If you‘ve been on the fence about whether to dive into Monster Hunter Rise on PC in 2024, let me make it crystal clear: Monster Hunter Rise is absolutely still worth playing today, especially with the Sunbreak expansion.
For longtime Monster Hunter fans, Rise offers the most refined and exciting hunting experience yet with its new mobility options, amazing monsters, and expanded endgame. For newcomers to the series, Rise‘s streamlined progression and wealth of multiplayer options make it the perfect entry point.
Let‘s dig into all the reasons Monster Hunter Rise remains an incredible game that you should add to your library today.
Revolutionized Combat and Movement
The most important aspect of any Monster Hunter game is the gameplay – how fun and rewarding it feels to hunt down giant monsters. Here, Monster Hunter Rise knocks it out of the park with combat and mobility that feels smoother and more versatile than ever before.
The new Wirebug tool is a complete game-changer. With two charges that quickly regenerate, Wirebugs let you zip around each map like Spiderman and vault into the air to mount monsters. Suddenly hunts become extremely dynamic as you use Wirebugs to dodge attacks, traverse massive maps, and unleash devastating mid-air strikes with your weapon.
Combined with the new Switch Skills that expand your weapon combos, hunts gain a thrilling sense of flow and control. We can now adapt on the fly based on the monster‘s movements and openings. For example, Switching to the Sword & Shield‘s Shoryugeki silkbind vaults you into the air and slams you down onto a monster‘s head. Chaining moves like this with Wirebugs leads to combat more kinetic and adaptive than ever before.
According to a poll on the Monster Hunter subreddit, over 80% of players praised Wirebugs and Switch Skills as the best new features in Rise. And I wholeheartedly agree!
Introducing Ferocious New Monsters
What is a Monster Hunter game without epic battles against imaginative monsters? Rise certainly doesn‘t disappoint here with over 90 unique beasts to test your skills against.
The mysterious Magnamalo uses deadly Hellfire and portals to overwhelm you with relentless attacks. The serpentine Ibushi soars through the skies and conjures massive tornadoes. The ice-armored Goss Harag can summon deadly blades of ice. These new signature monsters put your abilities to the test in thrilling hunts.
And that‘s just in the base game! The Sunbreak expansion unleashes the terrifying new flagship monster Malzeno, a vampire elder dragon that drains your health as it attacks with blood magic. Plus, powered-up Apex monster variants feature new moves and increased aggression compared to their high-rank forms.
With the Title Updates, the roster has expanded to nearly 100 unique monsters – each requiring mastering their patterns and moves to overcome the epic battles ahead.
Vibrant, Lively Environments
An underrated part of Monster Hunter is how the environments almost feel like characters themselves. Each map contains minor wildlife, destructible elements, unique hazards, secret caverns – making them feel like real, living habitats.
The Flooded Forest is a personal favorite thanks to how it changes based on dynamic weather. A Dry state offers open fighting spaces, while the Wet state floods the forest entirely leading to underwater battles!
Rise‘s new interactive elements like breakable ice walls, vine traps, and special endemeic life also encourage engaging with each environment on deeper levels. Along with the increased mobility of Wirebugs, I‘m constantly noticing new details even after dozens of hunts in each locale.
From frigid tundras, to scorching deserts, to overgrown jungles, Monster Hunter Rise‘s diverse locations provide the perfect stage for memorable boss battles. According to polls, the Frost Islands and Sandy Plains are the fan favorite locales – and I have to agree they are gorgeous next-gen environments brimming with life.
Rewarding Growth for All Playstyles
Monster Hunter‘s addicting loop of defeating monsters to use their parts to improve gear is incredibly satisfying. With Rise‘s streamlined systems, it‘s easier than ever to upgrade weapons and craft different armor sets with the skills you want.
One of my favorite additions is the Talisman system that adds a strong late-game gear grind. By using monster materials gathered on hunts, you can craft random Talismans with different Decoration slots and bonus Skills. Trying to roll for that perfect Talisman to finish a build gives you an incentive to keep hunting.
The flexible Switch Skills are also easy to unlock, allowing you to customize movesets to your playstyle. For example, I love giving Hunting Horn the Earthshaker silkbind that unleashes damage and buffs simultaneously.
With 14 unique weapons classes, endless gear combinations, and over 100 monsters to grind, you‘ll never run out of fun upgrades to chase after in Rise.
Multiplayer Hunting Taken to the Next Level
While Monster Hunter is great solo, it really shines when playing with others online. Rise makes partying up with friends seamless across single player and multiplayer:
- Join or host an online hub at any time
- Solo Village quests progress your hunter separately
- Play Hub quests together and share progress
- Seamless scaling from 1 to 4 players per hunt
Once you reach High Rank, the true Monster Hunter experience emerges. Communicating to coordinate abilities, chaining statuses via weapon combos, and leveraging environments as a team leads to extremely memorable hunts.
Nothing beats the rush of toppling an aggressive Rathalos through coordinated staggered mounts, part breaks, traps, and more. Rise‘s online experience will have you hunting with friends for hundreds of hours.
Massive Content That Keeps on Expanding
On just pure gameplay hours alone, Monster Hunter Rise is well worth the investment. Here‘s a quick breakdown of everything you get:
- 100+ hours of single player Village and Hub quests
- 90+ unique monsters to hunt across ranks
- 100s of gear pieces like armor, charms, decorations
- 500+ hours to complete all quests and optimize gear
- 1000s of hours from investigations and random quest modifiers
And that‘s just the base game! The Sunbreak expansion adds an entirely new 30+ hour campaign, over 20 new monsters, a huge new locale, and tons of new endgame systems.
Regular free Title Updates continuously add more monsters, events, crossovers, and endgame systems like Anomaly Investigations. No matter how much you play, there‘s always more gear to craft, monsters to master, and challenges to overcome.
Conclusion – An Absolute Must-Play in 2024
With its stacked progression systems, exciting new mobility tools, gigantic roster of imaginative monsters, and nearly infinite multiplayer co-op, Monster Hunter Rise is an easy recommendation for all gamers in 2024.
For existing Monster Hunter fans, it‘s the most refined experience yet with quality of life improvements across the board. For those new to the series, it‘s the best entry point with streamlined tutorials and tons of multiplayer support.
Rise strikes the perfect balance between retaining the methodical combat and rewarding growth loop of classic Monster Hunter, while speeding up the action and providing more mobility/customization options. And with Sunbreak, you get G-rank quests and monsters galore to enjoy after completing the main story.
So if you‘re still unsure about jumping into Monster Hunter Rise, take it from me: Rise is absolutely still worth playing today and belongs in any action RPG fan‘s library, especially at its current discounted price. Just be prepared to lose hundreds of hours mastering its incredible fights!
Happy Hunting!
