Monster Hunter: World Iceborne review

Reviewed on: PS4

by Samuel R. Auras

Monster Hunter World was a revolution for the series. All the changes needed for a more modern game, but without losing the soul of the franchise, with dozens of different options of weapons, accessories, equipment, traps and other paraphernalia so we could capture and hunt the fiercest monsters in video games, from dinosaurs to dragons. If you don’t know Monster Hunter World, you should!

This review was written aimed at those who already know the original game. The reason is simple: Iceborne is an expansion to Monster Hunter World made with fans in mind, which improves the base game experience with new moves, new attacks, new equipment options, and a large number of new and dangerous monsters. It’s everything Monster Hunter World is, and much more. In short: if you liked World, play Iceborne. Simple as that. Allow me to explain why in the next lines.

These days, we have one certainty: the chances are very high that a hit game will end up with a lot of content after launch. With rare exceptions, like the excellent God of War, which didn’t have a single piece of additional content released, big sales numbers will be a reason to develop a large number of DLCs. Usually, the player ends up having to pay a lot of money for little content, that is when the base game isn’t released with material already locked behind more payments. Gone are the days of old expansions, released with lots of content, as happened with Age of Empires, for example. Well, at least until now.
Iceborne is an impressive expansion, practically a second game in the series. We get access to a large number of new monsters, new quests, armors, new areas, a new original story… It’s an expansion that shames practically any other additional content from any other game. My greatest joy playing this expansion was being surprised by SO MUCH new stuff. SO MUCH new CONTENT. It’s A LOT, A LOT of stuff.
Let’s go, starting with what matters. The game has more than 20 new monsters; several are already famous in the franchise but new to World (hi Tigrex), others are really original and brand new, and still others are variations of monsters in the original game (like a new species of Legiana, of Tobi-Kadachi, of Anjanath…). Even those that are “just” new species of old monsters are completely different in hunting strategy. The new Legiana species, for example, is one of the most aggressive monsters in the game, with fast attacks and quick, unpredictable movements.
With so many new targets, the game also makes new combat tools available to the player. The main one is a new claw that lets you “stick” to the monster, which opens up a range of new mechanics, through which you can weaken specific parts of the monster, knock monsters down more easily, enrage them, among many other possibilities. Each of the game’s 14 weapons also has new moves. The bow, for example, the weapon I used for 90% of my nearly 300 hours of play overall (almost half of that time, mind you, in Iceborne), gets a new short-range attack that is almost like a shotgun. Hard to aim correctly, but it does considerable damage.
The new snow and ice area of the game is also very cool and very well built. Anyone who played World knows the game’s areas aren’t simply ordinary maps from any average RPG. Monster Hunter World has rich and complex areas, with defined ecosystems for each monster that has its habitat there, and with secrets in every corner. Iceborne is no different, and has a new area that is huge and, of course, full of secrets. Being a good hunter is much more than just knowing the monsters; you must know the area where you are fighting, to use everything in the environment to your advantage.
Speaking of the new area, Iceborne also has a new city that becomes your new hub, your new base of operations. Seliana, the new city, has everything necessary and much more: new characters, new mini-games, new quests that give access to new combat tools, among many other things, including a new personal room that you can modify at will with hundreds of customization options; it’s almost a mini The Sims.
One of Iceborne’s biggest attractions, however, is the endgame: the way you can keep fighting monsters and improving your character after you’ve already finished the campaign. I’ll avoid spoilers here, but it’s really interesting, and I personally enjoyed it a lot. Let’s just say you have lots to do after you reach the end of the expansion’s main campaign missions.

Speaking of the campaign, Iceborne has a story that takes place right after World’s plot, and this story is exactly what you expect it to be in a Monster Hunter: just another excuse for you to go out hunting monsters. Honestly, it didn’t bother me at all. Monster Hunter has never set out to be an RPG with a story full of twists and the most memorable and complex characters. Iceborne’s story fulfills its role perfectly: driving the player against ever fiercer monsters in ever more complicated situations, until the final fight, which is something impressive.

Anyway, I can’t find flaws in Iceborne. Usually I end my reviews with a paragraph summing up and comparing the good and bad sides of the game, but this time I’ll do it differently and simply say the following: Iceborne is the perfect expansion for Monster Hunter World. If you liked World, play Iceborne and you won’t be disappointed.

Monster Hunter World Iceborne is available for PS4, Xbox One and PC. This review was based on the PS4 version, played on a PS4 Pro.