Over the years, I have started countless Monster Hunter games and most of them have become things I gave up on after a dozen hours or so, sometimes less. The reason is simple, they were slow, clunky and weighed down by dozens upon dozens of systems and mechanics that made it impossible to understand, let alone enjoy. Rise however looked like it would be different, that this would be the game to break my streak of abandoned Monster Hunter games and you know what, it was.

Story has never been a massive thing for Monster Hunter games, it is usually a reason to venture out to kill monsters, but here it is slightly different, it has a purpose. You are a newly certified hunter, who grew up in the village of Kamura, a charming little place where very little goes wrong, except every 50 years when an event known as the Rampage happens and last time, it nearly wiped the village from the map. As the game starts, it has been confirmed that one is happening now and it is up to you, as the new hunter, to help get the village ready for this event and for that you need supplies, so it is time to hunt.

There are two locations in which you can obtain quests from, the village hub and the quest hub, the latter of which is where you multiplayer options lie. Sticking with the village hub for the moment, picking a quest up here, is very similar to past games, each quest has a main requirement, location and information, the fun is with the optional objectives you can add to any quest. These extra quests can be completed on their own, if you just head out on an expedition, but they are best combined with other quests, in order to complete as many as you like. The quests can be as simple as collecting a certain of an item, or killing a number of smaller beasts, the latter of that example pairs great with hunting a bigger beast, because they often like to call in help.

Completing quests, be they main quests or optional ones, lets you get new materials to upgrade and forge new gear, which in turn let you be better prepared for the Rampage, more on that in a bit. As you explore Kamura Village, you will encounter folks all around the place, some are just going about their day, others are manning stalls or preparing for the Rampage and they might have quests for you. These are additional quests that don’t count towards your optional quest limit and you can have a few going at once, most of the time they are just to obtain a select number of a given item, but occasionally, you might be tasked with capturing a photo of a critter in the wild. Due to the number of quest types, each time you venture out into the world, there is always something fun to do, but of course, you shouldn’t leave Kamura Village unprepared.

Now being prepared does not mean just getting potions and meat ready, though you should do that, it means getting some fluffy bunny dango and ensuring your pals are prepared as well. The bunny dango is one of the games more interesting elements, you can choose to ignore it, which if you are just going gathering, is ok, but if you plan on taking on monsters, you will want it. There are different flavours of the bunny dango and each one provides a different perk; some might allow you to get up faster after being knocked back and others will allow for a faster sharpening time of your weapon. Now each time you visit either of the two canteens, you can choose manually, or if you have ones you like, you can save them as a set and select it pretty quickly. The big catch though, is that unless you use a bunny dango ticket, the chance of the effects activating is random, sometimes you might have a 90% chance, other times 55% and obviously the higher the better, but once you have an active set, you have to go out on a hunt, before you can get another, so there is a little risk in how you activate them.

The other thing is for you to get your Palico and Palamute ready for action, most of the time, you shouldn’t need to change things, between each hunt, but after a while, each will have new skills or gear to make use of. The biggest thing you will want to do, is find a style of support for your Palamute that works for you, you can have them running out ahead, picking fights with all the creatures they can see, or sticking to your side like glue. Discovering what works for you is crucial, because you don’t want your buddy to pick a fight if all you want to do is find mushrooms and just like your Palamute can be told how to behave, the Palico has similar options. Once you have that set, you can manage their gear, letting them wear new armour or equip different weapons, to give you an edge in battle, heck it is even possible for you to add a chest to your Palamute, to give you more storage when on the go.

With all that taken into consideration, it would now be time to head out on the hunt and while some of the monsters are returning from previous games, there are so many new ones as well, so even if you are a diehard player, there will still be some new challenges to conquer. Fighting alone, or with a friend, it matters not, the balance of actions and defence come into effect and the best news I can say for online, is that it works, without issue. The monsters are all introduced by some haiku filled montages and while some of them seem intense, as long as you learn their tells, you should be able to achieve success without to much hassle. One of the big elements is that Wirebug, which lets you zip around the locations, well if you are fighting one monster and another comes rushing, they will ignore you and fight each other and if one gets stunned, you can use the Wirebug to ride it. Doing this can let you dish out some damage to the monster in your way, but you can also deal some good damage to the one you are riding, it is a nice bonus.

The Wirebug lets you zip around and it can’t be understated just how important it is, in fact if the Wirebug doesn’t make it into future games in the series, I am out. With it, you can climb up to higher parts of each location, clear massive gaps and more importantly, recover from being knocked on your butt by monsters. By default you will always have two Wirebugs, but when you use them, it will take a bit of time before you can do so again, in each location you can visit, you will find extras just lying around, which gives you a third, but that is all you can carry. When you enter into combat, the game slows down the recovery time of them, so if you do have to use it to recover yourself to get back into the fight, it will take a while to let you use it again, so be cautious. The other side of the Wirebug is that it can be a little tricky to aim just right, you can have it pull you forward, or up, with a button press, or you can free aim. The catch is, if you are trying to go up, if you are not quite close enough to the edge, your hunter may flip off and you can lose that heigh, do it on an angle though and they tend to run along the wall, which is not that helpful.

