MONSTER HUNTER RISE

Developer/publisher Capcom Format Switch

When you’re running out of runway, there’s only one place to go: up. With 2018’s World broadening Monster Hunter’s appeal and its environments – taking it from segmented biomes to a single expansive sandbox, earning Capcom its biggest-ever hit in the process – many wondered where the series could go next. Would it succumb to the scope creep of every big-budget sequel? The announcement of a new Switch game suggested the opposite: a backwards step on a less powerful machine, albeit with the tacit promise of a return to first principles (the series’ breakthrough was as a local multiplayer game played on handheld devices). In the event, we got a game that reintroduced some of the more esoteric, characterful flourishes its maker had appeared to drop in its move to home consoles, but one that retained World’s openness.

The biggest difference comes in the way you get around. You now have canine and feline allies, the former carrying you into battle before fighting alongside you. Yet it’s Rise’s insectoid grapple that proves the most inspired addition, transforming the way you navigate as well as how you fight. It would be wrong to say it’s a seamless transition: this is Monster Hunter, so of course it takes a while to acclimatise. But it’s been integrated so brilliantly into the natural rhythms of combat that once you have become familiar with it, returning to World is a real eyeopener: you really do miss that little Wirebug. That increased mobility only makes fights more exciting, whether you’re nimbly vaulting over a swiping tail or tying a sinuous monster in knots, before mounting it and riding it into battle against an even bigger beast. These shorter, pacier battles ensure you reach the endgame quicker, in a game that feels perfectly tailored to its format without losing the magnificent spectacle of its predecessor – lifting this much-loved series to thrilling new heights.