Monster Hunter Rise is an action role-playing game developed and published by Capcom for the Nintendo Switch. Released worldwide on March 26, 2021. A Microsoft Windows version is currently in development and is planned for an early 2022 release.

Rise follows many of the new conventions for the series introduced through World while introducing new features, including a new animal companion called a Palamute that can be used to ride across the map or into battle, and the use of Wirebugs to traverse the game world vertically and mount and ride certain monsters in the game. The game received generally positive reviews upon release.

Gameplay

As with previous Monster Hunter titles, Monster Hunter Rise has the player take the role of a Hunter, tasked with slaying or capturing large monsters using a variety of weapons, tools, and environmental features to damage and weaken them while surviving their attacks. Successful completion of the offered quests provides loot, typically in the form of various monster parts from the monster, which are used to forge new armor and weapons that can be used to take on more powerful monsters, forming the series' notable core loop. Several of the series' monsters return along with a host of new monsters developed for Rise.[1] All fourteen weapon types that have been present in both Monster Hunter Generations and World, which mix archetypes of swords, shields, staves, bows, and guns, are present in Rise

Rise uses the same seamless map approach introduced in Monster Hunter: World unlike the zoned area approach typical of earlier games in the series. Its maps are more focused on vertical movement than previous games, as implied by its title, so new tools are given to the player to help with quick vertical scaling. The Wirebug, similar to the Clutch Claw added in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, allows a player to grapple and swing across gaps or to higher locations as needed. The Wirebug also has different interactions with each weapon type, adding to that weapon's set of moves and combos. Further, the Wirebug allows a player to engage certain monsters in Wyvern Riding, allowing the hunter to mount and control the creature to a limited degree as to either lead it into areas more amenable for combat or to engage in combat with a different monster.

Palamutes are new dog-like companion creatures in Rise. The player can ride them to help quickly navigate the map without losing stamina. Palamutes can also quickly scale cliffs and perform attacks while fighting monsters alongside the player's other companion option, the cat-like Palicoes, who return from previous games.

Rise features both single player and local and online multiplayer modes with up to four hunters in a group. In single player modes, the player hunts with both their Palico and Palamute companions. In the online modes, players select either the Palico or Palamute to join them.

In addition to the series' typical hunts, Rise introduces Rampage, a survival mode where the players must defend the base village from several attacking monsters. Prior to and during the attack, the players can set up siege weapons and instruct non-player characters to attack the monsters while the players attack the monsters directly.

The game will have some form of cross-compatibility with Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin, which is planned for release in July 2021, but have not been detailed in full.





Plot

In Kamura Village, the player-character is informed they have been promoted to a Hunter by the Guild by the Wyverian twins Hinoa and Minoto. They escort the new Hunter to the village leader Fugen, though along the way, the Hunter catches sight of an unknown flying monster far in the distance. Fugen congratulates the Hunter on their success, but warns that they have been alerted about pending signs of "The Rampage", a mysterious calamity that occurred fifty years ago where a large horde of monsters attacked the village in a frenzied rage. Fugen tasks the Hunter to prepare themselves for a possible recurrence of the Rampage by helping with various quests to protect and supply the village with goods while building up their hunting. Further signs of the Rampage emerge, and Fugen instructs the Hunter to go to the Stronghold, a battleground that guards the gates to Kamura. After repelling the attack, the Hunter, Yomogi, the village chef, and Iori, the "Buddy Handler", are suddenly attacked by a tiger-like, mace-tailed fanged wyvern, forcing them to retreat. Fugen tells the trio that the monster is known as "Magnamalo" who appears alongside the Rampage and feeds on monsters of the horde. Under Fugen's orders, the Hunter slays Magnamalo. Upon returning to the village, Fugen and Hinoa congratulate the Hunter on their victory. Fugen then gives the Hunter his Long Sword, which has been passed down in Kamura for generations.

After repelling another Rampage attack, as Hinoa wonders how long the Rampage is going to last, suddenly the same flying serpentine dragon-like monster that the Hunter saw earlier appears. Hinoa's eyes suddenly turn blue as she says, "Where is my queen? Where is my queen?" before regaining her senses. The monster is later identified as an Elder Dragon known as the Wind Serpent, Ibushi. After Ibushi is repelled, the group begins to question who Ibushi's "queen" is. Master Utsushi, the village's lookout, discovers who Ibushi's "queen" is: the Thunder Serpent, Narwa, who is Ibushi's female counterpart and mate. Further research from the guild reveals the origins of Ibushi and Narwa. Every fifty years, Ibushi, as well as Narwa, will emerge to mate with each other; in order to do so, Ibushi will wander the land to seek out Narwa. Ibushi is also known to cause destructive storms by sending dragon energy into the ground. This turbulence is strong enough to uproot trees and wipe out the landscape. This causes nearby monsters to become terrified and flee directly into Kamura Village. Meanwhile, Narwa seems to wait in a location she prefers until Ibushi is able to locate her. However, the disturbance caused by her presence and electromagnetic abilities tend to drive other monsters berserk, leading to a rampage event that regularly hits Kamura Village during the Serpent's mating process. This information reveals that the actions of the Serpent Elder Dragons are the primary cause of the Rampage. Due to the fact that Narwa had wiped out most of the village's hunters, they call on the Hunter to slay Narwa. After a fierce battle with the Thunder Serpent, Narwa is seemingly killed when she falls to her death. Narwa's corpse is not found, however, causing Fugen to believe that Narwa is still alive. At night, the Hunter witnesses Hinoa and Minoto (possessed by Ibushi and Narwa) talking to one other, saying that their offspring will roam across the earth.






Development

Monster Hunter Rise is considered to be the sixth main installment after Monster Hunter: World, despite not being numbered in a similar fashion to previous titles.The game's producer, Ryozo Tsujimoto, said that with both World and Rise, they wanted to move away from the use of traditional numbering for the main titles in the Monster Hunter series and instead name them based on a central concept that the game was built around, with "Rise" reflecting the verticality of the game's levels and gameplay elements. The verticality resulted in level design that resembled a medieval Japanese/Asian aesthetic, which had not been an initial goal of the design team but was happenstance from their design.The game's director, Yasunori Ichinose, had previously directed Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, a title that had never been released outside of Asia; Portable 3rd featured Yukumo Village as its hub location, a Japanese-inspired setting with hot springs, and which reappeared in Monster Hunter Generations. Ichinose did not want to reuse Yukumo Village for Rise but wanted a similar setting, one that could be considered in the same region, and designed Rise's hub, Kamura Village, with similar concepts as Yukumo. Further, this setting helped with Rise's approach to more freedom of movement, much like that of ninjas, according to Ichinose, which also worked well with that setting.

Rise's pre-planning development started after the completion of Generations and Generations Ultimate, and was co-developed alongside World, with ideas being shared between the two development teams The game was built with the RE Engine that was originally developed for Resident Evil 7 and since been used for other Capcom games like the Resident Evil 2 remake and Devil May Cry 5. As this was the first time this engine was used for a game of this type, it delayed some of the production as they worked to assure smooth gameplay within World's zoneless approach on the Switch. Further, the Palamute companion was developed with the portability of the Nintendo Switch in mind, eliminating the depletion of stamina as the player rode it around the game world Natsuki Hanae will provide game narration.