Iceborne is.... pretty damn good. I won't pretend its perfect and that it fixes all of the issues i have with world, but it definitely helps make up for a fair amount of it. MAN I had such a better time going through iceborne than i did all of base world.

the monster roster here is almost immaculate: plenty of hard hitting returning monsters, and the new ones that were added are all great to fight (except maybe namielle, you're pretty but annoying). shara ishvalda alone makes my top 5 fights in the series, though only at number 5. Seliana is a much better hub town than Astera (which i didnt mention in my original review but, astera kinda sucks lol), and the quest progression in Iceborne feels better, but still not perfect. Most of the weapon designs, even with the scrappy trash ones, are fantastic and really shine here. Hoarfrost is also probably the best map in the game? Ties between that and Vale, but not decisive on it yet. I also like what the clutch claw adds, as far as moveset improvements and being able to wallbang.

So what about the bad stuff? Multiplayer is still pretty fucked here, as you can't play through Iceborne at the same time as other people. And since monster health scaling values are fucked up (thanks clutch claw), single player hunts are ROUGH. Both of my Iceborne playthroughs I felt like I practically needed to grab people to play with since I didnt want to slog through 30-40 minute hunts just for like.... Banbaro or Glavenus. The balancing also took a deep dive here, with every post-game update completely making all builds made prior to that update irrelevant. Not as much an issue now with everything being out, but making a whole build just to pretty much throw it away next update was a horrible feeling. I also think the endgame grind here is not particularly good, but honestly i dont think its ever been good in any monster hunter. Definitely not THE worst.

Overall, Iceborne is pretty great. If you want to try out monster hunter, or play world for the first time, PLEASE pick this up alongside it. The game is practically incomplete without it (and kinda middling if you ask me), and some of the fights here will stick with you for a long time.

There is one thing keeping Iceborne from being the best "complete" Monster Hunter game: Clutch Claw.

Clutch Claw is absolutely mandatory, must be re-upped every few minutes, and leads to hitzones on monsters that make no sense at all.

Aside from Clutch Claw, this is everything you could want from a modern Monster Hunter title. But Clutch Claw is so annoying and finicky that I knocked off half a star.

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

Tienes que ser un juego realmente bueno, para que respetes tan poco el tiempo de tus jugadores y aun así ellos dediquen tantas horas a tu juego y que con un simple tuit, vuelvan en masa a jugarlo.

Eso es lo que pasa con Iceborne y te das cuenta que te tenias que haber cogido la versión de PC, pero no lo hiciste en su momento y ahora estas jodido.

No te pilles un MH en consola, nunca.

I’m of the firm belief there has yet to be a bad Monster Hunter game, and though this applies to Worldborne, it’s definitely the most flawed so far (and might be a bit too westernized).

It lacks a lot of (at least what I feel) made old school special despite the jank, there’s a lack in variety when it comes to wyvern species and too many that look like lizards/dinos/dragons as opposed to anything super unique, some newer monsters lack the same design flare older ones have, most returning mons feel like a downgrade despite better hitboxes, base game has the weakest OST in the series (not bad but not nearly as good), the story of both major campaigns have good ideas but the writing and cutscenes are uh not good, and god the layout of most locales and Astera are garbage. There was a clear push to make it appeal more to western audiences by upping certain parts of the “realism” while sacrificing again the original charm. Feels too MMO-y and has a lot more match making aspects most big mainstream western games at the time had which does impact the player base.

That being said, there’s a certain charm to Worldborne too, and a lot of its faults come more from inexperience—this was a major leap forward for the series in a ton of ways so of course it would feel off. And hey, they made normal Fatalis an actual threat plus it easily has the best crossover event quests. There’s a ton of little details I love, endemic life collecting is amazing, and dammit you can’t help but be hooked.


Special shoutout to the fan contributions though. Aside from how a lot of newcomer attitude unintentionally spawned a lot of toxicity in the fandom that even bigger creators in the fan space fall victim to occasionally, there is a very neat community behind it. I love seeing all the mods and art made for it and I don’t think it necessarily has to do with popularity. Those who are willing to help newbies are awesome too :)