Monster Hunter Rise, the new installment of the saga, comes exclusively to Nintendo Switch to continue the legacy of the Capcom saga and bring news.
The soul of the Monster Hunter that we like the most is back. After testing the demo of the game available on Nintendo Switch, it has become clear to us that the Capcom team in charge of the saga intends to maintain the classic spirit of the franchise, starting from elements that worked very well in the last great installment, Monster Hunter World , remember those keys that fit into those of the portable series and add a pinch of novelties to obtain a satisfactory formula for everyone. Below we break down everything we know about Monster Hunter Rise and we leave some of our personal wishes expressed in order to make the wait until next March 26 as pleasant as possible.
The keys to the history of Monster Hunter Rise
The catastrophic event known as the Frenzy caused hordes of monsters to start attacking the village and their ancestors were barely able to cope. Learning their lesson, they armed themselves and prepared for the arrival of a new wave of enemies, which did not occur until later. This phenomenon continued to repeat itself in a random way and particularly the Frenzy that occurred fifty years ago was about to devastate the village. Will this generation be the ones to discover the mystery behind this event and manage to stop it once and for all?
A new day dawns in Kamura Village. The sun barely rises, but the hunters who live in the place are almost ready to go on an expedition. The felyne gather in the great kitchen of Yomogi, the chef, to prepare breakfast feasts and the blacksmith Hamon heats up his forge to welcome the steel of each one who passes by before venturing beyond the safety of the village walls. Once well equipped and after drawing up a strategic and effective plan with Master Utsushi, each of the hunters and hunters went to a section of the territory to try to finish off the dangerous beasts that nest there.
Some are truly beautiful, and some are fury at each scale, but they all have one thing in common: they are our goal and we must end their lives to ensure the safety of Kamura Village and its inhabitants. Nothing is wasted or in vain, since the skins, fangs, claws, scales and other elements that these monsters drop will be used to create new armor and improve existing ones. With all this, we hunters make sure to keep intact an endless circle, which defines their daily lives and marks our game sessions through the screen.
We belong to a guild of hunters, whose leader is called Hojo. As for the method to enroll in each of the adventures that await us, go by talking with Hinoa, the manager of the missions. In fact, it is she who sits on the menu of the demo and welcomes us to this little fragment of a great story … or maybe it is her twin sister Minoto, who can we meet at the reception? We can distinguish them thanks to their ornamental headdresses and their opposite character, since one of them will maintain her serene expression while her sister is in charge of lighting the village with her bright and perpetual smile.
We can count on the help of other fellow hunters to give us a hand in the hunts and the whole process is much more enjoyable and dynamic, but if we want to embark on each mission alone we will always have the presence of a couple of faithful comrades . On the one hand we have a felyne armed with various weapons and protection tools that will help us if we need healing and will accompany us in each battle to weaken the enemy little by little. The young Iori, grandson of Hamon the blacksmith, is in charge of managing the companions, whom we can also send as part of the Myucenaries to carry out independent missions. Kogarashi is the comrade leader, who is in command of these particular mercenaries.
On the other hand, a faithful canyne will offer us its back to mount it and thus increase our speed of movement through each terrain. Long distances will be shortened in an intelligent way since, as you well know: time is a very valuable resource for any hunter worth his salt. Bubos, very popular pets in Kamura, are loved for their loving and intelligent nature and will help us on each mission by showing the location of monsters as well as providing some comfort, a thank you feature especially on expeditions where We return in pain on a stretcher to the starting camp and need several servings of delicious roast beef to recover.
Those mentioned are not the only members of the Kamura village, far from it. Rondine is a mysterious merchant who came to our home aboard the Argosy, a ship, from a distant land and will sell us useful and varied items with which to expand our inventory. If what we are looking for is to delight our palate we can always count on Komitsu, a young and brave girl nicknamed “the sweet tooth” who sells us caramelized apples and to whom everyone has great affection. And of course, how could it be otherwise, Elder Fugen is the solid pillar overseeing the village and making sure to keep morale high. He was once a great hunter and the shadow of his legend still follows him wherever he goes.
New playable features, the chordopter, new monsters and more
The useful chordopter is the main novelty that we find in Monster Hunter Rise. It is an artifact that provides an interesting vertical opening to the stages and encourages us to explore every corner, a key element. Inspecting the tracks and traces of each monster that patrols the area until we get to where it is to hunt it down is the core of the saga and something that we can do more dynamically in Rise. Capcom has managed to masterfully capture those elements that made World succeed and has captured them in this installment without forgetting its status as a laptop, something that is reinforced in each of its sections.
Returning to the idea of the chordopter, it will not only allow us to climb mountains and reach places where varied surprises await us, but in combat we can use it both to escape from enemies if the confrontation becomes complicated and to control and dominate certain monsters to mount them. Once on their backs, the ropes with which we hold them will serve to control them as if they were a puppet and thereby attack other creatures and find the best way to solve each situation. Even though we only have two charges of the chordopter on hand, we can increase this number if we collect more units on the ground, something that adds an additional point to the preparation before going after a monster that we always find.
These admirable adversaries are the true protagonists of any Monster Hunter. For this reason, at Rise we are happy to welcome a good handful of new additions as well as meet many others that we already know. Examples of novelties are: Aknosom, Bishaten, Goss Harag, Gran Izuchi, Magnamalo, Somnacanth, and Tetranadon. However, their names are of little use to us, since when a monster is truly known it is when we face it. For this we will have to wait to have the full version in hand, but in the demo some of these creatures are already glimpsed, which we can hunt and therefore know in the best possible way. As for other news, for now we do not know much about it but we hope that a few are hidden in surprises in the full version.
RE Engine power and engine optimization
After having played the demo both in dock and laptop mode, we must admit that we have been surprised by the graphic and technical result. An adapted version of Capcom’s own RE Engine (used in titles like Devil May Cry 5 and Resident Evil 8: Village) has been used to outline every detail and thus avoid the appearance of the dreaded “saw edges”, texture popping and many other problems that usually come from the hand of various works that land on the Nintendo hybrid. One of these errors, known as stuttering (it causes momentary sudden stops in the refresh rate of the images of a game), has appeared in the demo but the company has already rushed to ensure that it will not reach the final version.
There is no doubt that it will sneak into the games with a better experience in terms of graphic and technical section of the Switch catalog. However, once again it is advisable to call for caution and wait until the arrival of March 26 to access the final version and clear up doubts. Capcom promises a title that meets and exceeds the expectations of all fans of the saga and even serves as a gateway to new players, something that we do not doubt that they will end up achieving both in Japan and beyond its borders.
Promises and dreams on the horizon
Until next February 1 we have time to install and test the demo, since from that date it will disappear from the eShop. It is convenient to give it a try if acquiring the full version is among our plans, since with the save file that is stored in the memory of the console we will get a totally free digital content pack composed of potions, traps, energy drinks and more that will be really useful to us.
To conclude, we want to express our desire for Monster Hunter Rise to become that delivery that the fans have been dreaming of for a long time. World certainly met our expectations, but we were already looking forward to a new portable installment. Those of us who enjoy the ones that came to PSP mark on the calendar that March 26 so as not to forget the moment from which we will be able to discover how Capcom has transformed all the experience acquired in the past years to make a very promising work that we hope will sneak into our personal list of favorites of this peculiar year 2021.
