Monster Hunter World: Iceborne is an expansion pack developed and published by Capcom for the 2018 action role-playing game Monster Hunter: World. It was released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in September 2019 and for Windows in January 2020. It introduces new monsters, improved gameplay mechanics and a new story set in Hoarfrost Reach, an arctic-themed region. The game was both a commercial and critical success, selling more than 8.5 million copies upon release. 

Story

When a mysterious song is suddenly heard across the New World and spurs a mass flock of Wyvern-like Legiana to suddenly migrate beyond the sea, the Research Commission investigates. They track the Legiana to a polar subcontinent and set up a base of operations there, which they dub the Hoarfrost Reach and Seliana respectively. As the Hunter and Handler explore the land, they discover evidence of unusual seismic activity which seemingly caused the ecological changes that prompted the Legiana migration. Meanwhile, the Tracker conducts her own investigation into her long-missing mentor. Her search proves fruitful, as she finds the wreckage of her mentor's ship and a scrap of cloth denoting the existence of a monster known as the "Old Everwyrm", which seemingly links the song and seismic action.

Back in Astera, the ecological disturbances have caused more powerful monsters to appear, including an ice Elder Dragon, Velkhana. As it freezes environments all over the New World, the Commission decides that, unless they fight back, the ecosystem will become too hostile to continue their expedition. The Hunter is sent to confront the Elder Dragon and is able to drive it back to its home in the Hoarfrost Reach. However, this causes it to begin encroaching on Seliana, forcing the Hunter to once again drive it back, before later tracking it down and finishing it off once and for all. Upon Velkhana's defeat, however, the song is heard once again and causes more seismic activity. The Commission finds a pattern in the places where the song appears and predicts where it will appear next. Traveling there with the Handler and Tracker, the Hunter finds the Old Everwyrm, a quartz skinned Elder Dragon named Shara Ishvalda. The fight between it and the commission is interrupted when a Ruiner Nergigante appears and kills the Elder Dragon. This act causes the Admiral to deduce the place of the Nergigante species in the food chain: Killing monsters that threaten the ecosystem.

Later, the Hunter and the Handler track the Ruiner Nergigante to a brand new subcontinental island, an amalgam of different habitats and ecosystems which they dub the Guiding Lands. The Commission elects to continue exploring this new land and uncover its mysteries as well.

Gameplay

Similar to the base game, Iceborne the player takes the role of a Hunter, slaying or trapping large monsters solo or cooperatively with other players. Iceborne features a new arctic ecosystem named Hoarfrost Reach, said to be one of the largest maps created by the team, where players will encounter both new and returning creatures. As the player slowly progresses in the story, more areas in Hoarfrost Reach will be opened up for players to explore. As it is set in a cold environment, players need to consume hot drinks or visit hotsprings so that their stamina would not deplete. Snow would also slow down the player's movement. Seliana was Hoarfrost Reach's hub area, where players can visit weaponsmiths and chefs. The expansion features a new fast travel system called Raider Rides, allowing players to tame and ride on smaller creatures to either travel to a designed point on the map or to track a monster, with the player still gathering certain resources while in transit.

Capcom also introduced new combat options and gadgets in Iceborne, such as giving players the ability to grapple onto monsters with the new Clutch Claw gadget, and stun creatures using Flinch Shot. The Slinger can also now be used with the primary weapons drawn out. All weapons archetypes gained expanded upgrade paths, as well as additional combat moves to help improve their potency. Existing armor and weapon gear gained additional upgrade levels. Iceborne also introduced new layered armors, allowing players to equip additional armor pieces atop their existing armor sets to customize the outward appearance of the hunter, while keeping the same equipment skills. Iceborne introduces a new hunter rank named Master Rank. Upon reaching Master Rank, players would encounter more challenging enemies and creatures, though they would also gain better rewards such as receiving new armor sets.

Difficulty

If this is the equivalent of fabled “G rank” in previous Monster Hunter games then I’m not impressed as a newcomer. The way Monster Hunter series vets talk about it as if it’s the Devil May Cry series' equivalent of Dante Must Die difficulty tier of these games. Again - I repeat myself. I don't think it's hard or difficult, just frustrating in terms of AI behavior and/or mechanic design that could have been streamlined, such as Alatreon's elemental DPS mechanic (see below). The only monster that I thought that was flat out hard was Fatalis and that definitely lived up to the hype behind it and then some. 

