Monster Hunter World
Monster Hunter is Capcom’s second most popular franchise, and yet, chances are you haven’t heard of it. It is the sixth mainline game in the franchise, but you may have just heard about World from its extremely positive reviews or excellent sales numbers.
So what is Monster Hunter (rather self evident…)? Is it objectively the best game in the series and possibly the best game ever of all time (yes)?
It is a third-person role-playing game in which you, a hunter, take up one of 14 different weapons and hunt increasingly monstrous… monsters, using their parts to craft stronger weapons and armor that you than use to defeat them.
A pretty simple gameplay loop, but do not discredit the beauty in its simplicity.
Sales (This is Big for Monster Hunter!)
Before we dive too deep…sales numbers.
Monster Hunter world is easily the most popular game in the series, Capcom themselves announced on January 29th that they shipped 5 million copies of the game. Important to note is that its copies are shipped, not sold.
Actual sales numbers are harder to discern, especially worldwide. Gamespress.com, a UK based gaming press website, lists World as number one for Xbox and PS4.
Natively, Famitsu, a Japanese game magazine, has estimated that 1.35 million physical copies have been sold in Japan, and if you count digital sales, an estimated 2 million copies.
The Retro(spect)
There have been 40 titles in the franchise’s history, starting with the original, released on the PlayStation 2 in 2004.
Only six of these are “mainline” entries: Monster Hunter, Monster Hunter 2, Monster Hunter Tri (3U), Monster Hunter 4 (4U), Monster Hunter Cross (Generations), and now Monster Hunter World.
In addition, there are many spinoff games and small expansions or ports of the mainline such as Monster Hunter Portable (PSP) and Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (PSP/IOS/Android).
Review – Short and Sweet Like
For veteran hunters; the game retains its core, and although many beloved quirks have been changed, it is still the best Monster Hunter to date, with more monsters soon to be added.
For new hunters; if you have played a Monster Hunter game and it didn’t quite click, give this a try. While Monster Hunter is rather notorious for its complete lack of new player experience, steps have been made toward improvement in MH4U and MH Generations.
The game has well-explained tutorials, and there are tons of videos and online resources from veteran hunters explaining the basics that can assist you in your gaming.
There are also plenty of great reviews out there, but you will want to try and avoid the big publication reviews as they only give false information.