Sunbreak, the first expansion for Monster Hunter Rise (opens in new tab), is nearly upon us. Capcom has released a pretty mighty patch in preparation that’s worth your time even if you don’t plan on picking up the expansion anytime soon.
There are a ton of nifty quality-of-life features, adjustments and new additions to the base game. There’s now more space in the item box, equipment box, decoration box and layered armor box along with your furry friends’ equipment and layered armor box. It should be easier to navigate each box and its loadouts too.
While Rise’s mobility is already the best it’s ever been, a decrease to palamute mount times and the ability to wallrun without using a wiredash first should continue to improve upon the game’s movement. Consuming potions and other recovery items with animations can now be cancelled and the animation won’t play if you’re already at full health.
Surprisingly, the base game is also added some new customisation options for both hunters and their furry pals. There are new hairstyles, makeup, face paint, facial hair and eyebrow options for hunters, while palamutes and palicoes get new pattern, eye, ear and tail options.
Barroth haters will be glad to know that his hitbox has been adjusted, presumably made smaller. His head bash has been causing problems for a hot sec and sometimes it feels like you’re nowhere near it as you’re getting taken out. Other monster changes include reducing Rakna-Kadaki’s hide toughness against ammo in master rank and making certain smaller monsters easier to stagger.
As for some PC-specific updates, a new classic filter has been added that gives the game a more sepia-washed glow. There’s a new option for ultrawide monitors, a detailed photo mode and Nvidia DLSS support.
Of course, there are a ton of Sunbreak-exclusive additions in the patch notes. New gear, weapons, status ailments, switch skills are being added, plus new wyvern riding effects. The full list of patch notes (opens in new tab) has an absolute butt-ton of various buffs and nerfs at the bottom. They gave the hunting horn a lovely buff, which is the only weapon I will ever care about.
Rich gave the latest expansion a solid 89 in his Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak review (opens in new tab), finding that it does a fantastic job of building upon the good foundations already laid down by the base game. “It does lack the thrill of the new, even if some of its additions are more significant than they first appear, and essentially functions as a proper endgame to an already expansive experience.”