[Impressions] Monster Hunter World

Monster Hunter World marks the return of the series to home consoles, which means the game is bigger and even better than what it was in recent years on the Nintendo 3DS / Switch.

With the improved hardware on their hands, Capcom had the chance to make this game go further beyond what it could have ever been on handheld, and they fully delivered on our expectations. The Monster Hunter gameplay is something that always stood out in the industry just from the simple premise of setting out to fight giant monsters and coming back with parts to craft a new set of armor or weapon. However, in this entry, and as someone that played Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate and Generations (both 3DS titles) I can say without hesitation this is the best Monster Hunter game I've played, and by a long shot.

The thing that stands out right away is of course the graphics. If recent titles had a somewhat more cartoon-ish feel to them, World has a much more realistic appeal, with monsters looking a lot more menacing and detailed, along with the cool armor and weapons you craft for you and your Palico partner. On the other hand, the hub and the different maps you travel to feel alive and dynamic, that is, the stages are creeping with monsters and more often than not you'll find a new monster joining in on the fun mid-quest, which leads to a turf war between gigantic creatures right in front of you. Even the hub feels dynamic and somewhat responsive to your accomplishments. For example, after capturing a monster, you can see that monster being raised in an elevator to be studied later by the scholars and researchers. Overall, the hardware bump was an important piece of the puzzle to make World the great game that it is.

On the gameplay front, the game is as good as it ever was, that is, beating the life out of giant lizards or dragon-like creatures feels super satisfying. Every hit you get on an enemy remains meaningful and taking into account your positioning, your health, stamina and what type of attacks the monster in front of you can use are still crucial aspects you need to keep in mind if you want to be the last one standing. An addition to the formula is that now you can see actual damage numbers for your attacks and damage to vulnerable parts is differentiated so that you can immediately understand what part of the monster's body you should target. There is also the addition of the scoutflies which guide you towards your objective by finding footprints or monster remains on the way. Oh, and one more important thing: the map being physically split into different areas is a thing of the past, now each map is a single piece of land which you can run through without the need for loading screens.

However, what truly makes me love this game so far, beyond the actual gameplay, is the accessibility in what leads up to it. Since the game makes sure to explain every mechanic, be it through a small text tutorial accompanied by a video sample or by actual gameplay, I never felt overwhelmed or confused by what was going on, which is a feat in my opinion given the myriad of underlying systems mechanics. Bravo Capcom for making Monster Hunter systems' feel somewhat natural and understandable. Though, it's not just the understanding of the game's systems that make the game feel more accessible, quality of life improvements such as auto-crafting upon item pickup or in-game "notes" about monster's vulnerable parts make this entry feel a lot more complete and immersive, without the need to pause the game to go look up information about a monster on the fan-driven wiki.

All in all, Monster Hunter World is the perfect point for new fans to join the franchise without making it too easy or a dumbed-down version of the formula. No, instead what we have here is a Monster Hunter game that throws all the bullsh*t aside and gives you all the tools to minimize the time you waste looking at information about monsters and maximize the time you spend beating the crap out of them.

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