Monster Hunter fans got a pleasant surprise yesterday when Capcom revealed that not one, but two expansions will be coming to the game in 2019. First, Geralt of Rivia will be coming to Monster Hunter World as part of a special crossover. The bigger expansion though, Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, won’t make it to the game until August. Capcom hasn’t gone into specifics yet, but Monster Hunter World’s producer, Ryozo Tsujimoto, has provided fans with a few hints regarding what to expect.
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne is planned to be a very large expansion, larger than any that have come to the game so far. It will have its own story set after the events of the first game, will introduce a new region populated with brand new monsters in addition to returning favorites, and it’ll bring new gameplay elements to the whole of Monster Hunter World. The game’s hardcore players will also get a new quest rank to conquer. Fans are going to have to wait for awhile before they can try all this out for themselves though, so Capcom is adding some new content to enjoy in the meantime.
In addition to the Witcher 3 crossover coming early next year, players will have two new arch-tempered monsters to hunt and a new event to enjoy. The first of these monsters, Kulve Taroth, will be available starting on December 20. He can be hunted using the usual methods, but Mr. Tsujimoto encouraged fans to delve deeper into the hunt in order to gain better rewards. The other new arch-tempered monster, Nergigante, won’t be available until Spring 2019. Hunting arch-tempered monsters isn’t everyone’s thing though, so Capcom will soon be holding a special even within the game called “Appreciation Fest.” Few details were provided regarding this, but it look like it’ll function like similar Monster Hunter World events.
After all of this is released, Capcom will be reintroducing old quests back into the game for those who’d like to run it again or for new players to enjoy what they missed. It’s likely that there will still be new players too, as Monster Hunter World is currently free to access between now and December 17. Those that decide to hang around after the trial period can transfer their data to the full game; so one need not worry about their preparations for Monster Hunter World: Iceborne getting interrupted.
Monster Hunter World is available now on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
