see my review for MHW for overall take, but MAJOR improvement over the base game

only real gripe is the renaming of G rank to Master rank, it's just so ehhhhh

G rank forever

One of the first actual worthy expansions that I bought separately from a game. It expands even more Monster Hunter World with more equipments, monsters, mechanics; just much more content in general. Definetely one of the best expansions ever made.

-Even more Changes
MHW already basically remade the gameplay of the Monster Hunter franchise, and Iceborne added even more things, some to continue in next games, somes don't.

The main new mechanic added on Iceborne is the Clutch Claw; a equipment that you can use, without sheathing the weapon, to do a "semi-mount" on the monster and attack him, if you get hit you dismount, unless you are using certain mantles. If you just attack with a normal attack, besides doing damage, the monster's part will be tenderized; if you are using a Light Weapon you need to hit 2 times, unless you are using a special skill; if it's a Heavy Weapon you only need to hit 1 time to tenderize it. You can also use slinger ammo while mounting with the Clutch Claw to send a monster into a wall to topple it or send it to a ledge to make him fall down; you can only use it when he is not enraged.
With this, it came a problem: tenderize a monster feels like it's mandatory. Because tenderizing a part gives so much bonus damage, the monsters were balanced to have more health and take less damage and even some skills were also balanced with the clutch claw in mind. This was made to influence the players to use the Clutch Claw, but now it feels like you need to use it all the time. The "Wall Bang", when you use slinger ammo to make the monster hit a wall, feels like the only correct way to do a lot of damage on a monster when he is not enraged.

All the weapons received new moves, some use the clutch claw some don't. Making all the weapons much more stronger and versatile and making the gameplay even more action focused.

New decorations and now Level 4 decorations.
Some skills can go above their max level.

A new snowy location called Hoarfrost Reach and another one that you unlock after completing the story and is really important for the endgame grind, it also makes the endgame here much more diverse and better than base world, that was basically hunt tempered monster to try to get good decorations.

A new base snowy village called Seliana was added, I fell that a lot players that played MH: Freedom Unite will feel kind of familiar with this new village. Seliana is MUCH better than Astera, being much more smaller with more convenient placement of things like the Smither, the Canteen, item boxes and the Tailraider Safari, also no loading screens except if you go to the also new Gathering Hall, that I liked much more than the other one on Astera.


-Even More Monsters
The base game had 36 Large Monsters, one of the smallest rosters in the franchise. But Iceborne added 35 new ones, almost doubled the roster, literally by 1, being the expansion that added the most monsters in the franchise; MHW Iceborne have now a total of 71 Large Monsters. Out of the 35 added, 18 are returning monsters and 17 are new ones.
Also, now we have a monke, a furious monke.

And of course, more monsters means more equipments, equipment that looks FUCKING SICK... except some weapons that, unfortunatly, still look terrible, though it's less than base world.


-Story
I kinda liked the story of Iceborne more than the MHW one because we have a little bit more of character development.
The new plot is basically: "there is earthquakes, monsters migrating to other habitats, ice and a weird "song" going on. Go discover what the fuck is doing that", is basically that, with a couple of cool moments.


-Soundtrack
The soundtrack is still outstanding. Honestly I just put this here to recommend some songs:

MHW: Iceborne's Main Theme - Succession of Light
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOIkiPeIbvY

Nay! The Honor is All Ours
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0xTx2BsLRc

Seliana's Theme:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc-lYkl0lrc

Velkhana's Theme(Flagship of Iceborne)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtOcADX4v6k


-The Guiding Lands
Now this is the new endgame of World that is a major addition and adds a really different and better endgame from the base one.
The Guiding Lands is the new location that has a set of different regions in it; as I said, you unlock after beating the expansion's main story. All the monster materials that you grind here are all used to augment your weapon. Normal and Tempered monsters has different drops.

It has 6 different regions that you can Level Up but also Level Down, unless the levels are fixed. You can have 3 regions on level 7, the max level; 1 region. Also, you can go to other people's Guiding Lands if you don't to want to grind to level up or down your regions.

The monsters appear on different areas by the RNG; but you can control who appears based on the level of the region or just use Lures, that you get by completing special tracks or creating via Elder Melder.

The Guiding Lands was an amazing addition that motivates to continue playing a lot because is an major part on augmenting the weapon and is a total step forward compared to the endgame of base World.

Also there are monsters that you only unlock on the Guiding Lands.

-Conclusion
I wanted this review to be longer, there is things that i didn't talked about like specific unique monsters and mechanics that they added and title updates, that are now all on the game. But is mostly because I want players to experience most for themselves.

It was even more fun to watch the dev diaries; the final one was quite emotional.

Iceborne was the first expansion that I bought full price separately, and it was 100% worth it. It adds even more to an already complete solid game. It made World even better than it was and added +400 hours to my experience.
Like World, i recommend that you beat Iceborne on solo and them go multiplayer.

If you loved World, I highly recommend Iceborne. Is an amazing example on how to make a worthy expansion that adds even more to an complete game.

One of the better Monster Hunters after it fully released. Terrible endgame monsters you can tell were stunted by the pandemic shutting down development (Fatalis and Alatreon are really terribly done fights, especially Fatalis who has weapon matchups that are insanely bad to the point runners will avoid them) but there was a soul and care put into this game not found in most other games. There was finally an actual gameplay loop, albeit way too grindy. The clutch claw and tenderization nerf was atrocious and should be modded out of your game ASAP if you're on PC. It has a few flaws holding it back, but many of them are moddable on PC. The game boasts far, far more pros than cons without a doubt. Great MH game. Aged a bit better than.... some other entries.