Monster Hunter: World (2018)

I guess epic hunting simulation ain't my cup of tea.

I had this one gather dust in the library until my close circle of friends decided to tackle this, so... It finally came down to see what made this game (and the franchise) stand on its own in the video game community.

The game trumps on the David & Goliat-esque concept, the selling point being to hunt large monsters and craft new equipments out of loots as a means to level your character up stats-wise. Battles outcome depends primarily on the sum of your weapon choice (and it's respective moveset), the enemy's behavior and how well you adapt. There’s a Souls-like rhythm to combat that rewards patience and mastery—fight, slay, loot, craft, repeat for a higher tier. I get that the MH community are hooked on it enough to praise the franchise's concept.

But for me? The payoff felt underwhelming. Combat is dynamic and engaging, but the constant grind wore thin. The story is barely there, and the characters failed to make an impact. That said, the game world looks fantastic, and there’s depth for those willing to climb the steep mechanical learning curve. Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was just going through the motions.

If, like me, you're unsure whether the hype matches your taste, sample the gameplay before committing. It might just click—or not.

This review has been a long time coming. I originally booted up MH World all the way back in April 2021. Got through the main story of Low Rank using defender gear, but barely scratched the surface of Iceborne. Things in my life got busy, and while I was having fun with MH World, it kind of pulled away from me. The gameplay was addicting, I had fun using the bow and LS, but I kind of just gave up after I realized the grind wasn't worth it for me at the time.

Fast forward to March 2023. A little jolt of nostalgia hit me. I had an itch to really dive into MH World IB this time and see it through to the end up to Fatalis. Well, I began this journey. Starting with a whole new character, whom I named Guts as I had just been introduced to Berserk recently at the time, I once again got through Low Rank. I focused primarily on the use of the Great Sword this time around as it felt fitting for my Guts roleplay. I had fun once again going through low rank, and once I got to Iceborne I began to feel the pressure of this game. My biggest complaint with this game and series as a whole is the lack of explanation for anything. I became overwhelmed with the vast amounts of systems and mechanics implemented into the game. Skills, farming systems, environmental interactions, confusing menus, etc. It began to take a toll on me. I struggled on and eventually got to Barrioth. This was my first true gameplay challenge in this game. Up until now, I really hadn't struggled too much against monsters. I had fun fighting them and even if they carted me a few times I was usually able to come back stronger. Barrioth for some reason, put me in check. This is what really made me look at my armor, weapon, and build overall, and what made me confused and overwhelmed. I began looking at different armor pieces for the skills I wanted, various decos I could use, the right xharms, etc. I finally put together a suitable build for my GS, and goth through Barrioth. Unfortunately, I didn't get the wave of excitement and relief I was looking for. I put my controller down, and turned off World for months. I said I didn't think Monster Hunter was for me, and stepped away. I was too boggled down in menus and build crafting, that it was taking away from the enjoyable gameplay.

