This game is amazing. I've played it since launch and i have a couple hours in it now.. so it feels like i could give my opinion.


-Pretty fast paced action that demands a fair bit from the player, it feels very rewarding to finally beat a monster you have been stuck on for a while.

-The variety of weapons and armor is massive and has set for everything you'd want to do. Friendship sets for giving people buffs and healing your friends. Guard up and block buffs for tanking hits you shouldnt be able too. Plus Looooots of different choices for damage buffs that can get you feeling like a god.

-14 Different types of weapons with vastly different styles of play. i find it keeps it fresh to be able to switch things up but mileage on that may vary considering that you are still fighting the same monsters.

-Amazing monsters and areas to fight. The monsters will interact and fight each other in some circumstances which is quite the spectacle. This can become rather routine later on, but is cool early on and when new monsters are introduced.

-Lots of stuff to do. If you like to do side missions and grinding out gear for more power this game is for you. There is also fishing, and capturing the endemic life of an area, things like special beetles etc. As well as leveling up and equipping your little cat friend called a Palico and getting him new tools that can help you quite a bit on your hunts.

-The music is amazing, Some of the scores are classics and have been around forever and were revamped for this game. Some of the new monsters have their own unique themes that are absolutely brilliant. This culminates in the final battle of Iceborne which i wont spoil but i love it when a main theme get remastered for the final fight.


-Grindy! Monster Hunter has always been grindy and this is no exception. The grind for gems is especially taxing taking quite a while. I enjoyed this phase but it could be a killer for some people who are unlucky and want a perfect set of gear.

-The story.. Its passable in my mind. Helped alot by my favorite voice actor making an appearance in the game. I think there are parts that are incredible and i like some of the symbolism, like the Sapphire star. Its not gonna be for everybody but it gets the job done.

-The guiding lands. (or the grinding lands as it is lovingly called.) Now from the name you would think this is just a bad thing. Its an endgame piece of content that just has you fight monsters over and over again for more loot and to level up the zone so stronger and stronger monsters show up so you can kill them too. This however is pretty much the core game-play loop of the game. I have heard people say it is terrible and takes way too long but i have heard others describe it as Monster Hunter personified. There are no breaks, no town stops, you can just hunt monsters for as long as you want with no loading or anything in between and i personally like that. The downside though is it really does take alot of time, you need to get to level 100 to fight the final monster that you go to the guiding lands to fight and that can days worth of playtime. (and i mean literally multiple instances of 24 hours worth of game time.)

The Cliutch Claw, This things has the community pretty divided. You can latch onto monsters heads and make them run into walls and stuff so they fall over which is pretty cool but causes the monster to immediately enrage most of the time. You can also latch onto different parts of monsters soften them for more DPS but there is no reason not to do it all the time. So you end up grappling onto them every couple minutes to make sure everything is softened up and it can get hella tedious. Its also an issue because some weapons can do this in one hit, while others take two. This means soloing as one of the light weapons can feel really bad without a specific piece of gear you only get at late game. All in all i'm pretty neutral on it so thats why it ends up in the middle.

-Fights are long as hell sometimes. Like when you are starting out 35 minutes isnt an out of the ordinary time for harder monsters. This goes down with skill and equipment which leads me to my next point.

-Monster Hunter is a time commitment. This is true of any game like this but especially Monster Hunter. People can say its been casuallized or whatever and that it's easier now but i just think that the veterans of previous games have gotten better at this style of game and don't realize how much of it carries over. This game can be hard, because of this it can be super rewarding. Turning that 35-40 minute fight into a 10 minute or 5 minute one might seem impossible at first but with practice and grinding for gear you get the hang of it and learn its weaknesses and telegraphs so you can maximize your DPS and absolutely slam a monster that gave you no end of trouble. Its legendarily rewarding and make for some truly unforgettable experiences.


Sadly there are a couple of really bad negatives. ( at least in my mind they are strictly negative, but a couple may vary depending on how you play.)

-Cutscenes. Now please keep in mind that i am not saying the cutscenes themselves are bad. Most of them range from passable to Really good like the story. The issue with cutscenes is that alot of them are unskippable and they MUST be watched BEFORE you do a quest with one of your friends. So for example, if you are playing with a friend and you get to the first hunt where there is a cutscene during the hunt introducing the monster then BOTH of you have to go into separate instances of the same hunt and both watch that cutscene before either one or both of you leave so you can queue up together. This is a horrible mechanic in my opinion and is a HUGE detriment to multiplayer play-throughs of the story.

-Some things are briefly explained but not to the extent they should be. Everyone has seen the Gifs of Monster Hunters food. . it looks amazing and it gives you bonuses. However, Exactly how it gives you bonuses? Which combos are best for each weapon? what are felyne skills? These are never really explained to my knowledge and i had to look them up. If it was a tiny buff then id understand that its just for min/maxers but were taking about like 10% more damage from your bow shots for one skill in your food... its pretty nuts.

I have been writing this for a while now and i cant really think of anymore negatives at the moment although im sure i missed some. In conclusion though, i really, REALLY like this game and i think that if the concept interests you even a little to give it a shot before Monster Hunter: Rise comes for PC sometime next year. If you end up reading all the way here and are thinking of picking it up at my request then feel free to add me on steam and we can hunt together. Or you can yell at me when you realize it isnt for you and that you wasted your money. Either way Have an awesome day and an awesome life - CanadianBearMan