I'm not 100% certain, but Monster Hunter Rise might be approaching most-played-game-ever status in my gaming history. It is certainly the game that I have played the most times.
I often make the comment that, as a video game journalist and reviewer, I rarely get the chance to go back to games once I've beaten them. There are games that I wish I could have as a "forever" game that I continue to go back to in between reviews (Red Dead II, Fallout 76), but by the time I settle into one, the next review pops up and I'm off to the races again with something new. But Monster Hunter Rise...this game is something special.
The reason I can keep coming back to Monster Hunter Rise is that Capcom just keeps releasing it on new platforms, clearly because they have some insight into my psyche. And clearly, I have to check out every single release to make sure it's okay, right? And clearly, I have to beat the entire storyline in both single and multiplayer, right?
I first beat the single-player campaign (and a bunch of late-game monsters) in Rise for my review of the initial Switch release. Then Capcom dropped Rise onto Steam, so I had to play that for comparison to the Switch version (which still holds up remarkably well). Of course, I got pulled into the entire game and went all crazy running through the story again.
Then Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak came out, and I realized that I had woefully neglected the multiplayer game on Switch (I was initially playing in a pre-release period for my review), so I had to dive back in and crank out then entire storyline in order to access the Sunbreak content. And then, of course, I played Sunbreak.
Last week, we got a new build of Monster Hunter Rise, this time on PlayStation 5. I'm not handling the full review (that will be out later this week courtesy of Jason Dailey), but I did jump into the game again, purportedly to "show Jason the ropes". Monster Hunter games can be tough to get into unless you have a buddy to kind of guide you through some of the complexities, so it would only be right if I helped Jason get acclimated to some of the more obscure nuances of the game, right? RIGHT?
So, that's why this morning - well after my "acclimation" session with Jason - I woke up at 6:00 AM to grind Magnamalo for parts. If I have his entire Sinister set by the time the game releases, I will be able to dip into multiplayer and help out new players with some of the early quests, and that's cool, isn't it? And actually, now that I think about it, once I have his armor set, I can probably keep going into the endgame and get even better armor before the game drops to the general public. That would actually be some sort of public service, wouldn't it?
I mean, I don't have to keep playing Monster Hunter Rise. I can stop any time I want. It's not as though I have some inner compulsion that makes me keep playing, causing me to forget to eat, interrupting my sleep patterns. That would be crazy, wouldn't it? Wouldn't it?
Monster Hunter Rise releases on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on January 20. Keep an eye on Gaming Nexus for Jason's full review.
