While not officially confirmed yet, several details (including comments from series producer Ryozo Tsujimoto) now point to the existence of a new entry in the Monster Hunter franchise coming in 2023, with some sources indicating the new title may very well be Monster Hunter World 2. The Monster Hunter franchise is one of the most successful in Capcom's stable of titles and new content for Monster Hunter Rise is only on the roadmap up through April, so it begs the question of what may come next for Monster Hunter after the release of the Sunbreak expansion on current-gen consoles.
Considering that Monster Hunter Rise was a spin-off of Monster Hunter World, and that MHW was the most accessible in the series' history up until Rise, Capcom would do well to take some of the best features of Rise and implement them in the next mainline Monster Hunter title. Of course, not all the changes made by Monster Hunter Rise were improvements to the longstanding series' formula, and the next title in the franchise (Monster Hunter World 2 or otherwise) would benefit from course-correcting some of the missteps made by Rise in order to appeal to a wider audience.
Mechanics from Rise the Next Monster Hunter Should Borrow
Perhaps the most dramatic improvements that Monster Hunter Rise made over Monster Hunter World were the new mobility and map navigation options. It's almost impossible to imagine a future MH title where players are not given access to the wirebug after its implementation in Rise, as it significantly changes both map navigation and combat encounters. Similarly, the addition of Palamutes makes map traversal much less cumbersome and having two animal companions in combat proved to be superior to just one. Leaving these features out of Monster Hunter World 2 would be a massive step backward.
In addition to the implementation of two new fauna that aid in map traversal, the map design used in Monster Hunter Rise is an improvement over what was seen in Monster Hunter World. Both the size and complexity of Rise's maps are dialed down from World, resulting in maps that are easier to navigate, less confusing, and more populated with monsters to slay and flora to collect. Even though the smaller map size and complexity of map layouts in Rise may have initially been a result of technological limitations, having Monster Hunter World 2 feature maps that are smaller but denser would make hunts more immersive and enjoyable.
Changes Rise Implemented That Monster Hunter World 2 Should Abandon
Fans of the Monster Hunter franchise are no strangers to endgame grind but Rise encounters some issues when it comes to pacing and how that grind plays out after completing the main story quest line. Completing Rise's main story takes around 20 hours whereas World's takes closer to 50, but both games feature potentially hundreds of hours of gameplay after completing the story quests and continuing with Master Rank hunts. Monster Hunter World does a better job of pacing out the main story against the endgame content, creating a less cumbersome grind in the process. While Rise's pacing results in players getting to the Master Rank hunts faster, the endgame becomes a slog in the process. Monster Hunter World 2 should adopt a more balanced approach to pacing.
When considering the ways that the next Monster Hunter title could improve and iterate on the changes made in Rise, it's difficult to not have Rampage Mode brought to mind. While some players might have enjoyed the way that Rampage Mode incorporated tower defense into the Monster Hunter franchise and broke up the monotony of hunts, others felt that the mode was unnecessary and interrupted the flow of gameplay in a way that felt unnatural to the series. The Monster Hunter series is known for having side activities that break up the general gameplay loop, and it would be a mistake for Monster Hunter World 2 to incorporate Rampage Mode without a serious overhaul to the mechanics.
Monster Hunter Rise is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.