Title – Wanted Dead
Platforms – Nintendo Switch and PC
Release Date – January 12th, 2023
Developer – Capcom
Publisher – Capcom
MSRP – $59.99
ESRB – T for Teen
Disclaimer – This product is being reviewed on the PC. A review copy was provided by Capcom for the purpose of this review. This review may also contain spoilers for certain gameplay and story elements. Watch at your own risk, you have been warned. Gaming Instincts is an Amazon Affiliate and does gain financial benefits if you choose to purchase this product on this page.
Monster Hunter Rise originally came out for the Nintendo Switch on March 26th, 2021, and was quite a big success on the platform. For those who are not aware, Monster Hunter Rise is not a spin-off: it is the next mainline entry in the series, or, technically, you could say Monster Hunter 6, according to Capcom. Fast forward to January 12th, 2022, and we now have the PC port of the latest title. The biggest criticism of the Nintendo Switch release was mainly visuals and technical limitations due to the much lower-end hardware components of the Switch. However, it was still an excellent game thanks to new gameplay additions such as the palamutes, wirebug mechanic, and mounted combat and plenty of new quality of life changes. After the PC version is out, we need to ask ourselves if it is worth buying if you have never played Monster Hunter Rise before and if the visual upgrades are worth it, compared to the Nintendo Switch version? The short answer is yes, but the better answer is in the review itself, so let’s find out why.
Palamutes, Wirebugs, Rideable Wyverns, Oh My!
In Monster Hunter Rise, new mechanics are introduced, such as rideable palamutes, wirebugs, and the ability to mount wyverns, which can be mounted to attack other monsters or make them hurt themselves, resulting in more varied adventures. Palamutes are your dog pals who can be given a treat, petted, and, most importantly, ridden for much faster traversal across the maps. Not only are the Palamutes a new gameplay addition that changes the pace of a hunt, but it’s also a massive quality of life improvement in disguise. Hunters don’t have to run forever and run out of stamina to reach a mining node, a bone pile, or the monsters they are chasing. To top it off, you do not even need to get off your Palamute to farm for the items. Yes, you can collect a mining node while sitting on top of your Palamute and even sharpen your blade with a whetstone if it is getting dull before your next encounter.
Then there are the wirebugs. Wirebugs are exactly what it sounds like, bugs that you throw in the air to create a wire you can leap to, reach certain heights, or quickly dodge attacks. Think of wirebugs as an evolution to the clutch claw from Monster Hunter Iceborne. At first, it was a bit difficult to understand how the wirebug mechanic works, but after a few hunts and an hour or so with the game, it was easy getting accustomed to it. Players can also combo wirebug move-sets with attacks, and if landed perfectly, they will do immense damage, triggering a wirebug attack. Landing and triggering enough wirebug attacks will cause monsters to get stunned for a short time, and in that time, the hunters can ride the wyverns, which is another new mechanic for the franchise.
Monster Hunter Rise feels a lot more alive and dynamic than the previous entries, thanks to the improvements to the AI and the ecosystem. Such details make the game more enjoyable to play. In Monster Hunter World, certain monsters would get into turf wars; in this game, however, not only do they get into turf wars, but you can also manipulate the battlefield by mounting one of the monsters, swinging the hunt to your favor.
Riding a wyvern changes the controls once you are mounted. The monster you are riding can do light attacks or strong attacks. If you can combo the attacks, the monster taking the beating can be constantly knocked-down, which allows other hunters in your party to do massive damage. You may also launch the monster you are riding into a wall or another monster. Launching the monster, will cause major damage to it and kick you off, but the monster will be stunned. This is the ultimate way to damage a monster you are already riding. It is an interesting mechanic that can be utilized in different ways, depending on your situation and where everyone is on the map.
As for all the other standard mechanics, such as accepting quests, and crafting armor and weapons are not much different. If you’ve played a Monster Hunter game before, then you know exactly how the progression works. You start in a village, talk to NPCs to follow a storyline, then go to the quest givers and accept quests from hunter ranks. As you complete the hunts/quests, you then proceed to higher-ranked missions, and it will get more challenging as you press forward.
