Monster Hunter Rise is still, first and foremost, a splendid action-RPG title from Capcom. That hasn’t changed in spite of its ports, which began with a PC release in 2022 and now with an expansion to PlayStation and Xbox on January 20, 2023. The PlayStation 5 version of Monster Hunter Rise is a subtle improvement on the original Nintendo Switch version and much closer to the PC in terms of graphics quality and performance, but offers very little else – besides the great game that was always there, of course.
Monster Hunter Rise centers the player in Kamura Vilage, where they’re told they’ve been promoted to a Hunter by the Guild. The impending devastation of “The Rampage” begins to escalate with calamitous actions from hordes of monsters, and the player is tasked with supplying the village and trying to prevent a reoccurrence of destruction through various Monster Hunter Rise quests.
The best elements of Monster Hunter Rise lay within its gameplay: namely, the Wirebugs are just as exciting now as they were when the game launched on Switch. Wirebugs can be used to zip through the air and bind monsters, and add an element of vertical scaling to a series that was primarily played on a horizontal axis prior to Rise. On PlayStation 5, Monster Hunter Rise‘s increased performance means the use of Wirebugs is a little bit smoother and a little bit more seamless, though that’s not to say the Switch version ever had issues with those elements, either.
4K resolution and up to 60 FPS, or 1080p resolution with up to 120 FPS, are both available options with Monster Hunter Rise‘s PS5 version, provided a screen is compatible with those options. The 3D audio on the PlayStation 5 does improve the experience, most noticeably with headphones like the Pulse 3D line.
The biggest get for Monster Hunter Rise on PlayStation 5 is the DualSense controller’s adaptive triggers, which are used here to provide some tactile kick when using shield blocks or some resistance when using Gunner weapons. It’s admittedly not much in the grand scope of Rise, which offers so many playable builds that some players could go through most of the game without encountering these specific instances of DualSense adaptive trigger feedback, but that it’s there at all is a nice bonus for the port.
Ultimately, there’s nothing the Monster Hunter Rise PS5 port does worse than its predecessors, and a few things it does better, like graphical fidelity or adaptive responses. It’s certainly not worth picking up for players who have already experienced the game on another platform – especially if it was PC – but for new players, it’s one of many viable options for playing Rise. The portability of the Switch and the adaptability and power of the PC port are tough selling points to beat, but for those who want better performance than the Nintendo version and don’t have a gaming PC, the sweet spot of the PlayStation 5 release is definitely worth it.
Regardless of which version is played, though, the same thing holds true in 2023 that was evident a few years ago: Monster Hunter Rise is an excellent, massive game, and should be experienced by anyone with even a slight fondness for action-RPGs or monster hunting genres.
Monster Hunter Rise releases on January 20, 2023 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The game is also available on Nintendo Switch and PC. Screen Rant was provided with a PS5 code for the purpose of this review.
