One of my very favourite games of all time. To avoid incoherent gushing, I’m just going to list all the things I love about this game. Most of this applies both to the base game and Iceborne.

- The combat, deliberately paced, and fine tuned to perfection. Your moves don’t come out instantly, so you have to be thoughtful and deliberate in how you fight, figure out what’s safe, what’s risky, find openings, or try to create openings yourself. Monsters move more frenetically than in prior entries, it isn’t as easy to bait out the easy to punish moves anymore. Apparently a somewhat divisive change, but I like it because it encourages you to engage more with the monsters, take risks, duck and weave and try to create your own openings. The monsters still have their tells and reads, they’re still learnable, just harder to cheese. The feedback on your hits is satisfying as well, with the beefy sound effects and a satisfying hitlag when you’re hitting weak spots, like it’s taking time to cut through a target, especially gratifying when you’re playing great sword.
- The gear grind. With a carefully balanced power creep from beginning to endgame that keeps you constantly moving forward, and tons of skills and build options to toy with once you reach the endgame, even easier now with the reworked armour skill system. And since your loot drops are the materials to craft gear rather than the gear itself, you’re always making some progress towards your next upgrade, never getting screwed over by RNG, at least not until you have to hunt rubies and mantles, but thankfully the game has systems that make their acquisition easier. Not to mention the gear itself, new and returning, all looks top notch (aside from...I’ll get to that).
- 14 different weapon types. The weapon roster almost feels like a video game weapon hall of fame. You got Cloud’s great sword, Sephiroth’s longsword, Arthas’ hammer, the Lumen Sage’s glaive, Kratos’ dual blades, etc. Each of them is interesting, varied and fleshed out to a point where any one of them could be the lead of it’s own action game.
- The industry leading monster designs. Each creature is thought out with their own semi-realistic biology and behaviour. Just following them around the map on their routines is one of the most interesting things to do in this game, watching Anjanath chill on the cliffside with it’s sails out, or Odogaron dragging a carcass back to it’s den, or Zinogre howling at the moon, etc. But as well, each of them implements their biology into their fights, meaning it’s to your advantage to know them thoroughly, know how to counter each ability. Rathian poisoning you with her tail? Sever it and neuter her toxin. Barioth too fast for you? Break it’s arm spikes reducing it’s grip on icy surfaces. Nergigante keeps skewering you on it’s spikes? Be aggressive, break them before they can harden. There’s also knowledge of it’s spot on the food chain, what monsters to lure it towards that’ll wittle it down in a turf war. The decision of what equipment to bring, what element or status they’re strong or weak to, which do you have to watch out for. What items counter it. Each creature, new and returning, is like a brilliantly thought out action puzzle, all unique, engaging, thoughtful, it’s some peak boss design.
- The environments. Beautiful to look at, multilayered, dense with secrets, things to explore, and unlike a lot of video game environments that feel like just themed arenas or corridors, these places feel authentic and alive. They’ve also ramped up interactions with the environment. Many of the game’s monsters will lure you into areas where they can really take advantage and let loose with their abilities, but likewise there’s lots of options for you to take advantage of yourself. My favourite map has to be the Hoarfrost Reach from the Iceborne expansion. From the cozy coniferous forests at it’s base, to the precarious glacial shelves along the coast, to it’s frozen peaks, to the ice caverns underneath, to the breathtaking frozen magma formations that surround Velkhena’s lair, the map is just mesmerizing, not to mention it’s battle music is a series highlight.
- It’s fun loving personality. The game offers a ton of light hearted reprieve in the coziness of the village and it’s denizens, the felynes, always getting into slapstick shenanigans, speaking in cat puns, my favourite is the Seliana chef who threatens to whack you with her laddle should you fail to consume an adequate amount of her cooking, the endemic life hunting, how you can catch creatures in the wilds and let them loose in your customizable player home, all the little activities you can perform with other players in the gathering hub like arm wrestling, the suana, getting drunk, to all the event quests and the goofy shit you can earn from them. The game is just so full of charm and character, I love it.
- The community. One of the healthiest, friendliest fanbases that exists for an entertainment product. Incredibly welcoming to newcomers, always willing to explain the game’s systems, help people when they’re stuck. Playing this game’s multiplayer I have witnessed more superhero moments than in any other game, someone throwing their last lifepowder so the next hit doesn’t kill me, or runs out and shields a fireball for me while I’m stunned, or running out to whack me out of stun, putting thenselves in danger so I too have a chance to escape the big area sweeping ultimate attack. It’s the kind of social experience I play multiplayer games for and I’ve really yet to experience it anywhere else.
- It’s generosity. As a franchise, the series has always been honest and consumer focused, offering tons of free dlc, never trying to force exploitative monetization down our throats. Watching World double down on that generosity, offering new monsters, new Siege raids, these high production value collaborations with the likes of Final Fantasy XIV and The Witcher 3, in addition to the usual suite of event quests and gear, in contrast to other games like Destiny and Star Wars Battlefront II descending further into their cynicism was very much a wakeup call for me, a reminder when when you pay $60 you should get a complete product, your money’s worth and then some. The franchise has kind of been a beacon of hope for the AAA industry in my eyes because of that. I honestly want to hug Ryozo Tsujimoto for that comment he made about how paid lootboxes undermine games by making you pay to not play them.

The game isn’t flawless obviously. Lots of people have criticized how half the weapon designs in the game use this weird modular scales on bone or iron system in contrast to the series’ usual unique designs across the board (it didn’t bother me as much because most of my favourites made it back, but I sympathize with those whose didn’t). And the game doesn’t quite have the diversity of monster types other games had, no serpents, bugs, crabs, I would have loved to see something like Nerscylla in the Rotten Vale map. For me though, they’re negligible in the context of what this game is to me. It was my escape throughout several of the most tumultuous moments of my life, it reminded me what it’s like to be a part of a community, it revitalized my love of gaming when I thought it was doomed to cynicism, shot one of my favourite franchises up to AAA stardom. Following it’s lifecycle from the initial beta to the final title update for Iceborne was one of the most exciting, incredible gaming journeys I’ve ever been on. My love for this video game is something I can barely even put to words.