To the delight of thousands of "Monster Hunter" fans in the West, Capcom has finally announced a brand new installment in the franchise that is set to be released outside of Nintendo gaming systems. At the Sony press conference during the 2017 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) event, "Monster Hunter: World" was officially announced to be coming to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows Pc.
No longer exclusive
For the longest time, the "Monster Hunter" franchise has been a Nintendo exclusive and was only available to its handheld systems. However, Sony has now pulled off the impossible and has once again acquired the rights to have the games available on their own platform.
The original "Monster Hunter" title was released back in 2004 for the PlayStation 2. The franchise however only received worldwide recognition with "Monster Hunter Freedom," which was made available on the PlayStation Portable. Capcom then decided to partner up with Nintendo, which meant that all subsequent titles were only made available on Nintendo systems.
A brave new open world
The upcoming new installment in the franchise has been revealed to be an entirely different experience for long-time fans. Elements such as destructible environments and new movement mechanics are now introduced. The latter includes a new grappling hook, called the hook shot, which will allow players to maneuver themselves more quickly around different areas.
Unlike previous installments, the entire map will no longer be segregated in areas and players will be able to move freely around it without any loading screens. All the of the player and monster's movements around the map will be "seamless" and will occur in real time. The maps will also now have a day and night cycle making it a truly open world experience.
Monsters will also now be hostile towards each other, which means that players will essentially be able to lure the together and then watch the fight.
Cooperative play
Similar to multiplayer hunts found in the past titles, "Monster Hunter: World" will also feature a built-in cooperative play feature that supports up to four players.
Capcom also explained that players in the West and the Asia could essentially play together if they wanted to.
"Monster Hunter: World" is scheduled to be released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in early 2018. The PC version will then be coming out "at a later date."
