Criminally underrated series.
TL;DR: Flashy, satisfying, and savage combat mechanics in a really fast and simplistic gameplay-loop, topped off with an insanely good cast of characters and excellent storyline especially in the Kiwami arc.

Toukiden itself starts off pretty straightforward and really simple in some aspects like in-hunt inventory and skill loadouts being combined together into a single Mitama system. The combat is definitely one of the highlights in the base game, with a very good selection of weapons that all boasts a fair bit of depth and are all really fun to use. Once you actually start beating up your first large Oni do things start getting really crazy as the entire combat revolves around quite literally dismembering large Onis in a very graphic manner, which is something very unique as far as MH/Clones go as none of them have ever gotten to this level of violence that's enough to make you actually feel bad for the onis as they finally die and their husks are limbless unrecognizable lumps.

The real reason this game becomes criminally underrated is when you finally get into the Kiwami portion of the game or the second arc. The game throws a ton of new characters which are all even more interesting, unique, and fun to interact with than the initial cast already was. The story also takes a turn for the absolute insanity with all the constant drama, mystery, and hotblooded moments that keep you going and wanting to know how things play out for hours.

Admittedly I've never heard of Toukiden until sometime last year while I was going through all the MH Clones so I didn't really have any expectations for it at all and just wanted it out of the way but I'm very glad that I went through it and had my mind absolutely blown in the best ways. The game is very worth playing just for the story and characters alone and it would be a huge loss for anyone into MH/Clones at all to have to miss out on this game just because no one else really talks about it.