Monster Hunter: World has enjoyed loads of free updates since it launched on PC in August 2018. These seem tiny in comparison to the upcoming Monster Hunter: World Iceborne expansion, which promises to be "massive," and comparable in size to the old Ultimate and G Rank versions. On May 9, Capcom finally gave us a nice, meaty look at what's coming in Iceborne, including a new Elder Dragon called Velkhana, returning favorite monster Nargacuga, and the ability to use your slinger with your weapon out on every weapon class. Hot damn.

And that wasn't everything. Iceborne will feature a whole story campaign set after the events of Monster Hunter: World, including a new area and changes to the existing world. Capcom's been trickling out more monster reveals and other Iceborne goodies, and we've been collecting them below.

Read on for the full Monster Hunter: World Iceborne details from E3 2019, and everything else we know about the expansion so far.

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne gameplay footage

Here's Capcom's Iceborne livestream, with half an hour of details on the new expansion and plenty of footage showing off its new monsters, hunter abilities, and new region. More on all of those below.

Monster Hunter: World Iceborne is World's only expansion, will conclude the story

During a Rapid-Fire interview with Game Informer, producer Ryozo Tsujimoto said, "Iceborne basically completes World, so it will be the last expansion." That's a bit of a bummer, but we can assume this is due to the studio being hard at work on World's followup, which will hopefully have a more timely PC version.

But Capcom isn't completely hanging up Monster Hunter: World after Iceborne. "We're planning a lot of the updates for the future," said Tsujimoto. Just don't expect many new mechanics, areas, or monsters following Iceborne.

Take a tour of Iceborne with a familiar face

The Handler is back to walk you through the new features of Iceborne while refreshing players of Monster Hunter World's basics.

Iceborne's new location is called the Hoarfrost Reach, and it'll be World's biggest area

It's snowing in monsterland. Iceborne is adding a whole new area to World, and it sounds like it's not going to be a single map. Capcom's developers explained that you'll open up new parts of the Hoarfrost Reach as Iceborne's story progresses. They said it'll become fully explorable by the midpoint of the new campaign, and that "in the end it'll be the largest region in Monster Hunter: World so far."

The Hoarfrost Reach is covered in thick, fluffy snow, with new endemic wildlife including popos, a returning creature from past games. It's cold, which means the Hoarfrost Reach will drain your stamina faster than usual unless you scrounge some hot peppers to make a Hot Drink, which will offset the chill. There are also hot springs you can hang out in to warm up.

Iceborne's story is split 50/50 between Hoarfrost Reach and older locations

During Game Informer's Rapid-Fire interview, producer Ryozo Tsujimoto said that the story of Iceborne will take place half in Hoarfrost Reach and half in the old continent, so areas like the Ancient Forest or Coral Highlands.

That might sound weird considering people want to play in the new area, but it makes sense for Monster Hunter: World's pace. You want to mix up your quest locations to keep things feeling fresh. It'd be a little boring if you were in snow for a dozen hours.

Iceborne will have a new hot spring gathering hub

The new developer diary from Capcom shows off a new gathering hub for players in Iceborne called Seliana, which seams like a great place to relax in the frigid climate. 

As well as facilitating player interaction, the new hub will also streamline the process of gearing up for a fight by enabling quick access to facilities including the Smithy, Resource Center, the Botanical Research Center, and Argosy. There are still "transitional periods," but the number of loading screens will be reduced.

Catch a new Raider Ride to a map pin of your choosing

Iceborne will add brand new Raider Rides, an alternative to fast travel where you can ride on the back of a monster. Capcom says that while you won't be able to control the monster directly like a mount (it is still wild, after all), it can be instructed to either carry you to a map location of your choosing or follow the tracks of other nearby monsters. 

Iceborne's new hunter actions, weapon combos, and Master Rank

Iceborne will continue Monster Hunter: World's story with a big new location and a new rank: Master Rank. Capcom says it's essentially G-Rank from past Monster Hunter games.