Master Rank as a whole felt like more of the same from High Rank in the base game, but with narrower margins for error. Most of that is alleviated with much better weapons and gear available in this expansion, but at the same time, this is a game that continues to reward its players for how they learn from their defeats and return with a better strategy of how to tackle that obstacle from a different angle. 

Quality of Life Changes

Starting off, I love all of the new QoL (quality of life) changes in Iceborne, but at the same time, a lot of this shit that should have been available at the start. I get it - as a newcomer to this series, I haven't properly "earned my stripes" in terms of enduring the archaic (read: primitive) humble beginnings of this series, but when Capcom decided to bring this series to current-gen consoles, they knew they had to make this more user-friendly and optimized. Granted, they've listened to their player base FAR more than they have for anything fighting game related so I thank them highly for my enjoyment of the game during the base titles tenure. 

To be fair though, I have had the chance to start playing Monster Hunter: Generations Ultimate on the Switch recently and I HIGHLY appreciate the QoL changes in World and Rise a lot more after starting that game. Boy, did this series come a long way in terms of accessibility... 

What are my favorite QoL changes in this expansion? Saving Radial (shortcut) menu loadouts to your preset item loadouts, more room for stuff on the weapon/armor crafting Wishlist, and a few visual changes that were needed, especially for spotting dropped materials on the ground that were blending into the background/environments previously. 

Being able to use communication stickers/gestures in Astera/Seliana is a plus too if you're in a session with international players. I made a habit to put a lot of gestures on my communication shortcuts for multiplayer in terms of callouts for "Let's capture this thing!", "Swords & Blades PLEASE cut the tail!", and "Outta my way, Hammer Bro here!" For the most part it's working to my benefit without having to resort to Flinch Free in my builds, but you still get twats playing this after all of this time who are all swarming around the head and not trying to damage other weak points or cut the tail. Capcom mentioned that the communication gestures are usually translated into those players native language, so that's an added plus. 

Clutch Claw

I, much like the majority of the player base, flat out hated this thing when it was first introduced, but after roughly 200+ hours of using it in hunts, I have come to appreciate it for what it is. A lot of weapons have a few great extensions from their normal attack combos/chains to follow-up into using it, such as the Hammer being able to latch onto a monster and immediately go into position for tenderizing a body part or landing a Flinch Shot. 

My only gripe with the Clutch Claw is that it turned the entire hunting routine into a tiresome chore of tenderizing body parts (a necessity for some weapon classes, such as Gunlances) to deal considerable (read: optimum) damage to monsters. Most hunts have transformed into contests where players were fishing for small windows to latch onto monsters for flinch shots to send monsters crashing into the environment for bonus damage as you would be crazy to miss out on that free damage (in most cases, an easy, free 500 to up 5000 points of damage on a monster). Then you have some players who could strategically setup up bombs alongside the walls for even more damage. That's enough accumulated damage from one Flinch Shot that renders sleep bombing monsters essentially pointless in this expansion. 

On one hand, I applaud Capcom's Monster Hunter team for their creativity and ingenuity with the Clutch Claw but at the same time, I think it disturbs how players want to hunt monsters how they see fit a little too much in terms of freedom. You're taking a lot of freedom in hunting styles away when you're forced to tenderize monster parts or stop being offensive/defensive for a moment just to line up a Flinch Shot before repositioning yourself into your weapon class' optimal range of combat. That gap in gameplay in terms of being forced to give up your openings for attack/landing in some damage is a detriment for a lot of weapon classes as some of them don't have many rooms for mistakes on their own and stopping to merely reapply those tenderizing marks to a monster tend to be much more of a hassle than they are worth anyway, especially when hunting alone/offline. 

That being said, I don't flat out hate the Clutch Claw as the positives of it definitely outweigh the negatives, even though I wish that Capcom would have ironed out the hitbox/hurtbox of the animations for engaging it. Sometimes it's insanely accurate, others it feels like it goes right through monsters, even after all of the numerous patches and updates this game has gotten throughout its content roadmap. 

Taken from IGN's A Guide to the Guiding Lands - Monster Hunter: World - Iceborne's Endgame guide

How to Tell Which Monsters Increase Which Region Level

To tell which Region a monster is endemic to, and in turn, which region it will provide experience to, go to the following from anywhere:

Options > Info > Check Special Tracks

You can only see this once you've analyzed tracks for that monster. 

