Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak’s new map strikes a different tone

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak is the upcoming enlargement to Monster Hunter Rise, final 12 months’s Nintendo Swap-only Monster Hunter sport that got here to PC in early 2022. It guarantees new monsters to battle, new companions to battle with, an enlargement to Rise’s Swap Talent system, and extra high-flying adventures with the Wirebug.

However Sunbreak isn’t just “extra” of Rise, and as a substitute breaks from the Japanese folklore theme of its base sport totally. In a translated interview, Polygon spoke to Sunbreak producer Ryozo Tsujimoto and director Yoshitake Suzuki about how the enlargement capitalizes on Rise’s success whereas additionally giving gamers one thing contemporary.

In a video demo for Sunbreak, Capcom confirmed two new monster hunts, one among which occurred within the enlargement’s creepy new space, The Citadel.

“With Rise, it was extra centered on the Japanese folklore motif,” mentioned Tsujimoto. “However with the addition of latest Grasp Rank quests on the Sunbreak facet, as soon as [players] begin happening in these, they are going to be extra absolutely immersed within the Western motif.”

Tsujimoto was referring to Sunbreak’s clear curiosity within the Gothic castles of traditional film monsters like Dracula — the enlargement is Monster Hunter by the use of Castlevania, or Capcom’s personal Resident Evil Village. The Citadel is a European-looking mountain glade full of ruins and foliage.

Regardless of its scenic magnificence, a purple, ominous haze sits over the map, imbuing the world with a sinister really feel. As gamers climb over the dilapidated citadel turrets and into the snowy mountains, it must be clear that they’re nowhere close to Kamura Village (the principle participant hub in Rise) anymore.

Picture: Capcom

However these tonal shifts shouldn’t be taken as a philosophy change with Sunbreak. Regardless of the brand new mise en scène, Capcom labored to protect and improve the map motion that we lauded in our overview of Rise final 12 months.

“Considered one of our focuses in creating Sunbreak was actually to introduce a brand new location that would actually make the most of the brand new options and the brand new mobility that we’ve form of launched within the base sport,” mentioned Suzuki. “[…] It was necessary for us to not diverge from the general dimension from the earlier fields within the sport. […] So the mobility was undoubtedly integral to how we went into designing the structure of this new map.”

Nonetheless, Suzuki clarified Capcom was nonetheless cautious to not overwhelm Hunters with an excessive amount of play area.

Within the clips we noticed, Hunters had been in a position to fly over cliffs and mountains utilizing the Wirebug, strategically dropping into one space of the map from one other. The mountains look new and imposing, however the map folds in on itself properly — like a lot of Rise’s greatest maps — making for straightforward journey between zones.

Simply because the Iceborne enlargement did with Monster Hunter World, Sunbreak reveals off Capcom’s work to proceed the options gamers beloved with the bottom launch, simply with far harsher monsters and quests. However not like Iceborne, Sunbreak’s aesthetic shift is giving gamers a really totally different world to discover. Ideally, it will give the enlargement a more recent really feel than Iceborne did, even when Hunters are utilizing the identical tips to navigate a equally sized world.

Capcom will launch Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak on June 30.