Monster Hunter: World with its Iceborne expansion makes for one of the greatest games of all time, and an incredibly memorable masterpiece.

CAPCOM pushed the Monster Hunter franchise into mainstream success, and there are plenty of reasons why. While the core gameplay loop previously found on classic MH games was changed, it was changed for the best. Multiple quality of life features put into the game, that made it much more convenient in comparison to other games in the franchise.

MHW's maps and monsters feel like living, breathing creatures, with a food chain and ecosystem. They aren't just random arcadey lizards you can slaughter for equipment and weapons, they feel like they live there. Apex predators are territorial, and will fight the rest of the beasts, one of them will eat each other and the others will just beat each other to near death. Lands are extremely detailed with many different lifeforms, flora and fauna, with distinct environments and memorable locales. All maps are VERY recognizable and a joy to go through, no matter if you're visiting them for the first or twentieth time.

It's made upon a foundation of genuinely amazing and well thought out game design. Every mechanic, while overwhelming at first, make perfect sense a good 50 hours into the game. There's a vast amount of content to go through, from different hunts, farming, grinding, mini-games, fashion, and an amazing and satisfying end-game with powerful, mythical, unbelievably difficult end-game monsters and equipment to boot. You are meant to spend hundreds of hours in the New World, but your time will be greatly rewarded with a great understanding of the complexity of the game's mechanics.

Weapons are slower and simpler than previous entries in the series, but they still feel weighty and fun to control. Every weapon makes you feel like you're playing a completely different game. You want to do flashy DMC-style moves? Play Insect Glaive. Fancy some shooting? The Light and Heavy Bowgun have you covered. You'd rather do classic, in-your-face, hunting? Sword and Shield is your go-to! Would you rather play more of a rhythmic support role? Go with the Hunting Horn. There are many different ways to tackle a hunt, with many different resources and avenues for player exploration and experimentation. This further enhances the personal experience you have with the game by allowing you to play it the way you want to. It may not be meta or optimized, but you will be able to hunt and have fun.

Multiplayer was the focus for this entry, and it shows. There is nothing more fun than to hunt a powerful monster with a 4-player team, organized and coordinated, with the many ways you can defeat them. You can stun them, sleep them, paralyze them, set traps and then blow them up with barrels, break their parts (with a realistic effect), remove their tail, and the monsters react in a realistic way, such as being unable to perform certain attacks depending on which parts the player broke, giving the player a genuinely satisfying feeling of power and might. You're fighting against an incredibly powerful monster, yet you overpower it by cutting its tail like it's butter.

The soundtrack is one of the biggest parts of the game. Every single track in the game is catchy and fitting. You fight an Elder Dragon? There's a grandiose, orchestrated song to accompany it, especially with end-game monsters.

As mentioned previously, there's a lot of content for you to go through. Here I have a measly 170 hours and I've yet to see everything myself. Every monster, every armor piece, every decoration skill, every augmented weapon skill - you will never starve for content while playing Monster Hunter World: Iceborne. If you're done with the story, you can always go back to it and play with your friends. Play with newcomers. Play Siege Hunts with your friends or alone. Challenge yourself with powerful arch-tempered monsters. Challenge arenas. Event quests. Side-quests. There's enough content for 100+ hours in the base game alone.

Overall, I personally think this is the best game in the series, and my absolute favorite for sure. I will never forget my time with this game, and I'm thankful I was given the opportunity to play it, as I was able to get into the wonderful world of Monster Hunter.

Here's to CAPCOM giving this game a sequel, expanding all the amazing mechanics and World (pun intended) this game brought to the table.

If you are thinking about giving this game a try, please do. If it IS your thing, you will never want to go back.

Monster Hunter: World with its Iceborne expansion makes for one of the greatest games of all time, and an incredibly memorable masterpiece. CAPCOM pushed the Monster Hunter franchise into mainstream success, and there are plenty of reasons why. While the core gameplay loop previously found on classic MH games was changed, it was changed for the best. Multiple quality of life features put into the game, that made it much more convenient in comparison to other games in the franchise. MHW's maps and monsters feel like living, breathing creatures, with a food chain and ecosystem. They aren't just random arcadey lizards you can slaughter for equipment and weapons, they feel like they live there. Apex predators are territorial, and will fight the rest of the beasts, one of them will eat each other and the others will just beat each other to near death. Lands are extremely detailed with many different lifeforms, flora and fauna, with distinct environments and memorable locales. All maps are VERY recognizable and a joy to go through, no matter if you're visiting them for the first or twentieth time. It's made upon a foundation of genuinely amazing and well thought out game design. Every mechanic, while overwhelming at first, make perfect sense a good 50 hours into the game. There's a vast amount of content to go through, from different hunts, farming, grinding, mini-games, fashion, and an amazing and satisfying end-game with powerful, mythical, unbelievably difficult end-game monsters and equipment to boot. You are meant to spend hundreds of hours in the New World, but your time will be greatly rewarded with a great understanding of the complexity of the game's mechanics. Weapons are slower and simpler than previous entries in the series, but they still feel weighty and fun to control. Every weapon makes you feel like you're playing a completely different game. You want to do flashy DMC-style moves? Play Insect Glaive. Fancy some shooting? The Light and Heavy Bowgun have you covered. You'd rather do classic, in-your-face, hunting? Sword and Shield is your go-to! Would you rather play more of a rhythmic support role? Go with the Hunting Horn. There are many different ways to tackle a hunt, with many different resources and avenues for player exploration and experimentation. This further enhances the personal experience you have with the game by allowing you to play it the way you want to. It may not be meta or optimized, but you will be able to hunt and have fun. Multiplayer was the focus for this entry, and it shows. There is nothing more fun than to hunt a powerful monster with a 4-player team, organized and coordinated, with the many ways you can defeat them. You can stun them, sleep them, paralyze them, set traps and then blow them up with barrels, break their parts (with a realistic effect), remove their tail, and the monsters react in a realistic way, such as being unable to perform certain attacks depending on which parts the player broke, giving the player a genuinely satisfying feeling of power and might. You're fighting against an incredibly powerful monster, yet you overpower it by cutting its tail like it's butter. The soundtrack is one of the biggest parts of the game. Every single track in the game is catchy and fitting. You fight an Elder Dragon? There's a grandiose, orchestrated song to accompany it, especially with end-game monsters. As mentioned previously, there's a lot of content for you to go through. Here I have a measly 170 hours and I've yet to see everything myself. Every monster, every armor piece, every decoration skill, every augmented weapon skill - you will never starve for content while playing Monster Hunter World: Iceborne. If you're done with the story, you can always go back to it and play with your friends. Play with newcomers. Play Siege Hunts with your friends or alone. Challenge yourself with powerful arch-tempered monsters. Challenge arenas. Event quests. Side-quests. There's enough content for 100+ hours in the base game alone. Overall, I personally think this is the best game in the series, and my absolute favorite for sure. I will never forget my time with this game, and I'm thankful I was given the opportunity to play it, as I was able to get into the wonderful world of Monster Hunter. Here's to CAPCOM giving this game a sequel, expanding all the amazing mechanics and World (pun intended) this game brought to the table. If you are thinking about giving this game a try, please do. If it IS your thing, you will never want to go back.