The day Hunters on the PC have been waiting for has finally come. Monster Hunter World's gigantic expansion, Iceborne, has finally hit PC servers. While the game was earlier released on consoles on September 6, 2019, Capcom delayed the release of the expansion for four months on the PC. This is still faster than the delay between the PC and console versions of the base Monster Hunter World, which was eight months long.
A Whole New World
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne is an expansion targeted towards veteran Hunters. The expansion takes place right after the end of Monster Hunter World when (spoilers ahead) the player finally slays the monstrous Xeno'Jiva.
Now, a new unknown threat has forced unnatural migrations that have forced Legianas to travel into a different land. The snowy mountains of the Hoarfrost Reach, located right outside the main island of the New World, gives players a new terrain and environment, which lots of old players are excited to return.
In the cold tundra of the Hoarfrost Reach, the continuous chill drains any unprotected Hunter's stamina far quickly. This is easily mitigated by Hot Drinks, but Hunters can also use decoration to keep themselves warm at all times. Status blights such as Iceblight and Waterblight add to the dreadful environment, seeping unprepared Hunter's stamina, leaving them breathless and defenseless against the New World's newest threats.
A returning cast of favorites
While the base Monster Hunter World contained a lot of new monsters to hunt, fans were quite unhappy to learn that only a few notable monsters were returning to the series' 5th mainline game. Capcom did add several new and returning monsters to the base game through patches, but fans still clamored for some of the old favorites to return.
Iceborne delivers on that want, returning some of the most iconic monsters the series has ever seen. The bat-like Nargacuga, the unrelenting Tigrex, the sly Yian Garuga are just some of the returning flagship monsters. Of course, besides returning some of the old ones, new monsters have also come into the fray. The elk-like Banbro is one such creature, a perfect app for the cold wastes of the Hoarfrost Reach. Capcom also introduced new variations to some old monsters such as the sleep-focused Nightshade Paolumu and the twin status-dealing Viper Tobi-Kadachi.
All New Monsters, All-New Gear
A new rank has also been introduced, Master Rank. This new rank is the equivalent of G-Rank in older Monster Hunter titles, giving veteran players a challenge in fighting even the weakest of monsters. Players have to be wary and careful with their actions, and a wrong move or two can prove very much fatal.
Of course, with a new rank also comes a new set of gear. Master Rank armor is differentiated by their plus (+) designation, which gives much higher stats compared to their base version. These new armor sets are needed to face the increased difficulty and challenges Iceborne has introduced.
Performance Issues
And while the game itself is excellent, there are some troubles with the PC's launch. On the Steam forums, many players are complaining that Iceborne has made the whole game unplayable for them. Some people are speculating that this might be because the game runs the latest version of Denuvo, which has been hypothesized to impact game performance severely.
Some players who are used to playing ranged weapons with the Keyboard + Mouse input are also unhappy on how the new key binds in Iceborne has forced them to relearn playing, pointing out that the new key bind settings are very inconvenient.
Capcom has posted that they are aware of the issues and are working on a patch to fix them.