I mentioned before that your Palico and Palamutes can help you in battle, but there is more to the Palamute than just being an extra blade, the goodest of boys is so big, you can ride him. What is more impressive and changes the game in massive ways, when you are riding, you can still collect resources, mine things and attack enemies. But even above all that, you can eat, drink potions and sharpen your blade, so now, when a monster tries to flee from your might, you don’t have to waste time, hoping to get ready for round two, leaving time for it to recover health, because you can do it all on the go. When you go into a multiplayer session, you lose one of your buddies and while you can choose which one stays, it can be a hard choice, especially if your Palico is more of a supporting role.

Now none of what I have listed above talks about the endemic life, the helpful critters that live all around the place, but I also haven’t talk about upgrades in any big detail, for the most part, enhancing your armour is nothing to different from past games, except the Ramping Up option, that is tied to the Rampage. Now if you have seen any clips of the game, where it shows off the Rampage, you might have gotten the idea that is a tower defence mini-game and to some extent you would be correct. When you undertake a Rampage quest, you are given time to place defences down, from manually operated ballista, to auto-firing ones, or even calling in villagers to lend a hand. Once your defences are in place, the horde comes and while you might think they are smaller monsters, you would be wrong, all those big beasts you hunt one at a time, they are the horde and they usually come in pairs or more. Undertaking these quests is not easy, they will test your skills like nothing else, but the rewards for doing so are impressive and of course, they lead you to Magnamalo, the all new and terrifying beast.

What is not terrifying is the presentation, I am not sure how Capcom did it, but they managed to make the most beautiful game on the Switch, hands down. From the moment you start to explore Kamura Village, to your first trip to the Shrine Ruins and even to the Lava Caverns, the game is stunning. The creatures are filled with character and small touches that seem like they were placed there just so and with how they behave, they honestly feel like they could be real. Other characters that you interact with from the Village Chief, to the multiple chef’s and blacksmiths and beyond all have distinct looks and personalities, which make interacting with them fun. Of course your own character and animal buddies are nicely put together and given how you can wear whatever armour combination you want; you can end up with some fun looks.

There is an issue though with the visuals, you just can’t look to closely, because then things start to fall apart, not like vanishing elements, but you will spot the low-res textures. It is like when you see someone drawing one of those ultra-realistic pencil sketches, from afar it looks like a photo, it is perfect, but when you get close, you can see the pencil lines. Seeing the lines doesn’t remove from the beauty of the finished shot, but it does put an asterisk next to you seeing the finished product again, now the game is still beautiful, but just be weary of that. The other thing that might be an issue for you, is just how dead the village feels, there are people around, stall owners and such, but there is little else going on. Each time you return from a hunt, the same fisher-palico will run through town from the docks, up to the fish monger and just behind him will be the man taking metals to the massive forge building. There is little happening, even after massive events, like your first Rampage, the town still looks like a tranquil place to visit and their imminent destruction matters not to them, even though they constantly talk about it.

Another downside is just how little the towns folk have to say, honestly, if I hear Hinoa talk about how much she loves bunny dango one more time, I might break something. The same can be said for when you are with Hamon the blacksmith out in the village square, he says often, ‘Some hunters can take hours, I’m used to waiting’, except he comments on how long you are taking all the time, like all the time. I can understand the developers wanting to provide a sense that this is a real village, with real folks, but at the same time, they can honestly not speak for a few minutes, it wouldn’t hurt them. Your character can also be quite chatty, but thankfully there are options to limit how often they speak, sadly though there is no way to have them say appropriate things for the situation, taking a monster down after a 20-minute-long fight, only for your hunter to say how easy it was, not the right time really.

Please don’t misunderstand though, the games audio is great, the characters, when I want them to speak, sound wonderful and they fit within the games setting, but more than that, the music is the star. Each of the locations you can visit and the various parts of the village all have their own tracks and the locations have different ones for when it becomes night and they fit the game immaculately and if you don’t like a piece of music in a part of town, you can change it to one you do, it was how I got rid of the chanting song from the main square.

Monster Hunter Rise is a phenomenal game, with those coming in new to the series, or willing to give it a go for the first time in a while, will find a more open and faster paced game. The Rampage events change up the game, leaving behind the more traditional hunting aspect and providing a new series of challenges to players, without losing what makes Monster Hunter special. Character customisation is a delight and each piece of armour you craft, or weapon you equip, fits into the traditional Japanese aesthetic that the developers have gone with. Some minor issues with repetitive village life and visuals that don’t hold up, if you get especially close, but from start to finish, the game provided me with a feeling of utter delight and for new and returning players, it should do the same for you.