Monster Hunter Rise: Release Date, Trailer, Gameplay, and More

Though the Monster Hunter series has taken a while to come to the forefront, Capcom’s steady persistence paid off with 2018’s Monster Hunter: World. It went on to become the bestselling Capcom game of all time, reaching 16.4 million units sold as of September 2020. Now, the momentum continues with the latest entry in the series, Monster Hunter Rise. The highly anticipated follow-up is coming soon, and since it’s so close, there’s a lot we know about it.

Here, we’ll go through everything we know about the next installment, from its gameplay to its trailer, release date, and more. This is everything we know about Monster Hunter Rise.

Recommended reading:

Trailers

Since its official announcement in September 2020, Monster Hunter Rise has gotten a handful of trailers showing off some of its locales, monsters, and gameplay. Overall, they do a great job of establishing the game’s art style and character models, which seem to be leaning toward more vibrant colors you’d see in Generations Ultimate, rather than what you’d see in World. Since it’s developed with the Nintendo Switch in mind, it’s fair that its art style differs from what you’d see on a modern console like a PS5 or Xbox Series X.

Check out the debut trailer above!

After that, Capcom showed off another trailer during The Game Awards 2020, focusing on the new hub area called Kamura Village and the marshy Flooded Forest. Plus, it gave us a look at the Royal Ludroth, Somnacanth, and Bishaten monsters.

The most recent trailer focused on one of the game’s new features: Wyvern Riding. This mechanic allows hunters to jump on the backs of dragons to steer them into other beasts — or to simply get around easier. It also showed off the new Frost Islands and a slew of monsters like the Goss Harag, Tigrex, and Mizutsune.

Release date

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Capcom announced the release date during the game’s official reveal in September 2020. Monster Hunter Rise will come to Nintendo Switch on March 26, 2021, and will launch across Japan and North America simultaneously.

Platforms

Monster Hunter Rise is built from the ground up with the Nintendo Switch in mind and will come to that platform exclusively. This marks the first entry in the series made specifically for the Nintendo Switch. The last installment that came to the handheld hybrid was Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate, which was originally designed for Nintendo 3DS and was later ported to Switch as an enhanced version.

Seeing as how the Monster Hunter series has had a rich history with Nintendo, it’s unlikely Rise will come to other platforms. The proper follow-up to Monster Hunter: World is probably in development for PS5 and Xbox Series X right now, while the Switch will get its own dedicated Monster Hunter game.

To hold you over, Capcom has released a temporary free demo that you can download on the eShop right now! In it, you can participate in a handful of different hunts, while utilizing each of the game’s 14 weapons. The demo will be available until February 1, 2021. Those who download the demo will be rewarded with the following items in the full game as part of a booster pack:

Mega Potion x20
Pitfall Trap x5
Energy Drink x10
Mega Demondrug x5
Mega Armorskin x5

Gameplay

In terms of gameplay, Monster Hunter Rise will be a mixture of old and new ideas, borrowing some mechanics from World, while establishing updated mechanics for the Switch iteration. The moment-to-moment gameplay loop will remain untouched, allowing you to take down gigantic beasts to harvest for resources that help you take down even tougher creatures. It’s an action RPG at heart, while leaning into humor and daily activities you’d find in a games-as-a-service like Destiny 2 or The Division 2.

Players are encouraged to scavenge for items, explore, and gather the necessary materials to craft armor and weapons. Each creature has a set of resources it drops at random, meaning you might have to grind the same monster over and over before completing your set. You then use that set to take down a more difficult monster — and so on. While the gameplay does seem repetitive, the thrill of taking down a gigantic creature — especially with friends — hardly gets old.

One of the fan-favorite features introduced with Monster Hunter: World was the seamless transition from area to area — meaning there were no immersion-breaking loading screens. That mechanic will make its return with Rise, which is excellent news. Each stage is often divided into a dozen or so areas, and in previous entries, each one was separated by a loading screen — so fans are pleased that won’t be the case with Rise.