The most exciting of Iceborne's new features, at least for hunters who still like whoopin' up on its current bestiary, are its new hunter actions. Here's a major one: You'll be able to use the slinger with your weapon drawn, on every single weapon type. Greatsword, dual blades, bowgun, doesn't matter. That's going to be hugely convenient for getting off flash pods mid-battle.

Your slinger also has a new feature called the Clutch Claw, which is pretty much what it sounds like. It lets you grapple onto a monster from range, and all of the game's weapons will have combos that make use of the Clutch Claw in some way.

A basic, weapon-agnostic move is called the Flinch Shot. Grapple onto a monster's head and unload your entire inventory of flash pods to send the monster hurtling in the other direction. Used strategically, you can smash them into walls or traps this way.

Capcom gave some other examples, like the dual blades being able to grapple onto a monster mid-combo. A greatsword combo move uses the slinger to make a monster flinch, so you can deliver the slow finishing blow to the head.

There are also going to be new mods for the light bowgun, including one that let you reload ammo while evading.

Capcom didn't talk about any new weapons being added to Iceborne, but we're hoping the new gear from the new monsters have some special designs, up there with the likes of the Wyvern Ignition. Fingers crossed.

Iceborne's new monsters

Velkhana - A new Elder Dragon, and Iceborne's new big bad. Velkhana uses ice attacks, but Capcom says that naturally, since it's a mysterious, ancient creature, there's more to it than that. Expect a twist.

Tigrex -  The Tigrex is a returning monster that first appeared in Monster Hunter Freedom 2. The Tigrex is known for its ear-piercing screams and brute strength rather than elemental attacks. In the short video above it can be seen throwing rocks for a huge area of effect attack.

Shrieking Legiana - A new variant of Legiana, the Shrieking Legiana is known to slow its prey with a freezing wind it emits. After slowing prey to a crawl, it can follow up with elemental ice attacks seen in the short preview above.

Nargacuga - A returning favorite, Capcom says he'll appear around the halfway point in the story. Interestingly, the footage of Nargacuga showed him appearing in the Ancient Forest, the strongest evidence that Iceborne will promise some big changes for the existing World regions. Capcom says "as usual, he's no pushover!" and that he has all his old movesets plus some crafty new moves. He's fond of turf wars and is definitely going to kick Rathalos's ass.

Banbaro - A new brute wyvern monsters who shows up early in Iceborne. He has a straightforward moveset that's mostly built around charging straight at you, but his giant horns will pick up anything in his path. That means Banbaro can end up hurling boulders or full-on trees at you while he charges.

Beotodus - Described as the first large monster you'll fight in Iceborne. He's the snow version of the fishy Jyuratodus, submerging himself in thick snow drifts and popping out to ruin your day. Capcom says getting him out of the snow will be the trick.

Barioth - The giant, cat-like wyvern Barioth, ruler of the Hoarfrost Reach, is returning to sink its teeth into some poor Popo and hunters. Thanks to Game Informer for the exclusive first-look at a turf war between the Barioth and Banbaro.

Glavenus - Check out the sword-tailed brute monster Glavenus in the trailer above. The video shows off its signature move, sharpening its tail along the ground. 

The Clutch Claw

The Clutch Claw will work like a grappling hook that you can use when readying your Slinger to attach yourself to monsters. Each weapon can be used in combination with the Clutch Claw and each will be getting new weapon abilities as well. Capcom released the trailers below summing up the Clutch Claw itself and the additions to each weapon.

THE CLUTCH CLAW

HEAVY WEAPONS

LIGHT WEAPONS

TECHNICAL WEAPONS

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne is getting a dynamic difficulty system

This is the kind of exciting, small change that could dramatically improve the feel of hunts. In Monster Hunter games up until now, monsters could only have two health pools: one for solo hunts, and one with roughly double health for two or more players. This made two or three player hunts a slog, but Capcom has a better way.

