Lots of info regarding Monster Hunter Rise has been slowly trickled out over the last month from CAPCOM. After the recent Rampage trailer, a deeper look into how the game functions courtesy of the development team (that we got to see behind closed doors), and some hands-on time with the demo, it’s clear that Rise has a lot to offer over its predecessors. There’s a myriad of features and inclusions to be excited about, but here’s four things that stood out to us the most.
The Wirebug Is More Than Meets The Eye
Rise’s flagship feature and biggest change to the tried and true hunting formula comes in the way of the Wirebug. On the surface, these silken beetles provide new movement options and attacks for each of the 14 weapon types, but it goes much deeper than that. The Wirebug also happens to be your primary means of mounting and toppling monsters, which is key to succeeding in hunts. Wirebug charges will refill as you hunt, and you can even increase your total charges for that quest by finding wild Wirebugs.
Create Your Own Turf Wars With Wyvern Riding
Like most of the returning features in Monster Hunter Rise, monster mounting behaves differently, allowing for new opportunities in combat. When mounting a monster, you can control and move them freely, ramming them into walls will cause them to topple, and allow your squad to move in for free damage.
The more exciting option, is using a mounted monster to attack another target, using light attacks, heavy attacks, and an evade to build up a super move-esque Mounted Punisher, dealing heavy damage to any monsters unlucky enough to be caught in the fray. This system opens up opportunities for hunters to create their own turf wars between monsters and can seriously turn the tide of a battle.
Use Endemic Life to Power Up your Hunting Capabilities
Scattered throughout all of Monster Hunter Rise’s unique locales is Endemic Life. Bugs, animals, and flora that can boost the stats of your hunters for the remainder of that quest. Endemic life can be found on the way to a monster’s den, or hidden throughout the vertically designed levels, incentivizing exploration, and preparation. While these bonuses seem insignificant at first, stacking the different kinds of buffs you can find on top of each other will make an impactful difference in the long term.
A Brand-New Training Area for New and Old Hunters
One thing that Monster Hunter has always struggled with, is introducing new hunters to how its weapons and battle systems work. While some weapon types like the Hammer and Dual Blades are fairly straight-forward, the more rewarding and nuanced weapons can take a decent amount of research and practice to get a grasp on how they’re played.
Rise looks to aid that issue with the inclusion of a training area that can be played with friends. This allows players to jump in and mess around with weapons they usually wouldn’t without having to start a fresh hunt at the same time. You can change the behavior of the aptly named Toadversary to get more familiar with particular weapon functions, or even take up arms at the target practice to hone your aim. It’s a simple, yet smart inclusion that will no doubt incentivize new players to move outside of their comfort zone and experiment.
Monster Hunter Rise launches on March 26th exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.