The ultimate goal of any Monster Hunter game is to get the best armor, weapons, and build for your character to hunt down the final boss. After that, you may collect everything by continuing your hunts and crafting your gear. Monster Hunter games were always more about the journey than the final destination, and that is where the fun is at, especially with your friends.
Technical Overview and Visual Style
Monster Hunter Rise is in a strange situation with its technical capabilities and visual art style. Considering that this is Monster Hunter 6, you would think the game would look way better than Monster Hunter World, but that is simply not the case. It also doesn’t help that Capcom has decided to dedicate their next mainline entry to the horrendous, outdated piece of hardware that is the Nintendo Switch.
For the record, the Nintendo Switch version of Monster Hunter Rise ran at 1344×756 in the docked mode, which is equal to 756p, barely above the 720p resolution, and it was capped at 30 frames. The handheld version ran at 960×540, which is a resolution of 540p. Therefore, Capcom was forced to lower some visual aspects such as lightning, the brightness of colors, and particle effects in Monster Hunter Rise. Meanwhile, Monster Hunter World has superior lighting, brighter colors, and not as toned-down particle effects. Not to mention, Monster Hunter Rise does not have a daylight cycle, unlike Monster Hunter World. In Monster Hunter World, it takes roughly 50 minutes of real-time for a full cycle to occur during a hunt. In Rise, however, that does not exist, and some quests happen only in the nighttime or daytime.
Thankfully, while the overall visual art style of Monster Hunter Rise does not change in the PC version, the addition of native 4K, uncapped framerate, and better overall textures make for a much greater experience. The PC used for this review isn’t super powerful except for the CPU (a Ryzen 9 3900x 12 core processor). The GPU is quite outdated, but Monster Hunter Rise is such a low-demanding game, when it comes to visual fidelity, that it is even able to run at native 4K 60+ with the NVIDIA GeForce 1660 Ti, which is limited to a measly 6GB video memory RAM.
It was odd, however, that some of the settings could not be changed unless you were in the game itself. Tweaks for stuff such as motion blur, lens distortion, depth of field, foliage sway, variable-rate shading, and anti-aliasing were greyed out. Also, I do have to mention that the shadows in this game are atrocious even on the PC. Monster Hunter World on PC had better shadows than Rise. Lastly, the PC version introduced filter options, where you can change the entire look of the game. Maybe you want to hunt monsters in black and white or old-school Japanese style, or how about sepia? It’s an interesting addition and can be used for some cool screenshots and YouTube videos.
Final Verdict
If you have never played Monster Hunter Rise, then the PC version is a perfect excuse to jump in. Despite the game not looking much better than Monster Hunter World or worse rather, it is still a solid game that should not be passed up. The quality of life changes and additions in Monster Hunter Rise gives hope for the franchise’s future. It is a ton of fun solo or with friends, and the PC version also makes joining your buddies a lot faster than Steam’s friend invites. Unfortunately, there were a few times when I was in a multiplayer hunt and I got dropped into a solo instead of in the middle of a hunt, which was quite frustrating. Not exactly sure what caused it or why it would happen, but there seems to be some sort of random disconnection bug.
There is a ton of content here to do and stuff to farm and complete, and, of course, steam achievements to achieve. If you love yourself, please skip the Nintendo Switch version at all costs, you do not need an overly powerful PC to run this game in a decent setting. If you already beat the Nintendo Switch version and want to start fresh, then I highly recommend you do so, the PC experience is just much smoother and more fun thanks to the addition of uncapped framerate and better visuals. The only way I would recommend a Nintendo Switch version is if you are an individual who travels a lot for work or just has a busy lifestyle and wants to enjoy Monster Hunter on the go. Overall, Monster Hunter Rise on the PC is a solid experience that is 100% worth checking out, it is, however, not perfect by any means. Monster Hunter Rise will be getting an 8 out of 10 for the PC platform.
Stay tuned at Gaming Instincts via Twitter, YouTube and Facebook for more gaming news.