In Iceborne, there's a new health pool between the two that should feel better tuned for the player count. More importantly, it scales dynamically. If someone disconnects from the session, the monster's health with adjust accordingly. The best part? The feature will come as an update to all players, not just Iceborne. Neat!

Your Palico can revive your hunter in Monster Hunter: World Iceborne

In a sit-down with Game Informer, Capcom revealed that new Palico gadgets are on the way in Iceborne. We heard about one in particular, which allows a Palico to revive their hunter after fainting. That's an incredibly useful tool, especially on tougher quests with low life counts.

Capcom has never had the closest publisher/platform relationship with the PC, but that appears to be changing. We had to wait the better part of a year for Monster Hunter: World to get from consoles to PC, which wasn't great, but shortly after it did the company acknowledged that sales on the platform "exceeded expectations," which was pleasantly validating. And in a statement released earlier this month, Capcom COO Haruhiro Tsujimoto spelled it out more explicitly: The PC is good. 

The statement is in Japanese, and thus Google translated, which is predictably rough, but the intent is clear enough.

"In addition to focusing on digital, we were able to significantly expand sales in the Asian region in addition to traditional major markets. Utilizing this success experience, we aim to further strengthen digital sales by promoting marketing and promotion that provides information including products more efficiently and more directly to users," Tsujimoto said.   

"Also, from the viewpoint of promoting digital strategy, expansion of PC platform spread can not be overlooked. The sales ratio of the PC version in our main title has been improved every year, and we will strive to further expand sales as an important platform." 

 (The English version of the Capcom COO's page is still stuck in last year, but a Capcom rep said an update should be on the way. I'll update this post when it's available.)

Capcom reiterated the importance of the PC version of Monster Hunter: World earlier this month in its third quarter financial statement, saying that the game "was a phenomenal success" and noting specifically that "the strong performance of the Steam version for PC boosted profits." 

It's also not holding back the PC release of its next big game: Devil May Cry 5 comes to the PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, on March 8. 

Monster Hunter: World's first year was filled with weekly quests, special crossovers, and big, special events like the siege of Kulve Taroth and the anniversary Appreciation Fest. The PC version has gotten those events in a compressed timeframe, and there are more still to come in 2019 as we lead up to the release of Iceborne, Monster Hunter World's first expansion, sometime this year.

Here's the calendar of all the MHW events we know about for 2019. As more events, fests, monsters, and game patches are announced, we'll add them here. (Keep in mind we aren't listing events that have already run on PC, but those will be back during the seasonal fests).

There are three back-to-back major events happening this spring, alongside the Spring Blossom fest. It's a busy season for monster hunting.

Monster Hunter: World event schedule for 2019

The Fury of El DoradoMonster: Arch Tempered Kulve Taroth | PC date: Friday, April 19 - Thursday, May 16

The roided-up version of the Kulve Taroth siege is the big spring event on PC, and will run at the same time as the Assassin's Creed Event. Both will serve as an appetizer for our main course on PC: playing as Geralt of Rivia!

SDF: Silent, Deadly and FierceMonster: Odogaron, Deviljho, Lunastra | PC date: Friday, May 3 - Thursday, May 16

Monster Hunter's console crossover with Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed awarded an item called Senu's feather, which could be used to craft the Assassin's Hood Mantle and Bayek layered armor. All you have to do is fight the three most aggressive monsters in the game in an arena!

Contract: Woodland SpiritMonster: Leshen | PC date: Friday, May 17 - Thursday, May 30

MHW's Witcher crossover, starring none other than Geralt of Rivia himself. Ciri's here too, and the fight against the Leshen, a Witcher monster, is meant to be on par with Extreme Behemoth, the toughest in the game so far. Take down the Leshen to craft the Witcher's Silver Sword (sword and shield), Zireal (dual blades), Geralt layered armor, Ciri Alpha armor, and Ciri layered armor.