Region Level Cap Master Rank Requirements

At first, your Guiding Lands Region Levels will be capped at 4. The Region Level Cap will rise as your Master Rank increases. You must complete new Assigned Quests to continue increasing your Master Rank Level.

• MR Any - Up to Region Level 4

• MR 49: Sleep Now in the Fire - Up to Region Level 5

• MR 69: Big Burly Bash - Up to Region Level 6

• MR 99: To the Very Ends With You - Up to Regional Level 7

How to Find New Monsters in the Guiding Lands

Zinogre isn't the only new monster found within the Guiding Lands. Leveling up the different regions can trigger quests to appear within the guiding lands to hunt different monsters. Here is the list of monsters you can find in the Guiding Lands and how to unlock them.

• Zinogre - Zinogre will appear after completing the first set of Fanged Wyvern special tracks analysis. 

• Yian Garuga - Increase the Forest Region level to 3. Unlocks the Assigned Quest Return of the Crazy One.

• Scarred Yian Garuga - Increase the Forest Region to Level 6. This requires Master Rank 69.

• Brute Tigrex - Increase Rotted Region to Level 6. This requires Master Rank 69.

• Gold Rathian - Increase Wildspire Region to Level 6. This requires you to reach Master Rank 69.

• Silver Rathalos - Increase Coral Region to Level 6. This requires you to reach Master Rank 69.

 The biggest knock I had had against the Guiding Lands at launch was the lack of players who you could find in matchmaking for this feature. This problem was magnified as the game's content rollout moved along as the player base divided up into several camps: 

• Those who grinded for whatever materials they needed early on and didn't need any more materials for augmentations or upgrades and moved on to other in-game content.

• Those who have either tried this feature early on and didn't feel that they needed any augmentations for their weapons and armor since they didn't care for this endgame grind at all. By the time they came back to this feature and gave it a second chance, most of the player base had either already moved onto the region cap locked and higher ranked areas and quests that were exclusively tied to Master Rank progression (by completing hunts unlocked at MR49, M69, and MR99 respectively). 

• Those who skipped it entirely in favor for the Awakened Weapons from slaying Safi'jiiva instead. By the time they came back to this feature or gave it a fair chance, they didn't see any positive benefit of committing to this endgame grind when they have already acquired arguably the best weapons available for their desired weapon class. It didn't help that those weapons didn't have much room for augmentations either. 

All of that being said though? I thought the Guiding Lands was pretty fun once you got a full squad together hunting a ton of monsters back to back without any loading screens and what not. You kept going until the host didn't see the need to continue or if the region "ran out" of monsters. Yeah, that can happen if the host leaves or periodically after everything on the map has been slain/captured. 

Festivals

Festivals, or Fests for short, were part of the content rollout schedule for Iceborne, much like they were for the base game. They provided players with login bonuses of free rewards for just merely participating/playing the game, such as consumable items to assist with questing and armor spheres for upgrading along with adding additional event quests that offered unique free rewards that allowed players to craft layered armor that fit into the themes of these festivals for both their hunters and Palicos. Some of these festivals had rewards that allowed players to craft unique novelty weapons as well, so there was always something to look forward to. The NPCs in the Gathering Hub would get into the fun too and change their attires to match the themes with the Handler even getting a unique outfit for the duration of those festivals too. Unfortunately, if you wanted her to keep those costumes for the Handler, you would have to purchase them via PlayStation Network or Xbox Live. 

The festivals always brought the bulk of the player base back into the game when the game was beginning to feel stagnant as everyone came back to partake into the festivities and grind for the rewards and layered armor. Let's not gloss over the fact that this was the times where a lot of the event quests that weren't into rotation were all available at once, so it made for a great time for "catching up" on content when life caused you to have less time with the game as you would have liked. 

As of this posting of this review though, ALL of the festivals are constantly in rotation daily with all of the event quests and rewards available for whatever festival is currently active for that day. Also, you can meld tickets for the festivals at the Elder Melder as of the Dec. 2020 Ver. 15.10 update. 

Additional Monsters (Post-Launch Free Content Add-Ons)

Nothing major didn't change about the KT hunt outside of the fact that she would shed her coat faster and go into her final phase MUCH, MUCH faster this time around. Instead of breaking her horns, hunters are requested to slay her for good this time since the Research Commission has studied her enough to acquire the data that they needed. She has some new attacks just for this occasion that definitely makes this one of Iceborne's most memorable fights. 