January 2024, something compelled me to come back. Seeing the first trailer for Wilds in December 2023 is what did it for me. I had to play that game, which means I had to finish World IB. A couple friends of mine were playing through World and IB again, and I decided to join them. They actually manage to catch up pretty fast to where I was at in IB. I think this is when MH finally clicked for me. After around dozens of hours in game, I was finally putting everything together. I learned what skills to prioritize for GS, got my necessary armor and power charms/talons, learned how to utilize the farm in game, customized my radial menu/loadouts. It was time consuming, but it made things more manageable over time. I felt like a God swinging around my great sword, and feely felt I was beginning to master the weapon. So much so, that I branched out a dabbled in other weapons. I tried the HBG for a bit, and while fun, still didn't replace my main GS. I also fell in love with the GL around this point, and it's probably my 2nd most used weapon in this playthrough. I also tried out the Switch Axe for a dozen hours or so, and definitely want to come back some day and put more time into it because it was a bast. I decided that I should probably focus on maximizing my GS potential/gameplay, so I focused my build/skills around it. My buddies and I got through IB, did all endgame content, and began preparing for Alatreon and Fatalis. My friends kind of stopped playing, but I was determined to see it through to the end. Throughout 2024 I dabbled with World IB off and on, mainly due to the fear of committing to the Grinding Lands. I took long breaks between play sessions, but towards the end of 2024, I locked in. I grinded out the Guiding Lands, maxing every region to level 7 to get the max rewards/materials needed to augment my weapon and armor. I was preparing for Alatreon. Once I learned about his elemental gimmick, I was low key pissed. GS is not known for being an elemental weapon, so being forced to change my build around a single fight was annoying. Cool fight, terrible gimmick for someone like me playing GS. I digress, I decided I'd take on Alatreon with a different weapon. Something strong in elemental, but also goes with my Guts RP. The answer: LBG (Guts utulize a crossbow all the time and this is similar right?). So I forged the Lunastra LBG, augmented it, and was went in ready for the brawl against Alatreon. After a few days. I had beaten the elemental God. I was so proud. The LBG performed well, and it was a fun weapon to use. I had taken down Alatreon, one final obstacle stood in my way: Fatalis.

I had beaten Alatreon back in December 2024. I didn't end up even attempting Fatalis until February 2025. Some stuff in my life was happening, and MH was not the priority. Anyways, I was ready for Fatalis. I took up my GS for one final hunt. I wasn't required to use a different weapon this time, so I had to go with my main. After around a week of fighting, I finally beat him. Two weeks before Wilds was to release, I had conquered the final challenge, only carting once. It was a great fight. I was locked in. Both Alatreon and Fatalis are fights I'll always remember. In fact, I still had a little time before Wilds came out and wanted to fight them both again with different weapons. I tried farming Kulve for ice/fire Switch Axes/Gunlances, but RNG was not with me. I decided to just make a build around FrostFang Barrioth's Gunlance and take that into the fight against Alatreon. Man, that was another really fun fight. Gunlance is another weapon not known for elemental damage, especially from it's shelling attacks. So i ran into that arena with my Frosty Gl, and slapped/poked the shit out of Alatreon. It was a subtle flex being able to Solo Alatreon with the GL here. That was it. I didn't have time to beat Fatalis again with a GL, Wilds was upon me. So it was at this point, after 370 hours in World IB, that I decided to remove it from my "playing" list on Grouvee. I feel extremely satisified and content in saying that I've beaten World IB. And I know I'm not done with it. I will come back and beat both Alatreon and Fatalis with my other weapons. And then after that, I will do a new playthrough with other weapons. I could see myself utilizing pretty much every weapon in this game besides Sword and Shield, Hammer, and Lance (sorry, just not my playstyles). This game has so much to offer. It's my most played game on Steam now, and I know those hours will continue to skyrocket over the years. A very addictive gameplay loop, great combat, great monster designs, there's a lot to love here. Unfortunately, it takes a while before MH really gets good and "clicks." You truly have to be patient and learn the different mechanics and how to navigate awfully designed radial menus, item bars, etc. My biggest piece of advice is to focus on a single weapon and dedicate your time to learning/customizing your build around it. It's too time consuming trying to balance different weapons/builds in a single playthrough imo. Even though I feel I mastered the GS, I think my time with it is done forever in this series lol. Yes, the big hits leading to thousands of damage were dopamine hits, but the average gameplay on simply charging up attacks and slamming down your sword got pretty repetitive and boring by the end. There isn't a lot of variety in how you play GS imo, at least compared to other weapons. I feel great having mastered it, but other weapons just seem more appealing at this point. Small annoyances like these are frequent, but the meat of the game, the combat, is so worth it. It's safe to say that I really like Monster Hunter. It might not be my favorite game or series, but it's fun nonetheless. I plan on playing Rise too eventually when I finish my current playthrough of Wilds. Anyways. there's my lengthy review of my years with World. I guess I'm now what'd you'd consider a "Fiver", but all are welcomed in this community. Hunt on!

