Monster Hunter Rise

Monster Hunter Rise is a 2021 action role-playing game developed and published by Capcom for the Nintendo Switch. It was released worldwide in March 2021, with a Windows port released in January 2022 and ports for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S were released in January 2023. An expansion pack, Sunbreak, was released in June 2022. Rise follows many of the new conventions established in Monster Hunter: World while also introducing new features and mechanics.

Including a new animal companion called a Palamute that can be used to ride across the map or into battle, and the use of Wirebugs to traverse the world and mount and ride certain monsters. The game received generally positive reviews upon release with critics praising the gameplay and its expansion of the mechanics introduced in World. It has sold more than 15 million copies worldwide since launch, making it the second best-selling game in the series. Sunbreak has sold more than 8 million copies since launch. In Kamura Village the player-character is informed they have been promoted to a Hunter by the Guild by the Wyverian twins Hinoa and Minoto.

They escort the new Hunter to the village leader Fugen, though along the way, the Hunter catches sight of an unknown flying monster far in the distance. Fugen congratulates the Hunter on their success, but warns that they have been alerted about pending signs of “The Rampage”, a mysterious calamity that occurred fifty years ago where a large horde of monsters attacked the village in a frenzied rage. Fugen tasks the Hunter to prepare themselves for a possible recurrence of the Rampage by helping with various quests to protect and supply the village with goods while building up their hunting.

Further signs of the Rampage emerge, and Fugen instructs the Hunter to go to the Stronghold, a battleground that guards the gates to Kamura. After repelling the attack, the Hunter, Yomogi, the village chef, and Iori, the “Buddy Handler”, are suddenly attacked by a tiger-like, mace-tailed fanged wyvern, forcing them to retreat. Fugen tells the trio that the monster is known as “Magnamalo” who appears alongside the Rampage and feeds on monsters of the horde. Under Fugen’s orders, the Hunter slays Magnamalo. Upon returning to the village, Fugen and Hinoa congratulate the Hunter on their victory.

Fugen then gives the Hunter his Long Sword, which has been passed down in Kamura for generations. As with previous Monster Hunter titles, Monster Hunter Rise has the player take the role of a Hunter, tasked with slaying or capturing 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 provides 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 areas 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 quick vertical scaling.

The Wirebug, similar to the Clutch Claw added in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, allows 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, letting the hunter 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.