Monster Hunter: World seasonal fests for 2019 

We have a date for the first of MHW's seasonal fests! Here's when it's coming:

Spring Blossom festFriday, April 26 - Thursday, May 16

What we don't know is how the Iceborne expansion will affect the seasonal fests, if at all.

Console events that may not come to PC 

Down the Dark, Muddy PathMonster: Barroth | PC date: TBA

The first PS4-only Street Fighter quest, an arena fight against low rank Barroth. It awards the SFV tickets used to craft the low rank Ryu armor set. It happened in February 2018 on consoles and has yet to make it to PC, indicating that it might not ever make the leap.

The Awakened Satsui No Hado I, II, and IIIMonster: Nergigante | PC date: TBA

This PS4-only arena quest is a Street Fighter crossover that rewards SFV Ticket IIIs, to craft the Ryu Alpha armor. It happened in May 2018 and has yet to make it to PC, indicating that it might never make the leap.

Empress in Full Bloom I, II, and IIIMonster: Pink Rathain | PC date: TBA

These arena fights on the console version rewarded SFV Ticket II items used to craft the Sakura Alpha armor set. Unknown if/when they're coming to PC, but considering Street Fighter is also on Steam, it seems likely.

We already knew that Geralt was going to be part of a Monster Hunter: World collaboration with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and with its console release today, we have more details on what that will actually entail when the event comes to PC 'at a later date.'

The crossover event will unlock a new quest line for all players that have reached Hunter Rank 16. The update naturally stars Geralt of Rivia, voiced by the original actor, Doug Cockle. 

‘Contract: Trouble in the Ancient Forest’ will have Geralt tracking down and defeating a powerful force that will be familiar to Witcher 3 players: the Leshen. Apparently, the creature is no pushover but you'll have the White Wolf's weapons and abilites to help you out, including his silver sword and combat magic. Additionally, players will be able to influence the story through the choices they make throughout the quest line.

A limited time event; ‘Contract: Woodland Spirit' will also be available for the more seasoned players that have earned Hunter Rank 50 or above. This challenging multiplayer event will test your hunter skills against a much tougher form of the Leshen.

The rewards for completing both contracts are pretty nifty too: ‘Contract: Trouble in the Ancient Forest’ will grant you resources for crafting Geralt's armour and weapon set, a new skin and weapon for your Palico companion, and new gestures, titles, and poses. Meanwhile, completing ‘Contract: Woodland Spirit’ will reward you with the resources needed to craft Ciri's armour and weapon set.

There's no news for when the collaboration will hit PC but at least we now know what to look forward to. A number PC Gamer's editors are sure to end up running around in newly crafted Ciri armour. 

Of course, we'll let you know the moment the PC release date drops. Here's what the Leshen looked like in The Witcher 3.

2018 was an extremely good year for Capcom. After some uneven years and even big games like Resident Evil 7 and Street Fighter 5 failing to make quite as large a splash as the publisher was hoping, it’s managed to hit its stride once again, largely thanks to the excellent Monster Hunter: World. 

Capcom’s latest financial report, which covers nine months ending on December 31, showed the record high profits, with operating income leaping up by a whopping 92 percent, just under £93,784,698 or $122,495,100, and a net income of £427,152,321 or $557,557,000, up 28.3% year-over-year. Those very large numbers owe a lot to some very large monsters. 

Monster Hunter: World was the first game in Capcom’s history to exceed 10 million units shipped, and it was also the first in the series to launch on PC, introducing a whole batch of new hunters to the venerable series. It originally launched on consoles in January, but continued to sell well throughout the year, boosted by its arrival on Steam in August. We thought it was great, so check out our Monster Hunter: World review. 

Capcom also attributed the profitable year to other games, including the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection and Mega Man 11, both of which performed well, as did the Switch exclusive Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate. Net sales specifically for games, which made up the greatest chunk of Capcom’s earnings, was up 55.2% from the same period in the previous fiscal year.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see this continue. Resident Evil 2 Remake is three times as popular as Resident Evil 7 on Steam and a new expansion is coming to Monster Hunter: World later this year.  

