Monster Hunter World: Iceborne might be the best expansion I've ever played

In a past life, Capcom was disrepair for helping generate some of the earliest backlashes against DLC, by cutting gameplay content available on-disc, selling it again as divide DLC. Aslope various other like controversies from various publishers, Capcom helped create the meme that DLC is all about cheating a game's most passionate users out of their greenbacks with minimal effort content. Capcom has turned a corner in recent years, however, and goose egg proves that fact to me more than Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, which might be the all-time expansion I've ever played.

Unfortunately, there was no early on access review program for the Xbox version, so take this as a review-in-progress. Iceborne has already enjoyed a ton of praise, getting over 90 on Metacritic for the PlayStation version. Albeit late to the party, I thought I'd offering some thoughts on my Iceborne experience and so far, and why it has already totally shattered my already-lofty expectations.

Hunt in Hoarfrost Reach

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne

All-new threats

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne is an upcoming expansion to Capcom's virtually successful game of all fourth dimension, Monster Hunter World. Have the fight to Hoarfrost Reach and battle all-new beasties, returning threats, and grind all-new gear.

Visually stunning, atmospherically enchanting

Monster Hunter World was already 1 of the more visually impressive games on Xbox, enhanced farther on the Xbox 1 X. Iceborne takes information technology to a whole new level.

Equal parts enthralling and haunting, Iceborne deserves a heap of praise for its sound handling.

Hoarfrost Accomplish is the name of the huge new landmass, as part of the "New Globe" continent that represents Monster Hunter World's setting. Frozen caverns, frost-blasted cliffs, and glistening icy forests make for a hugely diverse array of areas, despite the wintry theme. Monster Hunter Earth: Iceborne also has some of the most impressive dynamic snow and ice furnishings in the business, with monsters leaving huge tracks and 3D impressions in the drift, which has varying depths. Monsters and players also become covered in snow and ice as they do battle, which adds a level of immersion to the combative drama that other games rarely lucifer.

To complement the jaw-dropping visuals, Monster Hunter Globe: Iceborne too enlists a range of new musical treatment, most often specific to monsters. The mascot monster, the ice dragon Velkana, has a particularly enchanting theme, which truly emulates the mortiferous grace of its glacial attacks. Equal parts enthralling and haunting, Iceborne deserves a heap of praise for its sound treatment across the board.

"Story" has never been Monster Hunter'southward biggest focus, but some of the cutscenes Capcom weaved into Iceborne are easily among the most impressive I've seen this gen. Cleary the studio has opted to step upwards its efforts in this area, showcasing each new monster in highly-choreographed in-engine sequences that are ever a thrill to assimilate. Although, yes, it'south still a bit annoying that they accept to be experienced in solo play, before y'all can join the same battle in multiplayer.

From the well-nigh basic ambient creatures, to the art direction for monsters, to and the incredibly impressive snow and water ice tech, Iceborne is a curiosity.

The all-time RPG gainsay fabricated even amend

Monster Hunter already boasts some of the near satisfying combat in the business, only it climbs to new peaks in Iceborne, with diverse weapon tweaks, additional moves, and features. The Clutch Claw is maybe the biggest and most pervasive change, giving all weapon classes the ability to grapple onto the monster with an extended rope, followed by various acrobatic, tactical moves.

My main weapon, the Gunlance, for example, can hook shot onto a monster's face up, and give me the opportunity to create weak spots with point-blank range shots. The Hunting Horn grapple performs a swinging kick, and Bow users can fire arrows with some backflips that await directly out of the Matrix. Every class also gets the opportunity to crusade a monster to lose residuum and lunge forward, slamming into walls to knock them off their feet. It'south not always easy to pull off, but it'south oh then satisfying when y'all manage it.

Please forgive me Dodogama.

Some of the new weapon abilities are equally as impressive. The Iai Slash counter on the samurai-like Long Sword creates incredibly satisfying anime-like stand up-offs with monsters. If timed just right, you'll cut through them, peradventure taking a tail off in the procedure.

The new moves heap on added freshness to Monster Hunter Earth'south combat.

The Heavy Bowgun gained some almost get-go-person shooter-like abilities from previous Monster Hunter games, assuasive y'all to zilch your telescopic for making precision shots and extra impairment. The Gunlance now has a gluey grenade-esque device you can embed into monsters for additional explosive damage. The new moves heap on added freshness to Monster Hunter World'south combat, which was already industry-leading in pure satisfaction factor.

Great gainsay mechanics also crave groovy enemies to boxing, and Monster Hunter has the best of them. Velkana, in particular, has absolutely spectacular abilities that throw icicles, create frost fractals all over the ground, complete with an icy stabbing tail. Monster Hunter too revamps a lot of the armor sets from the base game with new Master Rank difficulty, giving you new reasons to battle existing beasties. Some of them have even received new variants with new visuals and abilities, including the frost-bitten Shrieking Velkana, and electrified Fulgur Anjanath. I've been taking Iceborne relatively slowly, soaking in the story, optional quests, and additional features, simply I've already had dozens of hours of fun despite only going through a fraction of the new battles.

It'due south the little things

Beyond the core gameplay loop of fighting monsters, etching them upwardly for parts, and creating badass armor, Monster Hunter World: Iceborne likewise incorporates tons of new mini-games and boosted features to keep completionists busy. Random small monsters can be captured with a net, and now have size ratings that have unique placement options in your new Seliana homestead. Additionally, the new Seliana base can exist customized far more than than the previous quarters, assuasive y'all to change the materials used on the walls and floor, too every bit their colors, down to the drapes, furniture, and even trophies nerveless in the field. Y'all can even take a dip in the hot springs out back, if you fancy it.

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne also now has a photographic camera side-quest concatenation, reminiscent of Pokemon Snap. A researcher volition request various photographs of animals and creatures exhibiting unlike behaviors and will reward you for doing then. Information technology'south completely inconsequential to the main game, only for those times you want to take it a bit like shooting fish in a barrel, Iceborne even so offers new ways to play. There's also a Steamworks mini-game, which is effectively a slot machine which rewards consumables for helping keep the Seliana base of operations supplied with heat, which is fun in its simplicity.

Every NPC has something fun to say as well. There's such a high density of small features to be constitute in the new areas of Seliana and Hoarfrost Reach, which is something far too many game developers don't seem to value. I might only swim in the hot springs once or twice while playing, but it's that sense of over-delivering on elementary, fun features that makes exploring Monster Hunter all the more rewarding.

A wintertime wonderland

Monster Hunter World is already Capcom's biggest game of all time, and although the franchise might not have achieved Western mainsstream status on the same level as games similar Destiny or Call of Duty, that owes more than to its difficulty curve than its quality.

Hey Capcom, you're crushing it lately. Keep it up.

Monster Hunter is a game that wants you lot to learn the unique combat mechanics of every fight, and will reward you handsomely for doing so — no other online RPG I've played has emulated the sublime satisfaction of counter-slashing a Glavenus' tail in half. Iceborne delivers those types of experiences in droves.

From magical visuals, piles of features, a huge expanded storyline, and tons of new monsters, Iceborne might just be one of the greatest expansions ever made. And I'm barely even halfway through it. Hey Capcom, you're crushing it lately.

Chase in Hoarfrost Achieve

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne

All-new threats

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne is an upcoming expansion to Capcom's most successful game of all time, Monster Hunter World. Accept the fight to Hoarfrost Attain and battle all-new beasties, returning threats, and grind all-new gear.

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