Thrill of the hunt
I haven’t spent much time with Monster Huntersince the first game on PlayStation2. I tried a few of the handheld entries but bounced off them without a significant time commitment. That’s all going to change with Monster Hunter: World. After its E3 reveal and a new 20-minute guided gameplay tour, I’m all in on the idea of stalking dinos in a massive open world.
Monster Hunter: World is breathtaking. The newly released gameplay video sells the series’ core fantasy — that in some universe, existence revolves around hunting, gathering, and big-ass weapons — through both gameplay mechanics and a diverse, digital ecosystem.
It’s a treat to see how Monster Hunter: World‘s various systems come together. Exploration and combat seem much more fluid than in past entries, as players can set traps and launch assaults on their queries at any moment. The creatures themselves are an impressive bunch too, conveying a sense of scale and power that I never got from past handheld titles.
Monster Hunter: World is scheduled to release early next year on both Xbox One and PlayStation 4. It’ll come to PC sometime after the console launch.