Returning to a game likeMonster Hunter Riseis not at all like riding a bicycle. It’s a lot harder than you remember and muscle memory is not enough to save you from getting yourself knocked out.
However, I am a glutton for punishment and decided to get back into monster slaying with the newly released expansionMonster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak. It follows in the footsteps of live service expansions before it, including the excellentMonster Hunter World: Iceborne. The new DLC bringsmore monstersand story content to the Switch and PC game, but it lacks some of the essential hooks that this genre usually demands.
And surprisingly, it’s better off without them.
What’s new
After completing the main story in the base game, players are invited to Elgato, a European-inspired fort filled with knight-like chevaliers. The people of Elgato are struggling with monsters with strange afflictions that are causing the entire biome to go out of whack. Players are tasked with helping out Elgato and its chevaliers with solving the mystery of the land – and of course are compensated with various monster parts that can be turned into a hat or two.
Besides the narrative, the actual minute-to-minute gameplay ofSunbreakis an absolute treat. The expansion brings more monsters to fight, new armor skills to think about when creating a build, and an enjoyable hub to traverse. The story mode ofSunbreakends with what might be the best final boss in a Monster Hunter game. It’s so good that it painfully reminded me of how bad the base game’s final boss fight is. Veterans of the series are certainly blessed with the content in this expansion.
But it’s a daunting expansion too.Sunbreakbrings back a feature that was seemingly absent from the base game ofRise: difficulty.Sunbreakincreases the health of every monster, raises the attack damage, and also adds one or two new attack animations. This concoction brings some much-needed challenge to the game. You will find yourself scratching your head wondering why on earth is it taking so many attempts just to hunt an Aknosom.
It’s not a huge list of features, but it’s everything the expansion really needs to be. And that’s a relief in the age of bloatedlive service games.
Expanding the monsterverse
Expansions for live service games likeMonster Hunter Risetend to shake up the usual format and give players something new to sink their teeth into. Developers want players to not only return to these games, but to stay with them for as long as possible. Sunbreak seems to be more concerned with the former than the latter. It doesn’t have any carrots on sticks that we see in expansions likeDestiny 2: The Witch Queen. There’s enough new content inSunbreakthat will make players want to come back, but there isn’t any real obsessive reason to do so. No daily login bonuses. No battle passes.
TheMonster Hunter seriesdoesn’t exactly have the most substantial endgame content, andSunbreakis no different. There’s stuff to do after completing the story, but you’ll mostly hunt the same monster hunts with slight variations. There are no raids, dungeons, ladders, or leaderboards to speak of. You are playingSunbreakfor one reason and one reason only: because you want to hunt monsters.
That’s one of the strengths ofSunbreak. This expansion focuses on exactly what the series is known for and does not stray away from it. It’s not concerned with forcing players to log in every single day in order to stay up to date. Many live service games entice players with content that can feel manipulative, hollow, and designed to keep players hooked.
Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreakdoes not offer players countless hours and an endless commitment. The only thing it wants to give you is just another moment inMonster Hunter Rise. That can last a week or a month depending on the pace that the player sets. It isn’t terrified that the players will lose interest if they are not bombarded with new things to do or systems to learn. Sunbreak knows how strong the basic loop ofMonster Hunter Riseis and does not try to challenge it.
Picking upMonster Hunter Riseagain after months of not touching it has been incredibly refreshing.Sunbreakreminded me that Monster Hunter is one of my favorite game series out right now, and by adding a little more difficulty, it made me hungry for more. More importantly, it revealed that the rest of the live service games that I currently play do not really spark joy for me anymore. I am playing them purely out of obligation. That’s not the case withSunbreak. I don’t need a lengthy road map of half-baked promises; I just need one enjoyable moment. Sometimes that’s enough, and in the case ofMonster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak, it is.
Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreakis available now on PC and Nintendo Switch.
