The Monster Hunter collection has all the time been one thing that existed in my periphery. These are video games that share numerous their mechanics, methods and basic vibe with lots of my favorite video games. However they all the time felt out of attain; it by no means made sense to satisfy them the place they’re. I care lots about sport presentation, and Monster Hunter video games have historically been locked to handheld consoles.
I don’t play Nintendo video games, so the possibility of me getting one of many firm’s handhelds is virtually zero, and I actually wasn’t going to get one to play a monster looking sport that runs at 30fps and, effectively, appears like this. You may name me shallow all you need, however I demand a sure degree of graphical constancy and fluidity within the video games I play. Blame rising up with PCs, I suppose.
And so, everytime a Monster Hunter sport comes out, I get the identical folks telling me to chunk the bullet and purchase a used 3DS and simply check out any Monster Hunter for a day. My reply was all the time no.
Monster Hunter World is six years outdated at present. It was the primary Monster Hunter I performed, and that’s as a result of Capcom lastly determined to carry it to the place I used to be.
It’s simple to neglect now, however Monster Hunter World wasn’t truly launched on all platforms when it got here out. It could be having a significant resurgence on Steam at present, however the sport wouldn’t land on PC for an additional seven months after the preliminary PS4/Xbox One launch. It ended up being one of many greatest releases on Steam of that yr, broke all types of data for Capcom, and Japanese-developed video games.
That delay made me reluctant to select it up on PS4. I knew it might finally come to PC, and I actually didn’t wish to have to purchase it twice – particularly understanding that save information gained’t switch between platforms. But once more, the monster looking dream was out of attain. Everybody else at VG247 was taking part in it, and most had by no means performed a Monster Hunter sport prior. Many Slack conversations later, I broke down one weekend and picked up a duplicate. I distinctly keep in mind coming in on Monday proclaiming, “guys, Monster Hunter is an efficient sport.”
The fist time I fought a monster in Monster Hunter World, a lot of the character motion, animation precedence, and the push-and-pull of the combat all felt acquainted due to how a lot I performed Souls video games. There’s clearly an enormous distinction within the depth Souls-likes current vs a regular Monster Hunter sport, and actually, the quantity of depth itself. However the transition from one to the opposite felt pure, it wasn’t like making an attempt to play a shooter with a controller after years of taking part in completely with mouse and keyboard.
I believe many others felt the identical approach the second they obtained their palms on Monster Hunter World, and it’s a part of what made it such a phenomenon. By the point the collection had developed to the purpose of the place World was – graphically, mechanically, and so forth. – its conceit was not area of interest. Individuals already had an thought in regards to the type of sport that it was.
This was additionally an enormous sport with large bold launched on big-boy consoles. It confirmed up in a post-Future period, the place you can make a compelling argument that, truly, it’s a loot sport. I vividly keep in mind mates who burned out on Future leaping into World and utilizing Gunlances, and Heavy Bowguns and treating it as a shooter.
And actually, if you concentrate on it, the main fights in Monster Hunter are successfully mini-raids. It takes a co-ordinated crew to kill the monster with out operating out of the restricted variety of lives, and doing it shortly sufficient that it doesn’t flee. All of the prep that goes right into a hunt like that, from choosing the right gear with applicable resistances, to the suitable weapons with the simplest elemental injury, and even having the suitable meal on the cantina for some further buffs shouldn’t be not like the pre-raid prep a Future group does.
Monster Hunter World’s greatest triumph stays how effectively it managed to neatly match into all these little packing containers, providing totally different thrills for various gamers, and wrapping all of it in the identical sport. There’s actually no getting round the truth that it turned a distinct segment handheld sport spoken about in hushed tones into one thing you want to play as a result of everybody else is.
It was completely the occasion of 2018. I don’t know the way it managed to try this, and do it so effectively that it shortly turned (and stays) Capcom’s best-selling sport in its complete historical past. Monster Hunter was all the time valuable, it simply wanted that one breakout sport for the world to see that.