Capcom has gone into detail about their upcoming Monster Hunter expansion, with new creatures, new abilities, and a giant new arctic world.
E3 2019 Nintendo Direct dated but will not feature any new hardware
Although it was first announced during Sony’s State of Play livestream, Capcom has gone into a lot more detail about Monster Hunter: World expansion Iceborne in their own stream.
According to them the new snow-covered map area will be the biggest separate biome in the whole game, although it is an expansion in that you’ll need the parent game to be able to play it. Although an all-in-one package called Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Master Edition will also be released.
The story takes place after the existing campaign, in a polar region named Hoarfrost Reach, where keeping warm is a constant problem that involves eating hot peppers and making good use of hot springs (which are inhabited by little monkeys that have the same idea).
Although there’ll be lots of familiar creatures in Iceborne many of them will be new, including smaller, non-huntable critters like the rime beetles that roll up slinger ammo and a new type of wingdrake to grapple onto.
In terms of actual monsters the one you see the most in the trailer is called a Banbaro – a vegetarian wyvern that nevertheless likes picking fights with other creatures and will throw boulders and trees at you.
The land shark style thing is called the Beotodus and travels under the snow most of the time, so just getting it out is half the trouble.
The bat-like creature is called the Nargacuga and has been in Monster Hunter before, although this version has new attacks.
Finally, the elder dragon you see at the end of the trailer is called Velkhana, but other than using ice attacks (natch) it’s being kept under wraps for now.
In terms of other new features hunters will now be able to use slingers while their weapons are drawn, with the slinger itself getting a grapple upgrade and a ‘flinch shot’ that lets you use up all your ammo to push a monster into a specific direction.
Iceborne will also feature a new Master Rank, above High Rank, that is essentially G Rank from the old games in all but name.
The Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions of Iceborne will be released on 6 September, but the PC version won’t be available until the winter. Although Capcom are promising it won’t be six months late like the base game.
As you might now be imagining the expansion isn’t free but will cost £34.99 in the UK or £41.99 for the deluxe version with the Yukumo Layered Armor Set and other cosmetic-only items.
Before the patch comes out though the arch-tempered form of the Nergigante monster will be available to hunt in the game from Saturday, May 11 for a limited time. There’s also a paid-for Nergigante PlayStation theme available from today, and the start of The Witcher crossover.
While in other Capcom news, the company has announced that other than Iceborne it has no other major new releases planned for this financial year, which ends in March 2020. So don’t be expecting that rumoured Resident Evil 3 remake in January. That doesn’t rule out ports, remasters, and other minor release though, or some kind of major reveal at E3 – they just won’t release it before April.
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