Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak Demo Out Tomorrow, New Monsters And Areas Announced

Monster Hunter Rise kicked off the Capcom Showcase today, with new locations for hunters to explore on full display, along with plenty more monsters to take the fight to when the expansion releases. A demo will also be available starting tomorrow.

First off is the return of the Jungle area from the second generation of Monster Hunter, which has been completely redone for Sunbreak. While the Jungle sounds like it would be strictly filled with trees and other foliage, it's situated on the coast and offers plenty of sandy beaches and ruins to explore.

As for new monsters to hunt, Sunbreak has a lot of exciting new targets to take on. Espinas makes its return from Monster Hunter Frontiers. As its name implies ("espinas" is Spanish for thorns), this creature is covered in sharp spines that will easily cut hunters who get on its bad side. The trailer describes Espinas as a monster that "enjoys a quiet life and sleeps peacefully," but it has a two-faced nature and can easily fly into a rage when disturbed. 

Gore Magala, the flagship terror from Monster Hunter 4, returns as well and will surely punish plenty of hunters in Master Rank quests. This monster is sightless and uses its sensitive wing membranes to find its prey or track down anyone who antagonizes it. When it enters a frenzy, Gore Magala transforms, with two devilish horns appearing on its head, making it a nice thematic pairing with the Sunrise flagship monster Malzeno. Two more variations of existing Sunbreak monsters were shown in today's footage, Daimyo Hermitaur from Monster Hunter 2 and Pyre Rakna-Kadaki, a flame-embued version of the spider foe from Rise.

A demo for Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak is dropping tomorrow on both Switch and PC. The free trial will include the new Jungle area to explore, and players will be able to hunt the already announced Astalos and Malzeno. For experienced hunters, the demo will provide an opportunity to try out the new Switch Skill Swap mechanic and new Silkbind attacks. Up to four players can take on hunts together online, and there is no limit to how many times you can play through hunts in the demo version.

Last but not least, Capcom detailed the roadmap for post-launch content updates while also giving us a taste of what's coming in the first major patch. Lucent Nargacuga will be the star of the first update in August and will be joined by a new hunting area, Foremorn Arena, as well as even more monsters. Fall and winter updates are planned with injections of fresh monsters and variants with more coming in 2023.

Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak is only a few weeks out and will launch on Switch and PC on June 30. Remember, it's an expansion to the existing Monster Hunter Rise, so players looking to check out the Sunbreak content will have to finish the required main story quests from the base game to reach the new areas and monsters.