Monster Hunter World (Jan. 26)
The last couple years have given us a wealth of robust open-world games and now the Monster Hunter series is going to join their ranks with the series’ return to PS4. Leaving behind the zone-based structure of past games, World drops you into different massive areas that don’t have any kind of loading or separation between zones. This alters the way the game plays, as you’ll have to employ different tactics when trying to run from monsters, or track them. This means World isn’t fully open-world, but it falls kind of into that halfway area, like Dragon Age Inquisition, where you travel to different areas of the world that are each smaller open-world segments. Monsters and beasts roam these areas going about their daily lives, and there’s an element of emergent gameplay that happens as these creatures roam around and encroach on one another’s territory, resulting in some massive battles.
The game includes all 14 weapons types from the previous entries, and like usual your character doesn’t have any intrinsic stats, which are instead defined entirely by the equipment you wear. On top of this, there’s a number of new features and equipment to use, like the Slinger which doubles as a sling to throw projectiles, as well as a grappling hook you can use to reach high areas or against Monsters in combat.
The complex systems of Monster Hunter still remain in World, but things seem to be a bit more streamlined this time in terms of collecting items, crafting, managing your inventory, and more. It’s still the same Monster Hunter people know and love, but this time bigger and bolder than ever. Fans of the series are definitely going to want to jump on board, and Monster Hunter World looks like it could also be a good place for newcomers to try things out.
