With Follower quests, Monster Hunter Rise: Sunrise can finally appeal to dedicated single-player players

For most people, monster hunter When you think of “single player”, this isn’t the first series that comes to mind. While there are plenty of things you can do on your own in action movies, the series is generally considered a collaborative affair. Find some buddies, sharpen your weapons and smash some skulls. Rinse, plunder, sculpt, repeat.

and Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak — A massive new expansion for the PC and Switch game has landed on June 30 — and it looks like Capcom is trying to change that. In addition to a new difficulty mode, new (and returning) monsters, new hub areas, new maps, and new gear, you’ll also have the opportunity to enjoy Follower Quests: single-player quests that will accompany you into battle from Rise of the world’s NPC.

These characters will help you hunt, just like regular human players — except, as we’ve found out after playing the game firsthand — sometimes these characters are better than human assistants. Each follower – you can unlock multiple followers in Sunbreak’s story – will feature a unique fighting style. Some characters (like Hinoa and Minoto) will be returning from Rise’s main story, but some will be newcomers to Sunbreak’s new Elgado hub.

Doesn’t sound very good, right? It could be an afterthought, or something for those who can’t get together. It is not. In fact, these AI companions may be the best part of the new expansion.

“In Monster Hunter Rise, you may recall that in the Rampage portion of the game, we had a feature that would place characters from villages in locations inside the fortress,” Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak director Yoshitake Suzuki explained when we asked where The idea to say these follower quests came from. “When you complete Rampage quests, there are some interesting interactions between the player and the NPCs. They’ll call out voice lines and things like that, which brings a new depth to the interactive nature of these characters — often, you might They will only be seen standing at various posts around the village.

“We wanted to really build on that, where people really like to get to know the characters better. Especially since there are all kinds of unique and engaging characters throughout the game.”

Since Rampage itself, as a phenomenon, is wrapped up in Monster Hunter Rise’s storyline, it won’t be returning in Sunbreak. Given the new crisis (and new location) on the horizon for Sunbreak, the studio thought “lose that level of intimacy with the character – or whatever you want to call it – would be a shame” and found a way to Come and bring it back to more traditional hunting.

“While multiplayer continues to be a key aspect of Monster Hunter and one of its strengths, we do understand that some players prefer to play single-player — whether it’s alongside multiplayer, or even exclusively,” Suzuki Go on. “So we thought it would be better to adopt the following concepts [having more intimacy with the NPCs] and [playing alongside them] You can combine them into a new single-player mission mode for a multiplayer-like experience if you want.

“[Single-player] Multiplayer will never take your place in Monster Hunter, but these follower quests will give you a hunting party feel while also allowing you to enjoy interacting with characters from the storyline. ”

Perhaps the most impressive thing about the followers is the way they use their weapons. These aren’t hobbyists — the kind of button-mashing newbies you’d pick up in the open lobby on launch day. No, these are the perfect professionals who know how to use the Switch Axe. On our mission, we teamed up with grizzled veteran Arlow, and Gunlance was phenomenal. As a Sword and Shield workhorse, I’m used to getting up close and personal with monsters and blocking or dodging their rage as I weaken the health of their various appendages.

Look, Arlo got in there with me – close and dirty – block when I block, dodge when I dodge, drop the worst link when the creature is stunned, downed or trapped hit. Given that I rarely work with Gunlance users, it feels like playing with human players to me. a very good one. That’s Capcom’s intent.

“We know — especially if you’re playing single-player, and you probably have a weapon or two that you’re good at — you may never really be able to see or experience what all 14 weapon types can bring,” Suzuki Say. “So we designed it in Sunbreak in such a way that once you unlock each follower through their own specific quest (you go out one-on-one with them and complete that quest), they can play in another more general request for attention.

“You can then choose up to two followers to travel with you, each with a variety of weapons to actually choose from. They’ll have the weapon they specialize in (like Arlow’s Gunlance), but they’ll have different ones that you can choose from A subset of weapons.

“So it’s a great way to have someone who can show exactly what it means to be a user of a certain weapon – without having to go out and find someone who’s going to use those weapons with you.”

It’s no mean feat, making followers feel so good. Of course, Monster Hunter has had AI sidekicks in the past—in the form of sidekicks, namely the Palicos and Palamutes. But those characters only exist as supporters; they don’t actually kill monsters with you, they’re supplements. For Sunbreak, Capcom needs to look at AI in a fresh light.

“Honestly, apart from a few little things, we’ve basically rebuilt (or built) the AI ​​for the followers from scratch for Sunbreak,” Suzuki told us. “Achieving this is extremely challenging. It’s also difficult to balance the work of the follower AI for every task that comes up; if they’re too weak, then they’ll feel useless, or you have to take care of them, and it’s more difficult to take them. Tired. If they’re too OP – you go out with them and you feel like you’re just keeping up because the follower is smashing a monster and you’re doing nothing – then it won’t be satisfying for most people, I don’t think.

“Traveling between being overpowering and being useless and making sure that being with them feels valuable – and maybe even learning from them as you watch new strategies and watch how they react to monster behaviors – is a lot of work. We think it’s A very satisfying way to play, even for those who like multiplayer, the gameplay is a little bit different.”

If you’re concerned that these follower quests will shape Monster Hunter’s path from now on, don’t worry; Capcom knows that MonHun elites will still come to these games for group hunts, and it knows single-player is good, but it probably never will” Take over” as the series focus. From the way this interview goes, it sounds like it might be setting up a health bar for the monster (God forbid).

“I would say that since Monster Hunter World, we’ve probably paid more attention to the story side of the game,” Suzuki reflected. “That said, we know that people come to the game for different things. Aside from specific story elements, the world of the game itself is something I think a lot of players love about Monster Hunter.

“Story is one aspect of that, but I think every title we make is put together in a different amount. Between the world of the game, the story of the game, the characters, the monsters and the action…the exact recipe for each game It’s what we’re thinking about on a game-by-game basis, depending on our concept. It’s looking to deliver.”

Like Rise before it, Sunbreak represents another step forward for Capcom and its hugely influential action franchise. Where we used to get brand new games to add this kind of content to Monster Hunter (back in the days of the PSP and Wii), we now get expansions – a fairer proposition for developers and players alike. But Sunbreak feels like a new game — a bold new direction — for a development team that never backs down when faced with challenges, no matter how powerful.

This feels perfect for a game about little hunters fighting tall, ancient monsters.

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak will release on Steam and Switch on June 30.