The main new mechanic is the implementation of Wyvern Riding, which was covered in one of the game’s recent trailers. Again, this feature allows you to wrangle a dragon to ride and steer it away (or toward) danger. One of the other new additions is the Wirebug, which serves somewhat as a grappling hook that allows you to zip around with ease. From our experience with the demo, this feature makes it super simple to get around the stages quickly.

Joining the beloved Palico is the new Palamute companion, which allows you to ride it around the stage to get from place to place faster. This companion also focuses on offense more so than the Palico, giving you a well-rounded team of allies to help you during battle.

Rise won’t feature new weapons this time around, but all of the 14 weapons found in the main series will make their return with this entry. Speaking of weapons, you’ll be able to use the Nintendo Switch’s gyro controls to aim long-range weapons like the Bow, Light Bowgun, and Heavy Bowgun. Of course, this is optional, and you can just use the sticks.

All in all, Rise seems like it’ll look like Generations Ultimate, but play like World — a healthy blend of new and old.

Multiplayer

As with most Monster Hunter games, Rise will feature cooperative gameplay — allowing up to four players to tackle monsters online or locally. For those looking to play online, you’ll need to have a Nintendo Switch Online subscription. Whether you play online or locally, the multiplayer gameplay seems to be what we’d expect from a Monster Hunter game. You and your squad have a limited number of lives to take down a specific monster and must work together to defeat it before the time limit. Ideally, players should use weapons and move sets that complement one another to ensure the beast is taken down as efficiently as possible.

Monster Hunter Rise will certainly be playable solo, but for those tougher enemies, getting through with a squad will prove to be much easier. And since the Nintendo Switch has such a large install base, you should have no trouble coming across people to play with — whether they’re friends or strangers online.

DLC

Recent entries in the Monster Hunter series have been no stranger to DLC, and Rise will continue that trend. We know it will get some post-launch content and support much like World, though to what degree is unknown. World received an immense amount of support, keeping players coming back for more. You’ll likely see multiple limited-time events and possibly new gear and monsters to take down throughout the game’s life cycle.

Along with the speculation about possible post-launch DLC, there are a few different versions of the game that come with add-on content, which we’ll go over below.

Pre-order

You can pre-order a few different versions of Monster Hunter Rise ahead of its release in March.

Those who pre-order any version of the game will gain access to the following goodies at no additional cost:

Palamute Retriever Costume layered armor
Palico Forest Cat Costume layered armor
Novice Talisman for some extra assistance in the early stages

Pre-order the Standard Edition

Pre-order the Deluxe Edition

Aside from that, Rise will get a Deluxe Edition that features the Deluxe Kit DLC pack. This will come with the following items:

“Kamurai” Hunter layered armor set
“Shuriken Collar” Palamute layered armor piece
“Fish Collar” Palico layered armor piece
Gestures (4 Jumps)
Samurai pose set
Kabuki face paint
“Izuchi Tail” hairstyle

Collector’s Edition

[Sold out everywhere]

There’s also a $100 Collector’s Edition, but it has since sold out across all retailers. It includes:

Megnamalo amiibo
Kamura Mark enamel pin
Sticker pack
“Kamurai” Hunter layered armor set
“Shuriken Collar” Palamute layered armor piece
“Fish Collar” Palico layered armor piece
Gestures (4 Jumps)
Samurai pose set
Kabuki face paint
“Izuchi Tail” hairstyle

Monster Hunter Rise amiibo

Finally, joining all the goodies mentioned above, Rise will also get three new amiibo launching alongside the game. From left to right, there’s the Palico amiibo, the Magnamalo amiibo, and the Palamute amiibo. These amiibo will grant you in-game armor and are exclusive to Gamestop. They’re all sold out currently, but might get an additional batch if demand is high enough.

Monster Hunter Rise will launch exclusively for Nintendo Switch on March 26, 2021.