As someone who had never played a Monster Hunter game and doesn't particularly enjoy playing online co-op games with randos, there was a lot stacked against me liking this game but despite that I found it pretty approachable and ended up enjoying my whole playthrough of the main story plus some end-game hunts.

My main complaint is that when I did want to play co-op with a specific person it was a little clunky.

4 / 5 Stars

One of the most confusing disconnects for me is the stuff the community says about how to play the game and then the game itself in how it plays.

For example, I'll read thread after thread or watch youtube video after youtube video in which people claim, rather adamently might I add, "you have to watch the monsters move patterns! don't just jump in and attack nonstop! it doesn't work!"

But it absolutely does. In fact, from what I can tell from what I've encountered, the monsters don't even have move patterns. They just...stand there, and occasionally lunge at you. There's no real strategy to either the monster or the player during a fight. It's just attack as much as possible and hope the other one dies first.

It's so strange to find the community so passionate about the "proper" way to play something, when literally it doesn't exist in the way they're claiming it to. I just run up to something, hit stab a million times, and eventually it goes down. I rarely have to dodge, I rarely get hit. The monster just....just fucking stands there, like it's waiting for its bus.

Wild.

The Monster Hunter movie recently uploaded to Netflix is A LOT better than the one starring Milla Jovovich... but still not a good filme.

The animation looks like a late PlayStation 2 cutscene and the edition is really choppy. Is also extremely short and doesn't even try to explain this world to casual audiences. But if you're a fan of Monster Hunter, you'll probably enjoy the action scenes (with moves faithful to the games) and the amount of references.

You can read my review in spanish here.

As usual, the best part is the cat.

I must apologize to all the fans of this game, but I guess Monsters Hunter is not for me. The game is not hard per se, it is just clunky. The weapons are huge not only aesthetically, they FEEL huge and heavy. Every single weapon is so sluggish that by the time it was supposed to hit the monster you already missed it. Most monsters are fast and the scenario is vast with a lot of places to climb and jump. The level design almost begs for your character to be agile, but it is not.

Now, do not get me wrong, the game is beautiful. The music is great, the world design feels very alive, the monsters are very well-design and unique. Artistically speaking the game does not disappoint. Even the design of the armors look very impressive despite most of them making you look like dark soul's onion knight.

A tip: customizing your character is pointless given that you will not see a speck of skin or hair when using most armors. You should spend more time customizing your palico.

At first I though the idea of you tracking the monster seemed interesting, but in practice it is not really. The game generates a footprint, or some drool, scratch-marks, feathers etc... You click a button for your character to interact with the track and a few more will show up. After a few clicks the game will just point to the monster itself and no matter where it runs to you will always know where it is. And I guess that is a good thing, because the battles drag on forever as the monster keeps running away after you battle them for a few minutes.

I believe the game expects me to strategize more. From the equipment to the environment there are a lot of opportunities, but the differences they make are so meager that I killed most monsters with the same equipment and combos I was familiar with every single time. And, if I am doing the story missions I do not know the monsters I will be facing and could not possible prepare for them. The game also gives me the opportunity to hide in bushes. But I never saw how that would benefit me given that the monsters require me to hit them hundreds of times to kill them, and if i want to avoid a strong enemy it is best just to run away as they tend to stay in an area for several minutes and are not too keen in chasing you for long.

