Post Script

The key changes that make World the most welcoming Monster Hunter to date

We’re sure it’s a happy accident. Idle awhile on Monster Hunter: World’s title screen and the music will likely remind you of another popular cooperative multiplayer-focused game. Evoking Destiny certainly isn’t the worst idea, not least with Bungie’s game currently leaving its players a little ill at ease. Some will have drifted to the likes of PUBG or Fortnite, but Capcom’s game is another potential alternative – and it’s precisely that kind of player that World is seeking to win over.

There are more obvious signs that this most Japancentric of series has been taking notes from western games as it attempts to provide a friendlier welcome to rookie hunters. Its ill-judged opening, for example: a sub- Uncharted set-piece that makes out you’re climbing a fiery mountain, before it’s revealed that you’re on the back of a colossal Elder Dragon known as Zorah Magdaros. It’s a clunky thing, hardly representative of the rest of the game; likewise a later sequence in which you face off against the beast once more, this time ferrying ammo to cannons and ballistae which you must load and fire at the dragon to halt its progress.

These are missteps, sure, but they’re ones taken in the right direction. World tries hard to retune its more esoteric tendencies to appeal to a broader audience – and, judging by the early response, it seems to have largely succeeded. A subsequent tutorial is similarly laboured, but in walking players through the first main area, it at least gives newcomers a better idea of what to expect, while running veteran players through a couple of the bigger changes, including the Scoutflies. It ends with a bang, too, as you witness at close quarters a battle between two beasts: a useful reminder that running away when outmatched is not only an acceptable tactic, but also an eminently sensible one.

Since you’re travelling as part of a group of ecologists tracking the movements of the Zorah Magdaros and charting this so-called New World, it’s perhaps a little incongruous that your research tends to involve slaying anything you encounter rather than bringing back live specimens. Capture missions do come in time, but a later sequence that touches upon the way the death of a creature can itself help perpetuate life in a working ecosystem seems to have been designed mostly to make the player feel better about all the beasts they’ve slain and carved up into hats. Either way, by the time we reach World’s main hub, we’ve got a robust narrative setup with a tangible reason to both explore the land and remove any obstacles preventing the researchers from venturing further into it.

This framing has more important benefits elsewhere. Activities in the field reward you with Research Points that are, if anything, a more valuable currency than your assignment fees. Optional bounties invite you to investigate bonepiles, collect mushrooms and herbs, and mine ore, as well as killing or capturing monsters. Rather than separate foraging missions, these can be undertaken as part of a standard hunt or expedition.

Meanwhile, a barrage of text tutorials gives you extra detail on the various vendors and NPCs you should be interacting with before missions. It’s a conventionally Japanese way of doing things, but while it gives you all the information you really need, it’s debatable whether it properly attunes all players to the importance of the pre-hunt routine. Soon, though, you’ll get into the habit: putting together a shopping list, checking your item pouch to make sure you’re suitably equipped, crafting restoratives or traps if need be, buying provisions, eating a health and stamina-boosting meal, and finally accepting your assignment. Job done, you return, hand in your bounties, upgrade your kit, and repeat the process. In time, the ritual becomes second nature – in part because Astera doesn’t feel merely like an extended lobby, but a location in its own right, a place in which you’ll actively want to spend time.

As far as combat goes, World provides a much gentler on-ramp for beginners. A training area lets you test out the 14 different weapon types, while button prompts during a hunt let you know which moves you can pull off and when. It’s not totally successful, since if you’re focused on the action the text is in your peripheral vision, and in the middle of a combo, inputs may only flash up for a split-second. But it’s enough to get through the first few quests, by which time you’ll realise how much you’re learning on the job.

There’s still room for improvement. Any soughtafter weapons or armour pieces can be added to a wishlist, which lets you know when you’ve got all the ingredients you need to make those Rathalos Vambraces you’ve had your eye on. It’s a great idea, but while you’ll know exactly where to get the monster parts you need, you won’t know offhand where the other materials come from. That, almost inevitably, is found within a completely different screen. And it doesn’t quite do enough to warn new players that damage scaling means it’s unwise to play as a pair – after three failed attempts at taking down Anjanath as a duo, two of the Edge crew soloed it with little trouble.

To a point these are understandable stumbles – and besides, Capcom has already earned enough goodwill to overcome them with its schedule of free DLC and lack of microtransactions. For once, a loot-based game comes without any extra pressure on the player to pony up; if World shows Monster Hunter has learned a few tricks from its western contemporaries, this is one important lesson it can hopefully teach them in return.

There are missteps, sure, but they’re ones taken in the right direction