Monster Hunter Rise

Monster Hunter Rise (モンスターハンターライズ|Monsutāhantāraizu) is an action RPG game and the sixth mainline installment in the Monster Hunter series. It was developed and produced by Capcom for the Nintendo Switch, and released worldwide on March 26, 2021. A Microsoft Windows version is currently in development, planned for an early 2022 release.

Rise follows many of the new conventions for the series introduced through World while introducing new features, including a new animal companion called a palamute that can be used to ride across the map or into battle, and the use of wire bugs to traverse the game world vertically and mount and ride certain monsters in the game. The game received generally positive reviews upon release.

Gameplay

As with previous Monster Hunter titles, Rise has the player take the role of a Hunter, tasked with slaying or trapping large monsters using a variety of weapons, tools, and environmental features to damage and weaken them while surviving their attacks. Successful completion of the offered quests provide loot, typically in the form of various monster parts from the monster, which are used to forge new armor and weapons that can be used to take on more powerful monsters, forming the series' notable core loop. Several of the series' monsters return along with a host of new monsters developed for Rise. All fourteen weapon types that have been present in both Monster Hunter Generations and World, which mix archetypes of swords, shields, staves, bows, and guns, are present in Rise.

Rise uses the same seamless map approach introduced in Monster Hunter: World unlike the zoned area approach typical of earlier games in the series. Its maps are more focused on vertical movement than previous games, as implied by its title, so new tools are given to the player to help with quickly vertical scaling. One is the companion Palamute, a dog-like creature that the player can ride without losing stamina. The Palamute can quickly scale cliffs and can also be ridden and perform attacks while fighting monsters, alongside the player's cat-like companion Palico. A new tool, similar to the Clutch Claw added in Iceborne, is the Wirebug, which can allow a player to grapple and swing across gaps or to higher locations as needed. The Wirebug also has different interactions with each weapon type, adding to that weapon's set of moves and combos. Further, the Wirebug allows a player to engage certain monsters in Wyvern Riding, allowing the hunter to mount and control the creature to a limited degree as to either lead it into areas more amenable for combat or to engage in combat with a different monster.

Rise features both single player and local and online multiplayer modes with up to four hunters in a group. In single player modes, the player hunts with both their Palico and Palamute companions. In the online modes, players select either the Palico or Palamute to join them.

The game will have some form of cross-compatibility with the upcoming Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin, which is planned for release after Rise, but have not been detailed in full.

Development

During development of Monster Hunter: World, the team members stated there were no plans to release the game for the Nintendo Switch, but that they were open to a new entry that would be more popular with the "high school age bracket". A while after Worlds was released, rumors were posted online that Capcom was working on a new Monster Hunter title exclusively for the Switch. On September 17, 2020, Nintendo revealed the game during a Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase. This was then followed up with more info during the Monster Hunter direct on the same day. More information was revealed during the 2020 Tokyo Game Show. Rise has been in development for at least four years, having been built on a standard Switch hardware from the ground up.

Monster Hunter Rise runs on the RE Engine.

Monster Hunter Rise is considered to be the sixth main installment after Monster Hunter: World, despite not being numbered in a similar fashion to previous titles. The game's producer, Ryozo Tsujimoto, said that with both World and Rise, they wanted to move away from the use of traditional numbering for the main titles in the Monster Hunter series and instead name them based on a central concept that the game was built around, with "Rise" reflecting the verticality of the game's levels and gameplay elements. The verticality resulted in level design that resembled a medieval Japanese/Asian aesthetic, which had not been an initial goal of the design team but was happenstance from their design. The game's director, Yasunori Ichinose, had previously directed Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, a title that had never been released outside of Asia; Portable 3rd featured Yukumo Village as its hub location, a Japanese-inspired setting with hot springs, and which reappeared in Monster Hunter Generations. Ichinose did not want to reuse Yukumo Village for Rise but wanted a similar setting, one that could be considered in the same reason, and designed Rise's hub, Kamura Village, with similar concepts as Yukumo. Further, this setting helped with the game's approach to more freedom of movement, much like that of ninjas, according to Ichinose, which also worked well with that setting.

Rise's pre-planning development started after the completion of Generations and Generations Ultimate, and was co-developed alongside World, with ideas being shared between the two development teams. The game was built with the RE Engine that was originally developed for Resident Evil 7 and since been used for other Capcom games like the Resident Evil 2 remake and Devil May Cry 5. As this was the first time this engine was used for a game of this type, it delayed some of the production as they worked to assure smooth gameplay within World's zoneless approach on the Switch. Further, the Palamute companion was developed with the portability of the Nintendo Switch in mind, eliminating the depletion of stamina as the player rode it around the game world. Natsuki Hanae will provide game narration.

Release

Rise launched on the Nintendo Switch worldwide on March 26, 2021. Alongside its release, Monster Hunter Rise includes three amiibo figures of the Palico, Palamute, and the game's signature monster, the Magnamalo. Using the Amiibo unlocks a set of unique layered armor for the player in the game. A month-long demo was released on January 7, 2021, featuring four quests with all fourteen weapons available as well as single player and online multiplayer support. The demo's release briefly caused the Nintendo eShop servers to suffer outages due to its popularity. The game is expected to have free post-release content similar to World.

A special edition Nintendo Switch bundle, which includes the console and dock emblazened with Rise artwork along with a copy of the game, was also released on March 26, 2021. Ahead of Rise's release, the crossover game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate included three Monster Hunter-themed Mii Fighter costumes as downloadable content, including the Hunter armor, Rathalos armor, and a Felyne hat.

Despite Rise being initially billed as a Switch exclusive title, leaked information suggested the game was a timed exclusive and would come to PC in the future. This was later confirmed by Capcom. According to Tsujimoto, due to demand and interest from players, the company is planning on developing a Microsoft Windows version of Rise, which is expected for release in the first half of 2022.

Reception

Monster Hunter Rise received positive reviews from critics, ending up with a Metacritic score of 87. Critics praised the addition of new items like Wirebugs and the game's expansion of Monster Hunter: World's mechanics.

Sam Machkovech of Ars Technica praised the new movement mechanics and how the game adjusted many monsters from previous entries to compensate for it. He also criticized the game's technical performance saying, "I did run into frenetic battles where the frame rate buckled into the mid-20s." Martin Robinson of Eurogamer appreciated how the game's hunts were shorter than prior games.

Richard Wakeling, writing for GameSpot, enjoyed the new Japanese-styled setting, and the Rampage missions. Ryan Gilliam of Polygon enjoyed the game's increased accessibility for newcomers to the series, and how the player had more ways to approach hunts.

Sales

Capcom has announced that launch shipments of Monster Hunter Rise reached four million units worldwide three days after release. Monster Hunter: World had shipped five million units during the same period after release. It sold over 1.3 million copies within its first week of sale in Japan, and was the bestselling retail game of the week in the country; it also led to a surge in Switch unit sales, more than doubling combined sales of the Switch and Switch Lite compared to prior weeks.

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External Links

• Official website

• Wikipedia article

• Monster Hunter wikia article