Is Monster Hunter Rise better than Monster Hunter World?

Monster Hunter Rise is the latest installment in Capcom’s Monster Hunter franchise. The game had some rather large shoes to fill, considering the game would be following the extremely successful Monster Hunter World, so today we’re going through some of the amazing features of this game while comparing it to World.

I must admit, I was somewhat anxious about the game’s performance considering it would be a Nintendo Switch exclusive — and we all know it isn’t the most powerful console on the market. However, I can report that the game plays extremely well, graphics don’t suffer too much, loading times are good, and the map size hasn’t suffered either. 

New mechanics

As with every installment in the series, there is always something new and fresh about each game and Monster Hunter Rise is no different. I would say that there are 2 big new features to the game — Palamutes and Wirebugs. While both of these offer very different benefits, they both revolve around additional movement options when it comes to the player.

First up, Palamutes! These are the new wolf-like buddies that players have in addition to the trusty ol’ cat-like Palicoes from the rest of the series. Similar to their feline counterparts, Palamutes have numerous different items available to them, full armour sets, and battle tactics with different focuses. The main bonus of our new canine friends, however, is the ability to mount them and sprint throughout the large maps of Monster Hunter Rise. 

It’s a feature that, now we have it, I never ever want to see removed. Monster Hunter World (post-Iceborne) added a Monster Riding feature, but the way that system worked was nothing like the way it does in Monster Hunter Rise. In Rise, you have complete control over the Palamute — and upon dismounting the buddy will continue to fight alongside you and your Palico.

Next, Wirebugs. For those who played Monster Hunter World, this mechanic is fairly similar to the Clutch Claw, but with quite a bit more versatility. The Wirebugs offer players new movement options that differ depending on whether you have your weapon drawn or not. The basic options are simply horizontal and vertical grapples that catapult you in those directions. When weapons are drawn, however, you have access to completely new techniques all with unique uses. For example, Dual Blades have the ability to plant a detonating kunai in the monster at close range, or a forward-advancing dash that will counterattack the monster should you time it correctly.

Monster mounting makes a return, but in a slightly new form — you guessed it, it utilises the Wirebugs. So in Monster Hunter World players would have a chance at landing on the back of a monster when performing aerial attacks. These were done by jumping from a ledge and attacking if you were using monster weapons, or Insect Glaive users would do their “flippy-dippy” moves. In Monster Hunter Rise, once the player has attacked the monster enough with Wirebug attacks, the player can ride the monster and control its movement and attacks for a short while. You can have it fight other monsters, or ram it into walls repeatedly — or even perform a special attack. 

Quality of life

I mentioned earlier that the Palamutes have given players the ability to sprint throughout the large maps and chase down fleeing monsters, but that isn’t the only quality of life improvement that Monster Hunter Rise has brought about. 

Players of the series know that scavenging the different maps and biomes for all of the ore, bugs, fossils, plants, and other such materials is half of the battle when it comes to crafting in Monster Hunter — and it’s all so much quicker and convenient in Monster Hunter Rise! All of the scavenging can be done on the back of your Palamute, plus, you only have to interact with the node once to collect everything. 

Previously in World, players would have to interact with nodes multiple times in order to collect everything that they had, but you can now collect everything with a single button press. It doesn’t seem like a huge difference, but considering that the scavenging part of the game can be somewhat tiresome, the fact that Capcom has sped this process up is extremely satisfying.

In conclusion…

If you are a Monster Hunter fan then you probably already own the game; however, if like me you were slightly hesitant due to it being on Switch, I can confidently say that it’s not an issue at all. If you’re a new player to the series then this is a fantastic starting point as the lower rank quests are honestly quite easy in comparison to previous titles, but the high-rank quests still offer a challenge. 

Veterans will be pleased by the versatility that Wirebugs offer when it comes to not only weapons but playstyles as well. I was previously a Dual Blades user for the previous two Monster Hunter titles, but I decided I would mix it up in Rise. I chose Longsword — because I’m a filthy weeb — and the additional movement provided by Wirebugs has given me a whole new appreciation for the weapon! 

If you’re still not sure after reading this, give the demo a go! If you have the patience of a god, the PC version should be coming in 2022.

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