A new quest is being added to Monster Hunter World: Iceborne to tie in to the release of the upcoming Monster Hunter movie starring Milla Jovovich. The movie takes direct inspiration from Capcom’s long-running video game series, but it changes up the storyline drastically by centering on a modern day military unit who is transported into the world of the Monster Hunter franchise and must work to survive against the deadly creatures found within. The trailers have drawn very mixed reviews from fans of the games, and the film itself is set to release on Christmas Day.
The movie does have a very large potential audience. Monster Hunter is a very popular game franchise, especially following the landmark success of its most recent title, Monster Hunter World. World broke a lot of ground for the franchise by introducing gameplay concepts that made it more approachable to new players than ever before. This scheme paid dividends; Monster Hunter World is officially Capcom’s most financially successful game of all time, by a very wide margin too.
Understandably enough, Capcom is now leveraging that success to drum up enthusiasm for the upcoming movie. A recent trailer on the Capcom YouTube channel introduces an upcoming content addition to Monster Hunter World‘s successful Iceborne expansion. The new addition takes the form of two quests starring film character Artemis, voiced by Milla Jovovich herself. The trailer sees her confronting a deadly draconic foe with a pair of twin blades, before running into the Admiral speaking in the official “Monster Hunter language” to Jovovich’s English. The extent to which this language divide will factor into the plot of the two missions has yet to be seen. The quests launch on December 4th, and Capcom has promised unique rewards for both of them.
While a film tie-in does make sense for the Monster Hunter franchise, it’s still a bit surprising to see this new quest coming to Monster Hunter World. As wildly popular as it’s been, the game is on its last legs as Capcom prepares to make the switch to Monster Hunter Rise, a Switch exclusive coming in March. A recent update brought almost all past event quests back into the game, to be enjoyed by anyone at their own leisure. This was seen as a last gesture to fans of the game, giving them almost all the content World has ever had as a farewell gift, as well as an assurance that there would be no more content to come.
This last gasp of content should give fans one last hurrah, provided they’re comfortable with the upcoming movie. A lot of fans of the franchise take issue with the film for its severe departure from the source material of the game, which has absolutely nothing to do with the United States military. Many fans are doubtful that the film will hold up to the rich, vibrant world of the games, despite director Paul Anderson’s insistence that it will be the most loyal video game adaptation to date. Perhaps the missions releasing on December 4th in Monster Hunter World will help these purists get more acquainted with the movie before its release on Christmas Day.