In summary, this game looks amazing in all aspects. The huge weapons and armor are... not my favorite thing... but they have great designs. The problems of this game comes down to the way the combat is not satisfying at all. At least to me. Every weapon has a unique strategy but since you are unlikely to memorize all of them you will mostly use just two or three of them and it gets repetitive fast. A more agile combat would suit this game much more, even if it would probably deviate from this franchise's established gameplay.

disclaimer: i've played other monhun titles, i know how monhun works, i know high rank is meant to be hard and i know this is the kind of game you're meant to sink hundreds of hours into to "learn" all the boss patterns and whatnot.

i legitimately wish i could say i liked this game, and i did, at first. the graphics are gorgeous, i love most of the outfit designs, the new monsters look great (and so do the returning ones), the sound design is exactly what it needs to be. my main beef with monhun games i'd played so far were their pace and difficulty, and most of the vocal feedback from monhun fans about this game was that it was "too easy", so you can imagine my relief and excitement at trying it out.

the early game was pretty good to me, with the tutorial pacing matching my own learning curve for the most part, save some weird hitbox shenanigans that i never quite figured out. the difficulty was definitely lower than the other games i'd tried thus far, and i was really grateful, because it meant i actually had a shot at some of this hunting! still wasn't very fond of the general slow pacing (especially with how much monsters try to return to their nests every 3 minutes if you don't know how to stop them), but i could deal.

there were a couple of rougher patches during the story, with slightly bigger difficulty curves (i'm looking at you, rotten vale) but overall - might make it to my top games, but it was definitely a mainline monhun game i was having fun with, which was fairly novel to me. i wasn't good at the game by any stretch of the imagination, but i was doing decent enough that the game deigned to let me continue the story, and i was pretty excited to get to build up to some of the cooler fancier monsters that had only been hinted at so far.

then i hit high rank, and i stopped having fun. low-rank monsters were too easy because i out-leveled them (and had basically no use for their materials), high-rank monsters shredded me like recycled newsprint. any attempt to look for help online boiled down to "get good" (with the occasional somewhat helpful "try [technique] it'll take like twenty hours to learn but it works!"), and i was such a liability that i couldn't just join multiplayer. i don't have the patience to spend hours learning each and every boss, so eventually i just stopped.

i guess this all boils down to "i'm not a monhun fan but i tried to play monhun and i should've known better", and it was frustrating to hit that wall when the game up to that point had been moderately more accessible. i still routinely get the urge to play but i know if i fire it up i'll just get frustrated that i couldn't Just Keep Playing.

if someone ever makes an easy mode patch for the game i will be all up in there with the skills i don't have, but in the meantime i'm going to stay disappointed i couldn't really join in on the fun. maybe i'll fire up monhun stories again instead.

Disclaimer to hardcore MH fans: this is the first Monster Hunter game I've ever played. I've never had anyone else to play with, and I was told that the MH games on the DS are significantly more fun with other people.

That being said, I started out having a blast. I love LOVE the fact that your sidekick is a DAMN CAT. AND A CUTE CAT. THAT YOU DRESS UP. GAH. (sorry back to the review) I'm all for exploratory kinds of games where you're in a new world and everything is uncertain. It did give me some Christopher Columbus vibes every once in a while, which made me hella uncomfortable.

I knew going into the game that the fights take FOREVER. This is just part of MH and I went into it accepting that. At first, these epic battles were a lot of fun. I liked that this wasn't just a hack and slash, but that you really had to prepare yourself for each mission and track the monster whenever it ran away from you. The concept is awesome.

However, the twenty minute single battles are fun only up to a certain point. By the time I'm fighting my fiftieth Anjanath, it's not fun anymore. It would be great that the more I leveled up and the more powerful my armor and weapon became, the shorter these battles with repetitive dinosaurs would become, but unfortunately that is not the case. I would have stopped doing the repetitive side missions, but I found that you had to do them in order to gain better armor, and therefore be stronger to continue through the main story. Yes, I played with other people, but sometimes that made the fight almost more frustrating because I would often not be able to land a hit in because some rando from the internet wanted to take all the glory and not accept help (which WHY ARE YOU PLAYING ON MULTIPLAYER I have no idea). Also your handler is SO ANNOYING. Her peppiness and excitement is cute to a point and then I just want to tape her mouth shut. I wish she lost me in the shipwreck.

