Cory's Game Reviews

The story…

Where shall I start? I have put over 75 hours into this game on my Nintendo Switch with my partner and there is still plenty to go at. We have hunted a massive amount of monsters and travelled to many areas and I can still say we haven’t seen the full game.

The basis of the game is you are a young hunter protecting your village from monster attacks, and trying to hunt the main monster of the game. The Magnamalo, which can be seen at the top of the article. It’s the biggest threat to the village and its your job to stop it before it destroys you. The game starts with the character creator and pet creator. You will start with 2 allies, a “Palamute” and a “Palico” (a cat and dog basically).

The gameplay…

The gameplay… well this game has a good variety of styles to fit whatever you want to do. There’s hacking and slashing, shooting, bows. Whatever sort of player you are, there is something for you! You start in the village and accept quests from one or two places depending on whether you are doing the solo stuff or the online part.

After you have taken up a quest, you depart to one of the many biomes full of a variety of monsters and plants. You’ll be dropped in with your companion pets and then the hunt begins. You’ll have a main monster for which is your target (based on what you were tasked to hunt) and then 2 other monsters as well as smaller ones that live in the area. You have 50 minutes to hunt your target but that should be plenty of time.

If you are feeling brave, you can try and hunt all 3 but I wouldn’t recommend doing that until you are more comfortable with hunting and trapping (a little more about that soon). As you try to find your target, you traverse the environments and will come across herbs which can be used to make a variety of potions including the much need “Healing Potion” which you’ll need as you go.

Once you have found your target, it’s time to fight! You’ll quickly find what weapons work best for you through trial and error as well as the best ways of countering the monsters. You also have plenty of items to aid in the hunt. As well as the aforementioned “Healing Potion”, you have other items such as an “Antidote” and “Big Barrels” to counter and damage the monster.

After the monster has been worn down enough, it’s finally time to slay or capture the monster! Capturing can provide more items, although if you do slay the monster, you can skin it for parts to upgrade your weapons.

Please see some gameplay of me using the bow and arrow… https://youtube.com/shorts/HepgUajXHDk?si=Hpjvv_FD9vohqlPA

The Monsters…

The stars of the show. The Monsters! There are so many different monsters with their own traits and move sets. This really makes you adapt to each fight and makes you feel the need to try new tactics every time until you know what works. Monsters also come in different sizes to further add to the uniqueness of it all.

The Graphics…

The graphics are pretty good for a switch game. It has a great art style, they’re pretty colourful and scenic while also being gritty to bring you into the world. One noticeable thing is the pop-in, as there is quite a bit due to the power of the switch. However, I haven’t played the Xbox version so I can’t comment on it. In both handheld and docked modes, the graphics are good enough for what is needed and I found them pleasing.

The Soundtrack…

The soundtrack is very melodic while also being upbeat and changes depending on what monster you are fighting which I thought was pretty neat. It makes each monster have their own personality and feeling for each fight.

In Conclusion…

The game is definitely worth your time, the atmosphere is incredible, the fights are memorable, and the world is just so beautiful that you just want to stay there forever.