Monster Hunter Rise PC – Worth a Buy? | Reviews, Guide and Tips

Introduction

Hey everyone, how are you guys doing today?

Welcome to the first guide of our Worth a Buy series.

In this first guide I’m going to be giving you my first impressions on Monster Hunter Rise. I’ll also be showing you some gameplay footage, where you can see my feeble attempts at shooting with a bow.  

When I first heard about Monster Hunter Rise, I really wanted to get my hands on the game. I knew I just had to get it. As a teen, I always looked forward to coming home from school and playing Monster Hunter on my PSP and I’ve been a big fan ever since. Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to play Monster Hunter Rise on the switch. I was so excited when they announced a PC port. You could say this is a totally new and fresh Monster Hunter experience for me. So, did it live up to all the hype?

Let’s take a look, shall we?

Introduction to Rise PC

If you don’t know what Monster Hunter is, it’s basically a game where you hunt various monsters, carve them up and use those materials to create better gear, where you then fight harder monsters and get even better, more stylish gear and so on and so forth.

You start off the game with an incredible character creator, with lots of fun customization options. As I finished creating my character, I was surprised when I was given the option to customize my pet cat, who is called a Palico, my dog, known as a Palimute and my owl, the Cohoot. As you progress into the game, you can even get more Palicoes and Palimutes with various skills to suit your every need. I’m going to be a bit biased here and say that the cat is my favorite, because I always found them really cute and funny. They’re also incredibly useful in combat and can support the hunter or even deal a large amount of damage as a Bombardier. 

Yes, cats can run around bombing monsters, and it’s absolutely amazing.

Walkthrough

Anyway, as I started playing the game, I felt that Rise is a lot like the spiritual successor of Monster Hunter world, as it features a lot of the amazing things that made World so great, like breathtaking graphics, challenging monster hunts and awesome maps. In fact, I was quite impressed at what Capcom managed to achieve considering the technical limitations of the Switch. And the pc port genuinely looks and feels pretty good.

I think all players would definitely love the new monsters, maps and interesting gameplay mechanics. The wirebugs are likeable, which allows the player to traverse around the terrain like Spider-Man. I also love the village, which in my opinion is more vibrant than villages in past titles.  Actually, everything I’m saying just reinforces why it was such a great hit in the Nintendo Switch among Veteran and Novice Hunters alike. The Monster Hunter franchise has always excelled at adding new and exciting features with each entry to the series, and Monster Hunter Rise certainly does not disappoint.

PC vs Switch

The game actually looks even better on the PC, giving players a list of advanced graphical settings to choose from. However, even though Monster Hunter Rise looks better on PC, the improvements are not extremely noticeable and there are several disadvantages. Namely, you can’t hunt on the go like you can in the Switch version, and the graphics are still a step back from Monster Hunter World. Regardless, the gameplay elements are the same and I’d say it’s as good as the Switch version overall.

Accessibility for beginners

Monster Hunter Rise feels a lot more accessible compared to previous titles. For example, you had to find what the key quests were for each hunter rank, while Rise just tells you what you need to do next.  If you’re a long-time fan, then you’ve probably gotten tired of all the excessive grinding, survival mechanics and comparatively poor mobility, which made previous installments feel rather difficult for beginners. Actually, compared to other Monster Hunter games, Monster Hunter Rise elegantly cuts away some of the grueling aspects the franchise is known for, which left a great impression on me.

I was never particularly a big fan of survival mechanics, which forced the player to buy a Hot or Cool drink depending on the area’s temperature. One example of a nightmare scenario was repeatedly killing the same monster over and over again just to get the right gear, although I wouldn’t mind if this was my high school math teacher hehe. However, while it’s true that Rise feels a lot more beginner friendly, the game is still hard to master. Even with countless tutorials that explain the various mechanics of the game, remembering these walls of text can be quite unsettling for beginners. Some of these grueling aspects are still present, but I think the problem has been reduced to the point past where it’s a major issue, allowing the player to focus on other things, such as getting a hang on the combat mechanic’s steep learning curve. 

Mobility

What I really like about Rise is how easy it is to move around the map. The verticality and overall mobility is so amazing, and I think Capcom has given us something we never knew we needed. Remember that customizable dog I mentioned earlier? Well would it excite you more to know that you can even ride it? Imagine riding a dog headfirst into the battlefield as you engage an opposing Rathalos! These dogs move extremely fast too and make gathering really easy. Early game, this is the main reason why traversing feels so swift and smooth. But that’s not the only thing they’ve improved in the mobility aspect. The wirebugs I mentioned earlier can do all sorts of things, like grapple onto surrounding walls and structures. But that’s not all, as Hunters are also able to parkour around the wall after grappling onto surfaces. 

