Monster Hunter Rise Demo (First Impressions) - Nintendo Switch
Monster Hunter Rise is the latest upcoming game in the Monster Hunter series, which has really had fans hyped since its initial reveal back in September. Thankfully, Capcom has released a demo to help tide fans over until it's March 26th release date. We've had our fare share of time with the demo and have decided to write up our initial thoughts and impressions!
The demo has two quests of beginner and intermediate difficulties. The beginner quest has you fight a Great Izuchi with a wandering Arzuros, and the intermediate quest has you hunt a Mizutsune, with wandering Rathian and Great Izuchi. Both quests allow the use of all 14 weapon types, and have a hefty amount of time to even allow you to fully explore the Ancient Shrine area.
The demo only has a limit of 30 quest tried, but this limit can easily be reset by deleting the save data for the demo. There are also two training quests for basic gameplay, and the newly added Wyvern Riding feature. Whilst these tutorials are welcomed, it would have been nice for a proper weapon tutorial quest, as the demo lacks and in-depth explanation on how the weapons work, excluding a few pages on the hunter notes. For veteran players like myself this isn't much of an issue, but it would certainly help those who are new to the series, or people like me who haven't played World and aren't as familiar with the upgraded weapon mechanics.
You also have full access to local and online play in the demo, allowing you to hunt with up to three friends, and each being able to bring a Palamute or Palico to the hunt. If you're interested and also want to experience co-op play but don't have an active NSO subscription, My Nintendo is offering a free 7 day trial, so you might want to consider picking that up!
For how the gameplay itself holds up, I really don't have any complaints. The improved and imported mechanics from World make the game feel a whole lot better, and the graphics look stunning. The new Wirebug features are a little tricky at first, but once you get the hang of them, there are so many flashy manoeuvres you can perform.
Previously I'd mainly stuck to the Switch Axe and Charge Blade, whilst dabbling in the Hunting Horn and Light Bow Gun - outside of those four, my knowledge for other weapons isn't so great. As for these, the Light Bow Gun and Hunting Horn have seem immense improvements that make them really enjoyable to play, particularly for the LBG. I'm sure the other weapons have seen similar upgrades, which I'll check out at a later date.
The inclusion of the Palamute really helps speed up gameplay, and from a few people I've spoken to, the Wirebug is a much better addition than the grappling hook from World. With both the Palamute and Wirebug, hardly any of the gameplay feels boring, and the secluded open world style of new maps really make the atmosphere more appealing. There's also a tonne of Endemic Life which not only add to the world, but they also grant temporary stat boosts!
As someone who has really loved the Monster Hunter series, March 26th can't come soon enough! We'll be doing a proper review once the game releases. If you've been interested in the Monster Hunter series, this is a demo I'd recommend checking out. My only concern is the lack of any in-depth weapon tutorials may be daunting, but there are a tonne of guides on YouTube if you're struggling. With 14 weapon types, there's something for everyone.
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