Cheers, GamesIndustry.biz.

If you’ve had your fill of dragon and dinosaur murder in Monster Hunter: World, you might want to try your hand at taking on the galaxy’s most fearsome monster: the xenomorph. This Aliens mod replaces Xeno'jiiva with a xenomorph queen, though she thankfully doesn’t lay any eggs. 

Modder UberGrainey used this model to replace the dragon, though they made some tweaks, like removing the chest arms to make the monster’s weak point clearer. It looks appropriately horrifying, though not quite as horrifying as that Thomas the Tank Engine mod. 

I bought a bunch of Aliens comics recently, and I've been rapidly devouring them, but I’m not sure if that makes me more or less keen on a mod that lets me fight one of them. The main takeaway from pretty much every piece of Aliens media is: stay away from xenomorphs. I’m still recovering from Alien: Isolation. 

Monster Hunter: World has had its fair share of official crossovers, too, including Assassin’s Creed and the upcoming Witcher crossover. Could Geralt take down a xenomorph? We should find out in the name of science. 

Cheers, DSOGaming.

A roadmap was released for Monster Hunter: World last month, detailing a number of fixes that were expected to roll out over the next few months. One of the update listed was Title Update 5.1, and it's set to roll out tomorrow.

The update will add the much-requested support for 21:9 ultrawide monitors, although sadly, it seems that cutscenes won't display 21:9. Vignette Effects will also be changed to allow three options; High/Normal/Off, rather than just On or off and a push-to-talk voice option will also be added to the game.

Various bug fixes are also expected to be implemented, though these haven't been detailed at the time of writing. You can check out the updates on the Steam page here.

The Monster Hunter World: Iceborne expansion was announced last month, as well as a cross-over that will see Geralt from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt enter the game with his own, unique questline—and if that's not something to look forward to, I don't know what is!

Monster Hunter: World is getting an Assassin's Creed-themed crossover event, complete with outfits that make you look like Ezio Auditore da Firenze and Bayek of Siwa.

The event is live on consoles right now but, sadly, PC gamers will have to wait until an unspecified "later date".

When it does arrive, you'll be asked to complete a tricky new quest called “SDF: Silent, Deadly, and Fierce", in which you'll slay high-level monsters. Finish it and you'll be granted a Senu Feather—get two feathers and you can trade them in for either the Bayek Layered Armor, which you can wear over your existing armor, or the Ezio-style Assassin's Hood. 

When worn, the hood boosts your damage when attacking from a stealth state, and makes you faster when running or climbing. You can see it in action below. 

In another crossover event, The Witcher's Geralt is due to arrive in the hack-and-slasher early next year.

We named Monster Hunter: World our action game of the year—find out why here.

As 2018 wraps up, it's time for a period of self-reflection: amid all the wacky adventures of the past 12 months, which games did we miss? There are always too many great things to play on PC these days. Below, the PC Gamer writers talk us through the games they wanted to play in 2018 but didn't, for one reason or another.

Let us know your suggestions in the comments below. Hopefully we'll conquer that pile of shame before more great games start releasing months from now. Oh wait, the Resident Evil 2 Remake is out in January. And a million other games are out in 2019. Oh well...

Tom Senior: Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire

Pillars of Eternity 2 is sitting in my Steam library completely untouched. Installing has felt like a daunting prospect all year. It's huge, I still haven't played Pillars 1, and I keep getting distracted by huge games like Assassin's Creed Odyssey. I like to think I'll crack into it this Christmas, but to be honest I'll probably just play Hitman to test myself against Phil and Samuel's best times. Failing that, I want to build an Artifact deck that doesn't fail 100 percent of the time.

Samuel Roberts: Monster Hunter: World

I was torn on whether to play the PS4 version of Monster Hunter or wait for the PC release, and it turns out I did neither. Now my colleagues have stopped playing the game, I might've left it too late to enjoy MH: World in co-op, but I do plan on booting it up at some point. 