I stopped playing because I got bored. Really bored. It stinks because I feel like it could have tweaked just a few mechanics to make it not boring.

Disclaimer: as of writing this review I have played through all of low rank and some of high rank. I have not defeated every monster in the game or crafted every armor or used every weapon. This review reflects the recent PC release.

Monster Hunter World (MHW) is a stunning modern take on a long spanning franchise. Recent previous installments were released on the 3DS. By moving off of a mobile platform a plethora of opportunities was created for the franchise. Namely, more power, and more online infrastructure. The MHW team had a challenge. Not only did they need to scale the scope of their game to the new platform - they also needed to do something to make the game appealing to newcomers since they were entering a different market.

In MHW all the weapons you know and love from Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate are back. Many of which have seen significant changes. Several changes were made to the bow and light bowgun including the removal of gunner specific armor. These changes, as well as the ability to play the game with real dual analogs, make gunning better and more accessible than ever. Melee weapons were also changed to give the game a fresh feel. Many traditional gameplay mechanics are back for better or worse. As with all Monster Hunter games, you will have to eat before a hunt to increase your max health and stamina. In addition, you will need to bring whatever supplies you want to use with you or craft them while on the hunt. Melee weapons still require sharpening and bowguns still use ammo. Fortunately, some quality of life changes were made. At the start of a mission, you will be given several free items that are required for the quest. This can include anything from rations to traps. If you forget to eat food before leaving you can simply eat it at the camp at the start and limited equipment changes can be made after leaving on a mission. This is especially helpful when you have to fight more than one monster. Tutorials come up frequently and are especially helpful to newcomers and help to make a better new player experience. Lobbies are easy to join and create - although there are some stability issues during longer play sessions. Loading and creating lobbies and launching missions is simple and quick.

Gameplay: the MHW ecosystem is full of new exciting monsters to fight. Some popular monsters from previous games are back - but the experience is mostly new. Each monster has its own behavior, weaknesses, strengths and its own pattern of attacks. If you are trying to farm the armor of a monster you will get to know them well. No two monsters feel too alike and each can be very dangerous if you don't act appropriately. Teaming up with friends will increase the monsters health but provide you with new ways of taking the monster down. Maybe while your friend rides the monster you can take potshots at its face with your bow. In addition, horns and tails of some monsters can be broken for extra loot. Each weapon is its own experience and with so many to choose from you will get plenty of playtime out of MHW. Don't expect to like every weapon as they are all different - but you will probably find more than one that is fun for you. Fights can be very unforgiving - especially if you are poorly equipped for the battle. It is not unusual for a monster to be able to one shot a gunner who is wearing the wrong set of armor. Throughout the game, you will travel to several different environments, a jungle, a mushroom and coral forest, and more. Each area has its own monsters to fight and its own items to collect. To create an even more vibrant world the monsters interact with each other. As you are fighting one monster he might flee into the deen of another. As the monsters battle you may get caught in the middle and take massive damage, or that other monster might just help you take down your target. Some of the monsters get into interestingly animate turf wars that are a real spectacle. Other monsters will just barge in and annoy you, causing you to waste time and resources to get to the monster you want. Overal, these world-building details create a more vibrant landscape and more vivid play session.

MHW is a challenging and expansive game with many different weapons and monsters to master. Replayability is super high and the environments are very interesting. Just don't expect the story to blow you away or the game to hold your hand much. Some online stability issues exist on PC but it doesn't take much away from the experience.

Never played a game from this series before and wasn't sure if I'd really enjoy it when I got it. I have to say, I was hooked almost immediately.

The game was a little overwhelming at the start for new players, but I think it did a good job of providing tutorials and space to practice new things without having to try them in the main quest. It took some playing around, but I quickly figured out what I liked and how to play it.

From there it became super fun. I had a blast playing through the quests, both for the main story and the optional ones on the side. Lots to explore, play with, and fight. I can't state enough what a blast it was to play.

