Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak New Features And Monsters!

Monster Hunter‘s official Youtube channel has released some new information about the upcoming Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak expansion! We got shown new monsters and insane new gameplay features!

New variants and another returning favourite!

Capcom has confirmed that both the Somnacanth and Almudron will be receiving an ice variant and magma variant respectively. Both will have deadly new attacks for you to avoid and counter!

That said, from the footage, their movesets seem largely similar to their original forms so players shouldn’t expect too many changes.

Meanwhile, the swift Seregios brings in a hailstorm of scales, divebombs and a nasty new bleed status effect! This monster promises to bring an encounter that will test your evasion skills and tear through your well-done steaks. In previous games, its weapons had the unique ability sharpen your weapon when dodging.

So perhaps we may see this return as an armour skill in Sunbreak?

The developers also revealed more information about the flagship monster Malzeno! They went into detail about the vampiric inspiration and design for the monster, giving us a few clues about how it fights.

In particular, they stated that it has the power to absorb the life essence of monsters and hunters. Mr Suzuki of the development team has warned us that the Malzeno will evolve to an even more powerful form if it successfully claims a hunter’s life force!

In addition, a new status effect known as Bloodblight will be added to the game along with this monster. This blight drains your health slowly over time, but also gives you the unique ability to heal yourself through attacking whilst it is active!

I personally think this is an innovative way to promote aggressive gameplay whilst not forcing a player into a single way to counter it.

New moves for everyone!

With the new expansion comes the Master Rank level and the addition of the Switch Skill Swap to your hunter!

The developers have confirmed that monsters in Master Rank will have new additional moves that can combo into each other, meaning that monsters will behave differently to their high rank counterparts.

Naturally, the hunter must therefore adapt with their own set of new tricks to keep up with this new threat! Enter the Switch Skill Swap, a feature that allows you to create two loadouts of different Switch Skills and swap them seamlessly mid-combat!

Previously, the issue was that certain switch skills were absolutely mandatory to maintain a weapon’s viability. With this new gameplay feature, players will have more freedom of choice when it comes to their hunting style and we may see more diversity in player builds.

The real monster hunter were the friends we made along the way

It has been generally agreed that NPCs in Monster Hunter were pretty useless until Monster Hunter Rise. In this game, they are immensely helpful during the Rampage quests as they have unique high-impact abilities.

Sunbreak expands on this further by adding them as AI teammates during specific singleplayer hunts! These “Follower Quests” will have exclusive rewards and story, so players are advised to give these a shot!

Followers have been confirmed to have their own weapon specialization and are capable of using items like traps, bombs and lifepowders so hunters shouldn’t worry about their performance!

This is sounds like a fantastic addition, as players may develop a deeper connection to these characters since the can directly bond with them during these missions. If anything, it will dispel the ludonarrative dissonance of NPCs saying “we saved the day” when it was more “I saved the day”.

The game releases on June 30th, so players can look forward to new content soon! Check our previous article to see what else is coming and what pre-order rewards are available!

What do you think of the new features coming to Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak? Go wild with your thoughts down the comment box! Also, join our Discord and discuss all things gaming and entertainment with the All Maverick team and community!