I want to see what these cat dudes are all about. That's a good enough reason to want to play the game, right? I didn't play Deadfire either, but then I haven't played the original Pillars of Eternity. Too many games. I blame the time-eating Into the Breach for these particular oversights.

Wes Fenlon: Yakuza 0

Yakuza 0 is one of many, many games released in 2018 I'd like to play, and will probably get around to before I die, maybe, hopefully. Okay, so Yakuza 0 has actually been around for a couple, but it came to PC in 2018, and I still haven't played a single game in this series. It's one of those cases where I just know I'll love it, and then I'll probably want to play all of them, and where will I find the time? I know that's no excuse. Someday I'll befriend a chicken and do whatever the hell serious gangsters do in their spare time.

James Davenport: The Witcher and The Witcher 2 (not from 2018, but I want to get through 'em)

It grows, the lumpy thing. I leave little tins of catfood near my pile of shame and they're gone in the morning. I don't know what to do. Maybe I could start by playing The Witcher and The Witcher 2. I think I'm on my way though. The Witcher 3 is a great game, but I don't love it nearly as much as most. That's probably going to change on my upcoming second playthrough, James busting the experiential door down with all The Witcher books spilling out of his ears. I'm doing the thing and reading the books. They're great. Nothing genre-busting, but some lovely character work in a horrific sociopolitical landscape. Also: monsters. Read 'em before the Netflix series so you can be the ultimate ass: 'The books and games are better than the show,' etc. Anyway, I'm going to break those Witcher games wide open with all this new context, just you wait and see.  

Jarred Walton: Many games

I didn't finish many games this year, though I at least played most of the big names. And yet, after I just declared my love for D&D and RPGs growing up, I often can't find the time to delve into the modern releases. Pillars of Eternity 2 is also on my list, along with The Banner Saga 3, Kingdom Come Deliverance, Final Fantasy 15, and more. Truth is, I don't even want to try and start some of those.

Philippa Warr: Wandersong and Unavowed

I don't believe in the pile of shame, they're just options for the future and I refuse to feel bad. BUT, of the games which arrived in 2018 Wandersong and Unavowed are the ones I'd really like to carve out time to play soon. Wandersong because it sounds utterly delightful, and Unavowed because... well, I'm not sure I have a single reason I can point to. It's more that it keeps coming up in conversation—colleagues circle back to it, it pops up in list features, I see people mentioning it in comments or on Twitter. There's nothing specific that made me think "this game will suit me", it's just a gentle swell of appreciation that's piqued my curiosity. 

The last game on my list is Pillars of the Earth, which is based on the novel of the same name by Ken Follett. I'm not eager to play it in the same way at Wandersong and Unavowed. That's because I played the first episode back in 2017 and I want to wait for the right mood to strike in order to sink into the remaining chapters. That's the pleasure of my backlog—it's stuffed with games which are awaiting their moment.

Fraser Brown: Yakuza 0, among others

All of them? If I didn’t review it, there’s a pretty good chance I didn’t finish it. But I’ve also been playing a lot of games that you don’t really finish, like Warframe, World of Warcraft and Overwatch, none of which are even 2018 games. I’m not as enlightened, but I think Pip’s got the right idea. It’s so silly to feel guilty about not having time for a game. A lot of them, I don’t really care that much about finishing, but there are a few I’d still love to spend more time with.

I really enjoyed Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus and Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden, so I’d like to finish them once I’m done with BattleTech’s expansion. I’ve always got time for more tactical romps. I went back to the start with Hitman when the sequel came out, so I’m very much looking forward to going through all the new levels. Those are just the recent ones, too. Oh yeah, and I only just started playing Yakuza 0. I’m going to be busy in 2019.

