Monster Hunter Rise review for PS5, Xbox Series X

Monster Hunter Rise was recently released for both PlayStation 4, 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S platforms, bringing the fan-favorite franchise to current-gen consoles once again after its 2021 Nintendo Switch and PC releases. While not completely current with the Switch and PC versions, lacking the more recently released Sunbreak expansion for instance, players will still find plenty to keep them occupied in the new locale of Kamura. Having played a significant portion of both the offline and online campaign, I can say it?s a fantastic port for those that haven?t had the chance to play the game yet, and as an added bonus is automatically included with Game Pass for Xbox owners. 

I?ve been playing through the game on a PS5, and there were a couple of things that stood out to me. First, if you have a TV capable of 120fps, you?ll find that Monster Hunter Rise hits and maintains that frame rate throughout, making for a pretty impressive experience. Also, the load times are virtually non-existent, outside of the initial save load, moving between in-town zones or booting up a quest is lightning fast, which is a significant change from the Switch version of the game. Also, the game looks really great from a visual standpoint. While the visuals haven?t been overhauled for these ports, it?s still a pretty solid improvement from the original Switch version of Monster Hunter Rise.

While there?s been no content added to either the PlayStation or Xbox versions, you?ll still have plenty to do here. There?s the main questline to engage with that?ll take you through multiple monster quest tiers, which is somewhat short compared to other Monster Hunter titles. But the online hub quests expand that out even further, offering up more story content that goes beyond the end credits of the game, and has a number of challenging fights for experienced hunters. There?s also a whole host of free downloadable quests to engage with, encompassing the free DLC that?s come out on prior versions of the game. All in all, you?ll be able to spend a lot of time exploring and hunting down giant monsters, which is pretty much what you want out of a new Monster Hunter game.

For a more detailed review of the actual game, feel free to check out my original Switch review here, where my thoughts on the game haven?t changed a great deal since launch. I will say that I find the PS5 and Xbox versions of Monster Hunter Rise to definitely be the better version of the game, at least as far as consoles are concerned, and would wholeheartedly recommend you check out either version if you have yet to play the game. While the Sunbreak DLC isn?t here yet, it is scheduled for release later this year, so you?ll have plenty of Monster Hunting fun on the horizon. 

Note: Capcom provided us with a Monster Hunter Rise PS5 code for review purposes.