The Hunt Continues

Monster Hunter Rise really surprised me when I picked it up earlier this year. Like I said in my original review, I loved the weapons and monsters that populated its world and thankfully the latest expansion Sunbreak has added new challenges for players to test themselves against. But sadly, it does not do anything to the awful controls which continue to be the sore spot in an otherwise amazing game.

MSRP: $39.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, Switch, PC
Price I’d Pay: $39.99

I had gotten to a good place with the controls in Monster Hunter Rise before coming back to tackle Sunbreak. The real problem was that in my absence I also played Wild Hearts, which is EA and Koei Tecmo’s take on the monster hunter genre. I loved it, the controls and combat were a marriage made in heaven and felt like it was for me. I had become used to it so much that it made coming back for Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak feel like an entirely new game. After spending some time grinding out some high lvl quests I finally felt comfortable in my skills to attack Sunbreak’s content.

MHR: Sunbreak is not much of a departure from the vanilla game, with the catch being its mostly endgame content. The quests which previously were high and low now have added master rank to the mix. These are endgame, raid level like bosses and will fully test hunters’ skill and reflexes. Urgent quests will usually present players with new monsters from the expansion, but it was odd that even with Sunbreak requiring players finish the main game to even unlock it, the game still requires players to hunt monsters from the vanilla release far too often. Luckily, this only happens in the early hours of the expansion as the back half is usually all new monsters at ridiculous power levels.

The Master rank not only makes the new monsters tougher but even the oldies like Kulu-Ya-Ku, Pukei-Pukei, caused me to fail more than one hunt solo. Dodging is going to be paramount and that means using the wirebug efficiently. These combined with some of the things that can be crafted will help players tackle these harder challenges. I still love the fact that when I go down in Sunbreak, I never felt like the game cheated me. It was always because I clearly messed up (which was usually due to the overcomplicated controls) but that’s a testament to the developers making sure everything is in tip top shape.

The new monsters were the highlight of my experience in Sunbreak, the new crab monsters were by far my favorite. Due to them scuttling about it made their movements unpredictable and made for a much more dynamic and thrilling fight that forced me to get better at utilizing my movement skills. The only real issue with the expansion is that it takes so long to get to the new monsters. Having to complete the main game and then slog through the same monsters just juiced to Master rank makes for a bit of a slog but once you clear it the fun of discovering new monsters and techniques makes up for it. Sunbreak isn’t going to create new fans but it will give longtime ones a lot more of what they love.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.