Monster Hunter: World
Publisher: Capcom
Release Date: January 26, 2018
Platforms: PS4, PC, Xbox One
Rating: Teen
Genre: Action RPG
Fantastic Beasts
Written by Joshua David Anderson
For more than a decade, the Monster Hunter series has been a mainstay in the gaming world, though it had never really hit the zeitgeist. Largely played on handhelds like the PSP and the 3DS, the series has always been huge in Japan, but somewhat muted here in the West. Some of that had to do with the games being on handheld, but the series also had strange mechanics, like the obtuse combat mechanics and the multitudes of systems and menu screens to navigate. With complexity being more accepted by gamers, and titles like Dark Souls kindling an interest in deliberate combat types, Capcom wanted to make a new version of Monster Hunter that could hook a new generation of players. With Monster Hunter: World, they seem to have done just that.
The premise of Monster Hunter: World is pretty genius in its simplicity: You have travelled to a new continent to research and learn. Your expedition has to set up a new home, and you have to protect it from the wild beasts that threaten it. Monster Hunter: World wastes no time in getting you to a point where you need to hunt monsters. This works much better than the actual story campaign, which is largely forgettable and tries to make hunting monsters seem more important than it actually is. Whether you skip the cutscenes or watch them all the way through, your end goal will always be to kill or capture a large animal, and use its parts to make new armor and weapons for you to fight the next monster in the food chain. Along the way, you can join a guild, grow and harvest items for crafting, participate in special events, or help out other players in their hunts. There is a lot to do here.
There is also a lot to see. Monster Hunter: World is the first title in the series to be made on current gen hardware since the PS2, and Capcom made sure to use all the fidelity that the PS4 and the Xbox One offer. The maps in Monster Hunter: World are large and detailed, with lots of verticality and hidden areas. They also differ from the old games in one crucial way: there is no loading between areas of the map. This single change makes the game feel faster and fresher than the past entries. The titular “monsters” all look fantastic, with detailed animations and believable behaviors. You can truly become proficient in hunting a certain monster once you dial in on their actions and the way they fight.
But aside from all of this, the real reason why Monster Hunter: World really works is because of the core gameplay loop. Completing the story or finishing missions become secondary to the real goal of the game: making the best armor and weapons for your hunter. There are over 45 different monsters that each have an armor set to craft, and there are 14 different types of weapons that have multiple upgraded versions, so there is plenty be chase. Where Monster Hunter: World really shines is that it allows you to largely grind for exactly the gear that you specifically want. If you want to just mess around and explore the maps, do an Expedition. If you want to fight a specific monster, do an Investigation for that. If you don’t what you are hunting, just answer SOS flares sent out by other players. You have tons of goals at any given moment, but Monster Hunter: World lets you zero in on a specific goal you want to complete.
Monster Hunter: World is a game about big obstacles and even bigger victories. It feels great to fight a smaller monster for the first time and beat them without too much issue. However, it won’t be long before you hit a wall that just happens to look like a fire breathing T-rex, and that is where the game really gets going. Beating the monster that has killed you 7 times prior feels even more amazing, and soon you are off to the next giant challenge. Monster Hunter: World finally feels like the game Capcom always wanted to make with the series.