18 years ago to the day, Capcom gave birth on PS2 to a action-RPG like no other titled Monster Hunter, which has now become one of its most iconic licenses.
If the gameplay base is, from the first opus to Monster Hunter Rise via spin-offs like Monster Hunter Stories, remained as immutable as a Rathalos, the series has changed a lot before reaching today... a form of maturity?
Little Hunter grown up
The first steps of Monster Hunter on PS2 on March 11, 2004 were not the easiest, in particular because of very strangely configured controls, great rigidity in the fights and a rather limited range of monsters, both in both in form and in substance. However, the title was already extremely rich in its ideas of gameplay and mechanics.
It was indeed necessary to prepare for each Hunt against gigantic monsters by improving its equipment or by recovering components to manufacture potions and other consumables in order to succeed in its next mission. This gameplay loop is still the heart of the main games today, but it has necessarily evolved, especially with the addition of new legendary monsters, new mechanics and weapons with unique gameplay.
After a second opus in 2006, Monster Hunter has for a long time abandoned the home console to become a nomadic hunter, in particular on PSP and Nintendo DS/3DS. This transition earned him a solid reputation in Japan, as portable consoles are appreciated there, but much less in the West.
Capcom then tried the MMO with Monster Hunter Frontier Online, first and for the first time in its history on PC in 2007, unfortunately exclusively in Japan. Despite the efforts of Western fans, the title will only see the light of day there unofficially, before seeing its servers closed in 2019.
Which brings us to the last two titles that have been among the most successful titles in Capcom's history internationally: Monster Hunter World and Monster Hunter Rise. The first marked the return with great fanfare of the license on home consoles, then on PC; the second was temporarily exclusive to Nintendo's hybrid console before being also ported to PC.
With these two games, Capcom operated a clear transition towards a semi-open world giving pride of place to exploration (the filoptere of Rise, what a pleasure!) and to much more dynamic combat. This change did not necessarily please the veterans, but it was the great pleasure of a new audience which literally exploded (and therefore inevitably of Capcom).
Maturity for Monster Hunter?
With all this knowledge, what adventures can await Monster Hunter, now that he has acquired the majority? In the near future, we have the expansion for Rise, titled Sunbreak. This should add the famous Master rank specific to each expansion of the main games (or G Rank for old titles) as well as a shovelful of new monsters, shots for the 14 existing weapons and new mechanics. It remains to be seen whether the tower-defense mode… Calamity introduced in Rise will still be present or not.
This is potentially an opportunity for Capcom to make the difficulty of its latest title a little more difficult, so to speak relatively absent in its current version, with the exception of a few rare monsters encountered towards the last section of the game. Monster Hunter World titled Iceborne had shown itself on this point to be exemplary in more ways than one, while World was already in its time considered too “simple” by purists.
For the sequel, let's bet that Capcom is currently working on a form of Monster Hunter World 2 intended for home consoles and the PC, as the first opus has met with phenomenal success. First of all to offer a visual experience using perfectly the excellent RE: Engine inaugurated by Resident Evil 2 Remake, and then, because the Japanese giant had indicated that it wanted to make the PC a privileged platform for its next games. Unless Exoprimal, Capcom's new game with exo-armors and dinos raining down by the thousands, steals the show...
Despite its 18 years, the mythical Monster Hunter license has therefore not yet fully reached maturity, but has undoubtedly risen after all these years to the rank of video game monument. Whatever the arrival of majority has in store for him, we wish him an excellent birthday and many more great years of hunting in perspective!
