for Sunbreak will include more of these Follower quests, and perhaps the opportunity to hunt with some characters not yet available to take on as companions. The NPCs you bring along have banter that ties into their own relationships with one another, and while it isn’t particularly extensive from what I experienced, I actually found myself growing somewhat attached to them. For those unwilling or unable to play with other people online, the Follower quests allow you to experience single-player cooperative play, venturing forth with NPC companions from both Kamura and Elgado, to hunt down monsters in pseudo co-op. Oddly, the feature that invested me most heavily into the world and its characters was not the main storyline, but the new system of Follower quests. Travelling beyond the bounds of Kamura village to the new hub of Elgado is an exciting visual shift at the very least, as the Kingdom boasts a more medieval European aesthetic, fairly uncommon for Monster Hunter. The story itself is about as interesting as Monster Hunter stories ever are (that is to say, not very), but it deserves praise for being competently written, populated by genuinely likeable characters, and absent of any painfully tedious story quests. While I won’t reveal much about the final monster of the story, I will say that it’s a perfect capstone to the whole experience. The horror-inspired Three Lords are some of the best new designs seen in a while, with Garangolm (Frankenstein’s monster), Lunagaron (a werewolf) and Malzeno (Dracula’s fursona) well-prepared to beat you down in gothic style. The star-studded roster of monsters present in Sunbreak is fantastic, with some returning flagship favourites like Gore Magala and Astalos, as well as a whole host of new additions. These additions help to enforce a larger emphasis on learning the fights, rather than simply bouncing back and overwhelming the monsters with raw speed. Monsters are generally faster, responding more fluidly to the player’s use of the Wirebug system (a tool that trivialised numerous fights in Rise), and most have acquired new attacks that can better punish player errors. Thankfully, Sunbreak has taken numerous steps to boost the challenge, and I’m pleased to say that I was dragged back to camp beaten and bloodied multiple times in my ascent through the Master Ranks. I say this not to brag (Alatreon and Fatalis thoroughly decimated my ego years ago in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne), but rather to highlight that for Monster Hunter veterans, Rise didn’t provide the level of challenge necessary to sustain the mastery pursuit, or the theory-crafting of new builds and strategies. In preparation for my time with Sunbreak, I replayed the entirety of Monster Hunter Rise, and didn’t fail a single quest. The frenetic Wirebug-powered combat of Rise has been perfected in Sunbreak, with new Switch Skills that expand (and in some cases transform) the potential of every weapon, as well as a Skill Swap system that lets you adapt to new challenges by mixing in different Switch Skills in the middle of any hunt. ![]() Sunbreak follows a consistent pattern in Monster Hunter series releases it’s the ‘Master Rank’ expansion that doubles down on, and refines the systems, introduced in the base game. But with the coming of Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak, the flaws of Rise have been polished away, leaving an experience that can proudly stand shoulder-to-shoulder with existing entries like Iceborne and Generations Ultimate as a paragon of the Monster Hunter franchise. Monster Hunter Risewas that messy but inspired rookie, a good game that suffered from a staggered release and a lack of end-game challenge. Through time, effort and repetition, you’ll go from a messy but inspired rookie, to a refined expert in the field of monster hunting. The core tenet of Monster Hunter is mastery through iteration – the evolution of your own skill by repeatedly pitting yourself against giant monsters, gradually overcoming their raw power with practice and refinement, and then making them into a shiny pair of new boots. ![]()
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