Hold on to your butts: Monster Hunter Rise is letting the current Apex monsters out of their rampage cages and into the wild. Capcom’s also introducing Apex Diablos and Apex Rathalos for rampages and sticking title monster Magnamalo into the rampage rotation.
Capcom’s also adding past Elder Dragons Kushala Daora, Teostra, and Chameleos to the mix. Naturally, this means new armor and weapon varieties, but also new quests (including series staple Event Quests) for online or even offline action, some of which will grant new gestures and emote stickers.
But that’s not all Capcom’s bringing to the game for April 28’s MHR 2.0 update: New paid DLC will give players more customization options, plus a “do-over” for their hunter’s appearance. The first one will be free from the Nintendo e-shop, but others can be paid for. And you may want it, since there’ll be new hairstyles and voices, so Fugen fans can be the Fugen now. There will also be even more layered clothing for your hunter and pets, including your Cohoot owl pet. If you don’t want to pay for more customization, that’s fine, as Capcom’s also allowing players to craft layered armor based on other armor sets. In other words, you can wear that glow-in-the-dark Narwa set without having to, um, glow in the dark.
Circling back to you more stoic hunters, the new content update also unlocks your HR rank, and some of the new quests are aimed at single-player experiences, in case you need to flex your e-muscles more. If you need it, armor caps are increasing, new Rampage skills will be available, Palico and Palamutes will be able to level up to 50 and have new armor sets, plus new Decorations from the smithy to fill your gem slots.
Not enough for you? Well, at the end of May, players will get another free update adding more monsters and a brand-new ending that takes place after the previous one. Maybe we’ll be doing some spelunking? We’ll have to find out later when Capcom gives us more information on the 3.0 update.
For players looking forward to Monster Hunter Stories 2, which is a 1-4 player online MH-themed turn-based RPG coming July 9 this year, Capcom’s promised crossover content for both games. Having saved data from MHR will import the Kamura armor set to MHS2, while MHS2 saved data will import the Rider layered armor to MHR. The MHS games do look like a good starting point for young (potential) Monster Hunter fans, though I know at least one adult who enjoyed the first one.
