Last week, Nintendo and Capcom held a digital event for Monster Hunter Rise. It was everything fans wanted it to be and more, and ended with confirmation that a demo was launching the very same day. Even though it actually launched the very next day. Regardless, most Switch fans got hold of the demo for the weekend, myself included, and we’ve all been playing as much of it as we can’t. It’s limited to 30 hunts, though thankfully the tutorials don’t count as hunts, so you can play them as much as you want. This is a demo that I’d thoroughly recommend because this game is going to be big. In fact, I think it’s going to be the defining game of the Nintendo Switch for 2021.
The demo gives you a taste of the worlds of Monster Hunter Rise. They’ve completely transitioned from the older games. In those, players had to adventure from small sections of the world through loading screens. Each one was large, but not as large as the world of Monster Hunter World. While Monster Hunter Rise’s world isn’t quite as big as Monster Hunter World’s, at least in the demo, it is all interlinked.
This means that Capcom is moving forward with their more natural version of the worlds for Monster Hunter games. Large and small monsters alike can be found roaming the world, and they’ll interact with each other as well. Some will hunt in packs, while others will actively fight each other before your very eyes. In fact, that’s a great way to wait for a monster to be weakened.
I played the beginner hunt first, and in there I saw three monsters working together. I’ve not seen this before, and it was fresh and felt new. Monster Hunter Rise definitely isn’t just another entry with reused content, it’s pretty damn good. In the Intermediate hunt, the slightly harder one, I failed time and time again. However, when I knocked the monster on its back, I did see a pack of smaller monsters move in to attack it. This reminded me of scavengers in the real world that will do this to animals whilst larger predators are hunting. It’s crazy how lifelike this series has become, and I can’t wait to see more when I get my hands on the full game in March.