However, the game increases sharply in difficulty at about the 50% mark, and as a result, I was forced to go back and grind and farm for materials in order to stand a decent chance moving forward. Although it was fun at first, re-playing through the old missions got real old real quick, and I soon found myself bored and frustrated. When I finally powered up my weapons and armor enough to manage the new levels, it became fun again, but the lull of stopping to grind really took some of the fun away from me. It also made completing the main story a lot longer than I was willing to give it.

Still a very fun game. I have returned post-game to continue playing, which is not very typical for me, so I think that says a lot too. Recommend to anyone with the time and patience to play it.

“A Lion that hunts for survival in the jungle does not envy the one being fed in a zoo.” -Suhaib Rumi

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In bringing one of their relatively obscure franchises into the triple A affection of general audiences, Capcom implemented a quartet of elements which resulted in the game selling over 5 million copies in only one three days. Tradition. Depth. Content. Multiplayer. Each of these deserve their own considerations, but as Monster Hunter: World is a large and complicated game, these four will make deconstructing it much easier.

The first is Tradition. You could be interested to know that while Monster Hunter: World may be your introduction to the series, Capcom has been putting out these games since the original Monster Hunter on the PlayStation 2 back in 2004. As many as five main title games have been released prior to World and the series is not unfamiliar with a multitude of spin-offs which include MMORPGs and mobile titles. My own introduction to this franchise was through Monster Hunter Tri on the Wii (I asked a GameStop employee if they could recommend a chunky RPG for the Wii and I ended up delighted by this game; always accept recommendations).

A great way to understand the Monster Hunter series is as a succession of derivative action RPGs. Another of Capcom’s icons, Mega Man, makes for a good analogy. If you’ve played any few of the main Mega Man games you’ll know how similar the core gameplay remains between titles: fight a collection of robot bosses (typically eight) and use their powers against each other. Same thing here. Capcom was keen on preserving the central gameplay through the development of this series so that Monster Hunter: World will to a large degree feel familiar to those who have played as monster hunters before.

Keeping the tradition alive quite possibly helped World achieve the incredible sales it has in such a short amount of time, but familiarity or even nostalgia can’t account for all that. There’s still a special Depth to it.

Depth is immediately palpable upon beginning a new game in MHW, and we’ll conveniently talk about the game’s premise here. In Capcom’s sprawling action-adventure RPG, you the player are introduced to a barge ferrying eager hunters of the Fifth Fleet to the New World. After that, you’re ushered to a character creation menu. Those of you reading this who are absolutely paralyzed by the freedom of character creation options may run into a pitfall with the depth of this one. The emphasis of this character creator is on the face, allowing the player to modify hair, skin tone, eyes, eye brows, nose, lips, the shape of the face, makeup, scars, pretty much anything. It’s both restricting in what you’re not allowed to do but completely immersing in what you’re capable of customizing. Never mind that most of the options make your character look like they have a bad sinus infection.

Once you’ve spent a week or so in the character creator, which also includes customizing your Palico, your own personal kitty cat sidekick, you’re returned to the barge of hunters which then runs adrift against an undersea mountain. As it turns out, that fiery peak rising from the oceanic abyss is an Elder Dragon called Zorah Magdaros. Zorah too is on its own inexorable way to the New World, drawn there by some mystery that forms the drive of the narrative of the game.

Arriving at the New World, your hunter and handler are separated from the rest of the fleet and must hoof it to headquarters on their own. This is taken as an opportunity to instruct the player in the very basics of navigating the Monster Hunter universe, albeit without weapons just yet. Gathering, stealth, tracking… you even get your first glimpse of two titantic lizards duking it out in a showcase of one of World’s new features, turf wars, but when you finally arrive at HQ you discover that an expedition already underway to research Zorah Magdaros and discover exactly why it’s come to the New World.

Click here for the full review... https://thewellredmage.com/2018/03/07/monster-hunter-world/