[Impressions] Monster Hunter World Beta

This weekend (December 9th through the 12th) ran the first public-ish beta for Monster Hunter World, specifically in the PlayStation 4, for anyone with a PlayStation+ subscription. So, of course I took the chance to finally try this game and bring you some of my early impressions.

First off, this game feels like any other recent Monster Hunter game, which means, the game feels great. The gameplay feels solid and engaged just as what I was used to in the Nintendo 3DS, except the hardware I’m using is completely different. One thing I couldn’t stop myself was to use the square button to attack, which is used to sheathe your weapon and use your selected item (facepalm). It took me some time to get used to attacking with the circle and triangle buttons, probably because of the time I’ve been spending playing Nioh and The Witcher 3. Anyway, the gameplay feels just as good as it feels in the Nintendo consoles, or maybe even better because the Dualshock 4 is much more comfortable to hold than a 3DS…

Now, for the content available. Each time you start the beta you’ll be prompted to create a new character and Palico, or rather choose one template because this isn’t the full game. After this, you have three main options: Single player, Multi player and Training. I’m going to be honest, I jumped straight to the action so I didn’t mess around with the Training. Both the single and multiplayer options include 3 different missions, each with increasing difficulty. Unfortunately the matchmaking didn’t seem to be working that great when I played, but that’s more than likely going be fixed in the full game or even tweaked before the end of the beta itself. Still, I was able to complete a quest with 3 other strangers the game matchmade with me. And oh boy, was it fun to wail on a monster with a group.

Both visually and audibly the game is stunning. The extra horsepower from the PS4 finally puts the game in a much better place regarding the graphics over the 3DS’ hardware and every slight sound the game produces sounds amazing. Not that the game was bad on the 3DS as we all know, it’s just that it’s nice to see where the developers push the game to brand new heights with the available hardware.

Coming back to the gameplay itself, it is mostly what we are used to (at least what happens while you’re on the field, you don’t have a chance to, for example, visit social spaces in the beta), slaying monsters and carving their parts, collecting materials, following the scout flies-wait, that’s something new! Yeah, Monster Hunter World introduces a brand new concept: the scout flies. These are, as the name implies, scout flies that help you find your targets. By analyzing the terrain (footprints, carcasses, mucus, etc.) the scout flies will “obtain more information about your target” and after collecting a certain amount of intel they’ll direct you to the monster. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to fully grasp how this new concept works, perhaps due to my short playtime, but still, it shows promise. Another great thing in World is the fact that the gameplay area is no longer segmented into tiny areas, instead it is just one single big sandbox that you explore and slay monsters in.

In terms of the weapons, armor and items, I didn’t interact with them that much, in part because of my short playtime, but still, I checked some of the different armor sets available and some of the new and returning items: they all looked great. The armor sets had good visual designs and the items included both well know items such as potions and traps, but also brand new items such as camouflage cloaks, which provide bonuses like elemental resistances or more obvious ones like the monster will take longer to detect you. For the weapons, those remain largely the same from what it seemed like to me. For the time I played I got to experiment with my favorite: the Switch Axe, but also with the Great Sword. Both played pretty much the same as what I remember when playing Monster Hunter Generations on the 3DS, so it means the Switch Axe is likely to continue to be my weapon of choice.

To close off this Impressions, it seems like Monster Hunter World, just as the previous entries, has incredibly solid foundations to build upon to deliver another great game. After playing this beta, I will definitely keep the game under my radar until it releases at the end of next month.

Fortunately, for your viewing pleasure, I recorded gameplay from my playtime. You can watch in the video below:

#impressions #beta #ps4 #monsterhunterworld #monsterhunter