All this adds a lot of character and spice to the game. It feels way more three-dimensional and hooks you in even more. Wirebugs can also be used to recover when knocked down by a monster. This mechanic has saved my hide many times, and they can even be used offensively to get back into the fray with a silkbind attack, which changes for each weapon type. These bugs have a cooldown depending on what you use them for, but it doesn’t feel particularly long. In combat, I found that I always had a wirebug when I needed it most. With the Wirebug, Palimute mounts and other tricks, there are plenty of exciting ways to move in this game, whether you’re scaling a mountain, outmaneuvering an enemy or dealing damage with silkbind attacks.

Combat 

Speaking of damage, there are actually many ways to deal damage in this game thanks to Rise’s extensive list of weapons, such as the Long Sword, Switch Axe and Insect Glaive.  I particularly had a lot of fun using the bow, which funnily enough does way more damage using melee attacks at the early stages. Like all Monster Hunter games, it takes time to master each weapon type. The variety of playstyles makes Monster Hunter quite fun and unique. You may be a fan of the Sword and Shield, but turned off by the Heavy Bow Gun’s clunkier playstyle. It’s very important to find the right weapon for you, and Monster Hunter Rise makes that easy by giving us 14 weapon types to choose from.

Monster Hunter Rise also likes to remind us that the best offense is not necessarily the best defense. Knowing how to dodge enemies can make or break a hunt, which requires a decent amount of experience to fully master. While in combat, monsters do tend to run away midfight, which gives you plenty of time to explore the area, sharpen your blade and hunt down endemic life buffs. Now that I think about it, a hunter wearing their mother’s carcass, flying around the terrain with bugs that shoot out wires and a pointy stick to attack them would explain why they’re so afraid.

Mounting

Unlike past Monster Hunter games, Monster Hunter Rise reveals your target monster on the map, which allows hunters to more easily ambush their prey. One of the most interesting features in this game is monster mounting, you can do this by doing enough silkbind attacks to trigger a state where you can control a monster with your Wirebugs. You can literally ride them around the map in great lengths and attack other monsters. What’s interesting is that each mountable monster has their own unique moveset, which is kind of crazy when you think about it. There are also times where you fight multiple monsters at once. This is normally a disadvantage, but monster mounting can actually make these fights a lot easier. Monster mounting is extremely fun, after all, who doesn’t want to see a dinosaur going haywire, running around everywhere and attacking a dragon.

Multiplayer

Monster Hunter Rise also has a fun and engaging multiplayer mode, where you can interact with other hunters, hunt monsters together and collect materials. As a solo player, I played a lot of multiplayer quests, but I sure did have a lot of fun doing so. Certain weapons even have support capabilities, such as the Hunting Horn and Bow, providing major buffs to your allies in battle.

Rampage Mode

There’s also a mode called The Rampage, which is sort of like a cross between regular combat and tower defense. In it, you’ll fight with waves of monsters going crazy and attacking settlements, for reasons that will be made clear as the game progresses. You can fight off these monsters with your weapon of choice and you can also set various installations to assist you in combat, such as the Defender Ballistae and Cannons. The rampage can get super out of control and it’s actually quite fun as you get used to it. However, if it ever gets too out of control, you can always play with friends and defeat hordes of enemies together. 

Conclusion

Monster Hunter games typically take very long to complete, but Monster Hunter Rise is shorter than recent titles. If this were any other franchise, this wouldn’t be a problem, but I’d expect more from Capcom, as Monster Hunter World set a very high bar in the series.

With luck, the DLC expansion will give Monster Hunter Rise the endgame content it deserves. This isn’t to say Rise is a bad game. In fact, it’s actually quite impressive how the Monster Hunter franchise continues to innovate with each release, and while Monster Hunter Rise may not be the graphical and expansive spectacle World is, it more than makes up for it by offering us with incredibly engaging gameplay and a large variety of monsters to hunt down.  Overall, this game is unquestionably really good if you’re willing to put the time into it, and it rewards you for doing so. Not gonna lie, I am looking forward to grinding countless more hours into the game!

And that’s it for today’s Worth a Buy guide. I know I only scratched the surface of Rise’s intricacies, so let me know in the comment section about what you guys think of Monster Hunter Rise. Are you enjoying the Wirebug mechanics and everything else as much as I am? Let me know what your favorite weapon type is, I definitely wanna hear your opinion. Also, let us know what you think about the Worth a Buy series. If you found this video helpful, please give us a like, it truly helps us out, and don’t forget to subscribe for more gaming guides. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you guys next time!

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