Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak is great — if you’re patient enough

polygon.com:

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak is more of the same.

Ordinarily, that would be a compliment coming from someone who called Monster Hunter Rise one of the best games on Switch. And Sunbreak is eventually another great expansion for another great Monster Hunter game, but it’s a little too interested in the ground it’s already tread.

Much like Monster Hunter Rise before it, Sunbreak’s quests are broken up into ranks. But instead of Low Rank and High Rank, Sunbreak offers the far more difficult Master Rank. In order to increase my Master Rank — unlocking Urgent Quests that progress the story — I need to prove my worth to the in-game characters by choosing from a variety of non-urgent hunts.

While the Urgent story quests usually introduce a beast that’s new to Sunbreak, the quests in between ask me to hunt returning monsters like Kulu-Ya-Ku, Pukei-Pukei, and Aknosom. Sunbreak is a late-game expansion, so it’s frustrating as hell that I’m still fighting monsters I already fought twice during the main game. That’s not to mention the many times I farmed them in the year leading up to Sunbreak, and the times I hunted them when Rise came to PC. At this point, I’m tired of the original game’s roster. I worked to get here, but Sunbreak still bides its time before it rewards me with cool new stuff.

So each time one of these old beasts came up as a quest option, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes and pick the monster I was least sick of. Sure, Monster Hunter is all about grinding for gear and perfecting the hunt — but new challenges are what I want from expansions. And, in the beginning, Sunbreak is extremely light on new experiences.

Despite the early hunts’ familiarity, Sunbreak doesratchet up the difficulty significantly. In