Joanna Nelius: Vampyr

Vampyr has been on my list of games to play since E3 2016. I've admired Dontnod and been into vampire lore for a long time, so I was instantly drawn to Vampyr's story and the gameplay when I first heard saw it, especially the entire concept of seemingly innocuous choices leading to disastrous consequences. Then its official release date came and went, and I've been resetting reminders on my calendar to buy it for the last six months. It went on sale a few weeks ago, and I finally bought it—and it's still sitting in my Steam account with zero minutes of play time, but I did install it. Maybe I can stop singing holidays songs long enough to let some darkness into my soul.

Phil Savage: Pillars 2 and Assassin's Creed Odyssey 

Like Tom, it's Pillars of Eternity 2, which, like Tom, is because I still haven't played the first game. Still, I've been looking for something chunky to dig into over Christmas, and a Pillars of Eternity double bill sounds like the perfect distraction for those moments between eating too much cheese and drinking too much alcohol. At least it does until I get tired of being asked to read and make tactical decisions and decide the outcome of some moral dilemma, at which point I'll just turn off my brain and enjoy my other missed game of 2018: Assassin's Creed Odyssey.

It took a long time to get here, but Monster Hunter: World deservedly found a huge audience on PC when it finally landed in August. Check out our GOTY hub for more awards. 

Tom: Monster Hunter: World is an odd game if you’ve never played it before. The controls feel wrong and the crafting is complicated, and you have to pay cats to make food for you before every hunt.

Once it clicks, it’s incredible. The controls are unusual because they have to support 14 wildly different weapon types. It can take a while to wind up big hits, which means you have to learn how monsters fight and predict their movements. It helps that these are some of the best enemies you’ll fight in any game. From the portly and much-victimised Jagras to total bastards like Odogaron, they have their own personalities and quirks. To master Monster Hunter you have to learn their tricks and habits. The electric flying squirrel Tobi-Kadachi leaps up into the trees in forest areas. Rathalos can shatter the rocky dam near its nest if you goad it correctly. Every fight feels dynamic and important.

Phil: I love the pace of each hunt, and how it ebbs and flows over time. The slow, determined purpose as you set off to find your quarry. The quiet contemplation as you check your equipment and apply your powders. The frenzied panic as you dodge an enraged beast's attack. The hurried retreat as other, more powerful monsters wade into the fray. The sombre celebration as your target collapses, dead, letting you carve off a pelt that will finally let you craft a new set of trousers. It keeps the action interesting, even as you grind for the best gear, and scales beautifully to multiple players—ensuring co-op play is just as entertainingly challenging as tackling a hunt on your own.

Wes: It's staggering how much variety there is in Monster Hunter, and how deep it goes in so many areas. You can call repeating hunts over and over again a grind, but it never feels that way—I'm always getting parts I can use to build some new armor or craft a spear that does lightning damage or crits like crazy. Then if I swap weapons, my role in the hunt totally changes. With a pair of fast-hitting dual blades I'm a tail-severing machine, but with a massive hammer I'm better at stunning massive dinosaurs by clobbering them directly in the face. And once I change weapons, I'm suddenly lusting after a totally new armor set to perfect my build.

Monster Hunter is a little bit like 15 different Capcom action games in one, and learning how to use a new weapon's moveset against a particular monster is a rewarding challenge every time. It's definitely the game I've poured the most time into this year, and there's still so much I want to do. Higher tiers of monsters add new challenges to fights, though they mostly just hit harder and don't stun as easily. But I don't really mind, because the basic mechanics of combat just feel so damn good. I'll happily fight them over and over again, even without the lure of getting better augments for my high-end gear. But also, that part has its claws in me deep. Capcom keeps rolling out seasonal events, crossovers, and new versions of monsters to fight, and I want to take on each and every one of them.

Pip: I thought I was enjoying Monster Hunter World and then it wanted me to kill Pukei-Pukei. NEVER! Pukei-Pukei manages to be both the most extra and the most derpy of the monsters. It’s all rainbow feathers and tongue and eyes and why can’t I be its friend instead? 

Find our original Monster Hunter: World review here.