Released in March 2021 on Switch and then in January 2022 on PC, Monster Hunter Rise took over from the essential Monster Hunter: World, which has occupied fans of the series since 2018. Scheduled for the end of the month, the Sunbreak expansion has already been approached by us, the time of a presentation featuring some new areas, game mechanics and creatures. Prepare to bid farewell to Kamura Village, as Elgado Outpost will now be your home!
A maritime observation base built on the ruins of a fort, Elgado was created to monitor the activity of creatures called the Three Lords. Specifically, these new monsters to slay are the elder dragon Malzeno, the ice wolf Lunagaron, and Garangolm, who can reasonably be described as a scaly gorilla. Only experienced players are allowed to follow in their footsteps, since it is necessary to have completed the main quest of Monster Hunter Rise before starting that of Sunbreak. It must be said that the expansion offers a Master Rank difficulty, which goes beyond 7-star quests. Naturally the rewards associated with these Master Rank quests will be up to the challenge. So far, we have been able to witness two different hunting parties during the game’s presentation. The first took place in four-player multiplayer, and gave us the opportunity to observe the Citadel, one of the new areas of hunting. It revolves around an old fortress abandoned and returned to the wild. Nature having taken back its rights, the castle has become a den of monsters. Different biomes surround this landmark, like the lush forests and frozen mountains that we were able to see.
The preparation stage also unveiled one of the novelties of the game, called “Substitute Talent Transfer”. This meaningless term is much more understandable in VO, since it is a simple “Switch Skill”. Concretely, this allows players to concoct two customizable sets of five techniques, and to switch from one to the other during the adventure. This should allow greater flexibility in the face of various threats. Moreover, if the main target of the quest presented was a Lunagaron, the players still had to fight with a Garangolm on the way. Once enraged, the latter’s right arm becomes covered in lava while his left arm becomes covered in moss. This configuration allows him to attack with both fire and water elements. The Lunagaron is no slouch, as its enraged state causes it to stand up on its hind legs and release long white claws. To overcome these threatening monsters it may be interesting to take advantage of the Spider-Pantin, one of the new “insects” of this extension. Its silk threads are stronger than those of the classic Spider-Doll and allow you to put down all monsters, including flying creatures, in order to stun them for a few seconds.
WHO GOES HUNTING…
The second mission presented for this preview took place in the Plains of Sand, as beautiful by day as by night, and particularly targeted Seregios, This flying dragon is well known to fans of the series, since we have already come across it in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, Monster Hunter Generations or even Monster Hunter Stories. Sunbreak will indeed offer its share of new monsters but also classic creatures. The most interesting aspect of this quest, however, comes from its “Paragon” nature (or “Follower Quest” in VO). This is a new type of exclusively solo quests, where the player teams up with an NPC in the town in order to strengthen the bonds between them. This powerful ally can help us in many ways (damage, traps, use of objects, riding creatures…) and should never turn into a ball, since putting it down is not synonymous with failure. Finally, this first contact with Sunbreak allowed us to see that it will no longer be necessary to propel and tap into the Filoptera gauge to run on a wall. To the new content should therefore be added some “quality of life” improvements, which is always good to take!
