“World” , is the subtitle of the newest Monster Hunter series, and it perfectly sums up its highlights. S

As the case in the previous series, the player will play as a hunter who needs to explore a newly discovered mysterious land. Little is known about this land, so the continent is called “new world”. broadly speaking, it’s an action-RPGs built around a single gameplay loop.

The goal is to complete the monster hunting quest, and use the materials you harvested from your prey and the environment, to build stronger gears, and then use them to hunt stronger monsters for even stronger gears.

There are 14 types of weapons that player could use, from the simplest shield and blade, to the charge blade that allows you switch between axe and blade, to the explosive pummel of an ammo-switching Bowgun. Each of them have different combat style, with different weapons, this game feels totally different.

Each monster has their strengths and weaknesses and materials to harvest. Forging their gears will makes you to hunt the same monster over and over, a good thing is that after hunt a monster, it’s information will be on the “Hunter’s notes” and with the higher research level, it will tell you the location of the monster, weakness, from elements(fire, water, thunder, ice, dragon) to different type of attack (cut damage, blunt damage, ammo damage), and even shows what parts of the monster can be broken off for extra rewards. There is a clear food chain among monsters, they usually know their place, but it can be disrupted, when 2 monsters appears in the same area, conflicts will begin, until one lost and leave.

For now, there are five maps in Monster Hunter : World, Ancient Forest, Wildspire Waste, Coral Highlands, Rotten Vale and Elder’s Recess. Each map has different ecosystem, monsters and even the items you can harvest. Filled with creatures large and small going about their business, especially the Coral Highlands, it’s a fantastical barrier reef grown on land, replete with flying giant bat, floating jellyfish and bubbles, it’s just beautiful.

Compared to the previous series, the equipment system is  simplified, each piece of equipment has their own skill, it’s easier to build the combination you want.

However to those who have never played Monster Hunter before, it might be difficult to get used to your weapons, there are only few of tips about how to play this game in “Hunter’s Notes” and most of them are useless. A good thing is that this game allows four players to hunt together, play with a “old hunter” will help you learn fast (just like I did), even if you don’t have a friend to play with, I recommend you to try it, it’s might be the best in whole series of Monster Hunter, you won’t want to miss it.