June 23, 2017 by Amy Stately
For years, fans of the Monster Hunter franchise have been begging Capcom to release a new game on current-gen consoles and PC. And at PlayStation’s E3 2017 Showcase, Capcom shocked everyone in attendance when they finally debuted visually-stunning new footage of Monster Hunter: World — a brand new game in the series that will be released on PlayStation 4, PC, and Xbox One.
We got a chance to check out the full 25-minute behind-closed-doors demo of what Capcom teased at the PlayStation Showcase and were blown away. Not only has Monster Hunter received a huge overhaul to the graphics in World, but there looks to be many gameplay improvements that both original players and newcomers to the series will appreciate.
Players can now jump on top of monsters and ride them.
Epic battles can quickly escalate as other bigger monsters show up.
As you can see in the gameplay trailer, all of the beloved weapon classes are returning and players will be able to swap between said weapons during huge boss fights. From the great sword to bows to heavy gatling guns, there’s a class build to suit everyone’s playstyles in World. Capcom is also teasing seamless 4-player online co-op and showcased how the new fast travel and tracking flies can be used to help get teams back into the action quicker.
The biggest gameplay mechanic update that hardcore players will notice right away is the addition of a grappling hook that allows players to ride monsters and deliver huge devastating attacks from on top of them. This was one of our favorite mechanics in Capcom’s sci-fi take on the monster-slaying genre in Lost Planet 2, so we’re excited to see it make a return in World.
Living up to its new name, the ecosystem that Capcom has created in World is unlike anything they’ve ever done before. With lush environments filled with both hostile and passive creatures, the chances of epic battles with hilarious random outcomes seems high. An example of this was easily the best part of Capcom’s demo when the devs teased how battles can get crazier and crazier as monsters of varying sizes can clash in the middle of hunters trying to slay them.
Being hyped for World would be an understatement. It’s been over five years since we’ve seen a Monster Hunter game that wasn’t on a Nintendo system. Capcom even trolled Nintendo owners in the US with the recent announcement of Monster Hunter XX remastered coming to Switch… only to then reveal that there are no current plans to bring the game to the States. And with the MMO only being available on PC in Asia, many fans had given up hope.
With Microsoft’s Scalebound recently being canceled, things weren’t look good for monster hunting fans going into E3 2017. Phoenix Labs’ upcoming title Dauntless (another co-op monster-hunting game with a very different art direction) was going to be the only option for PC players to fill the void. But that all changes now and is why Monster Hunter: World was our E3 2017 Game of the Show.
Monster Hunter: World is set for release in early 2018 on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
