I never “really” played Monster Hunter. I’m pretty quick to make a judgement on games, so a new franchise has to impress me fast. In the case of Monster Hunter, I played the first one and gave up real quick, I didn’t “get” it after doing some early small monster hunts. I gave it another chance on PSP, but I gave up on that one even faster and I never touched the series again.

So the demo for Rise came out, and since it actually made you play the real core of the gameplay in a way, actually getting you to hunt big monsters, I figured I’d give it a chance again (I’m sure some other MH demos did that too, but that was when I was in “gave up on MH” mode so I paid no attention). It took me a bit, but after trying out different weapons and figuring out how I was supposed to play, I became able to kill the demo monster, Mizutsune, pretty reliably (didn’t play the second demo that had Magnamalo). And I was enjoying it. So I figured… let’s jump into MH for real this time, unlike my original “attempts” with the series.

So yes this is a review not at all from a fan of the series, but a newcomer. So I don’t really know what’s new in this one except a few elements, I don’t know if it’s better or worse than any of the other games, I’m judging this as if it were a whole new thing. If you want a review from a veteran, you’ll have to look elsewhere. Let’s see how a newb deals with his first MonHun!