I’m a Monster Hunter fan, but what does that even mean? There are so many “right ways” to play. You can play Monster Hunter like a Palico fashion show or flower-picking sim. Maybe you want to grind the Insect Glaive combo list like you’re in a Street Fighter lab, sharpening your muscle memory until it can cut Fatalis. You can squad up with the tactical focus of fantasy SWAT or wander forever in Hoarfrost Reach. With less than 100 hours in the franchise (much less than some writers here at MHHQ), I’m still discovering what Monster Hunter is. If there’s one thing I know, it’s that the series embodies what I love about games in the first place.
Like a Brick Wearing Kevlar
We probably don’t share the same priorities, and that’s okay. Mastering the mechanics doesn’t interest me, so I’ve accepted that I’ll always be clumsy with a Switch Axe. Monster Hunter is cool with my B- skillset though. You don’t need to wield a Lance with the lethal grace of a Shaolin monk. You can strap 300 lbs. of armor plating to your body and hit tank dragonfire. Who needs to dodge when you’re built like a brick wearing Kelvar? Weapons and strategies are broadly balanced, so you never have to look up a tier list or think about the meta if you don’t want to. It’s okay to just play.
I’m not going to list the Erdtree bosses I’ve beaten as a some testament to my gamer worthiness or as proof I’ve Gotten Good. I haven’t. My calico Palico doesn’t care, and neither do their fuzzy mittens. Monster Hunter can be intimidating. Wizards’ libraries have less lore, and there’s enough mechanical depth to keep fighting game fanatics stuck in for thousands of hours. Still, in some ways, it might be one of the friendliest newbie experiences. That’s because you don’t need to be good at hunting monsters to enjoy Monster Hunter.
A Professional Appreciation for Play
Never once as I clung to the spiny back of the rampaging Nergigante did I question my decision. Not when it bucked and gored me. Not when it carted me back to camp. No, plunging headlong into the brawl was the right call because it was fun. Just like picking cactus fruit in Wildspire Waste and getting Dalmasca Estersand flashbacks was. Now Grammeowster Chef is cooking the most delectable roast to ever grace pixels. I could not care less about the inefficiency of my hunts, because they are unfailingly fun. The Monster Hunter devs have a professional appreciation for play, and it shows.
There’s something special about a franchise so good that you can have fun while ignoring its core gameplay loop. Yes, you need to do some hunting to progress through story checkpoints and unlock certain features. Still, if you mostly just want to tag along with friends, oooing and ahhhing over the the Sistine Chapel-gorgeous cinematics, and stuffing your bag with herbs, you can. Wilds and World deliver a grittier hunting fantasy than Rise, but all of them value fun over forcing the player into one playstyle. I can’t solo Lunastra and Alatreon with a Hunting Horn, but I draw aggro like a champ. Why yes, Brachydios is ragdolling me for the 10th time in front of my helpless cat, what of it?
Hunting, Ecology, and Coziness
You might end up grinding Paolumu kills in the Coral Highlands even if you don’t enjoy terrorizing the fuzzy blimps. Those Lumu Greaves aren’t going to craft themselves, and the wings have to come from somewhere, after all. Kill, carve, craft, repeat. Hunting games often struggle to find any kind of empathy for the thing you’re gunning down or chopping up, but not Monster Hunter. Maybe it’s the emphasis on using every part that you carve to craft something, letting the monsters you slay live on with new purpose. These hunts aren’t merely for sport, and I find that comforting.
Monster Hunter is a cozy game, just not the way The Sims or Hello Kitty Island Adventure is. There are days I boot up World with zero intention of hunting anything. I want to share a meal, take a stroll around the crystal caverns, and then lose the rest of my evening in the Smithy, frowning at Gunlance stat blocks. If I’m having fun, I’m playing it right. I make a living writing guides for games like this, but sometimes there’s nothing more soothing than not caring about whether or not you’re playing the game as intended. Train, slay, honor the dead, and then craft the dead into stylish boots. Or don’t. I won’t judge.