Arch-Tempered Namielle

I dare say this hunt is Iceborne's equivalent of Ancient Leshen in terms of obnoxiousness. Aquatic Mobility skills/decorations don't do shit to protect you against it's water drawing mechanic and boy does Namielle abuse the hell of that gimmick here to make hunters trip/stagger during this hunt, leaving you wide open for its deadly attacks. If that wasn't enough, you still have to worry about it's water cannon and lasers swiping the area with an insanely high damage output to boot. I thought the normal Namielle was already obnoxious enough, but this Arch-Tempered variant takes the cake. This is a VERY long battle with very few margins for error. I personally grinded the hell out of this hunt when it originally released on the rollout schedule and did it enough times to craft the armor set and layered armor and never came back to it. This was another quest/hunt that was notoriously bugged/glitched on some occasions with AT Namielle's hitboxes lingering onscreen even after attacks have finished, causing them to do even more amounts of ridiculous damage. 

If memory serves, this hunt was never patched/fixed to this day. It was another piece of content that was rushed out during the COVID-19 pandemic that clearly showed the pandemic's impact on the game's post-release schedule at this point. 

As of this posting, Safi'jiiva's hunt is almost always in rotation since the content rollout for this game is done and with the ability for players to kill it in single player without the need of a full lobby of players, thus making acquiring them even easier. The hunt itself is a blast and I can't recommend it enough for players to experience at least once throughout their time with the game. As of Dec. 2020's Version 15.10 update, the hunt will now be scaled for 1 to 2 players, thus eliminating the need for a full lobby of players to help take Safi'jiiva down. 

A lot of veteran players will disagree with me when I say this, but I still feel like Safi'jiiva's addition to this game was the detriment to killing a mass majority of the player base's enthusiasm to hunt anything else in the game (outside of Fatalis) when there wasn't essentially nothing else in the game that could compare to those Awakened Weapons. The problem was much more apparent when you realize that you could fight Safi'jiiva right out of the gate after clearing the main story campaign for the expansion and not even having to touch the Guiding Lands content at all, which was level capped by your Hunter Rank. 

This whole mechanic of dealing with Alatreon's elemental DPS check angered and frustrated a LOT of players and still do as of this posting. It forced a lot of players to give up their precious "meta" builds and think outside of the box as let's be serious here, elemental damage was never a major component in dealing with a lot of monsters up to this point. Not to mention that elemental damage was comically bad in the transition from the base game to this expansion with this battle making that fact painfully apparent, hence why the need for Kulve Taroth's unique elemental weapons. I personally used the fully upgraded and augmented armor set from Safi'jiiva along with one of Kulve Taroth's elemental weapons (with health augmentations of course) to get through the fight and even then it was still pretty clutch. Alatreon's AI is best described as sheer ruthless. This thing will snipe you from across the map if it gets any idea that you are trying to run away to heal. It will pummel and trip/stagger you to leave you wide open for its combo attacks if you're not already stunned and standing there like a sitting duck already. If the elemental DPS check wasn't bad enough, this was a fight that forced players to stay on their toes at any and all times. 

Alatreon remains as one of Iceborne's greatest challenges to overcome in the endgame post-game content rollout. Alatreon serves as the gatekeeper to the conclusion of Iceborne's story too, following players' completion of Rajang and Safi'jiiva's quests.  

Fatalis puts everything that you've learned up to this point to the test and then some. In some aspects, Fatalis makes Alatreon's battle look like a cakewalk in comparison, but at the same time, Fatalis is a much "fairer" fight in terms of there not being any gimmicks to this battle. It's just the hunter(s) against it. On the surface, one might think that the developers are throwing players a bone with this one and they would be absolutely wrong. When the developers streamed their last Developer Diary for the game for the last title update and didn't say nor show absolutely NOTHING of this battle, I knew we were fucked and I was right. In terms of ruthlessness, Alatreon was an appetizer for this horror-made into reality. I saw firsthand why this monster has such a fearsome reputation among Monster Hunter veterans and it's well-deserved and earned. 

Fatalis was the perfect monster to serve as the final obstacle to overcome in Iceborne's story and definitely made for an epic conclusion to this game. I kid you not - there is NOTHING more epic in this game than when "Proof of a Hero" starts playing during the final moments of this battle when Fatalis reaches his critical health/dying status.