What's most impressive about Iceborne is that in many ways,
it feels pretty close to a full-fledged sequel to Monster Hunter: World.
There is a lot of hunting to do and plenty of changes both big and small that make Iceborne substantial,
but the praise for the expansion goes well beyond the fact that there's an abundance of content.
The new base Seliana is smartly put together, the aggressive monsters are consistently exciting to hunt,
and the new area Hoarfrost Reach has so many fascinating little elements
that make it a suitable place to take down such imposing prey.
Nothing in the expansion makes more of an impact than the monsters themselves.
There are new monsters, monsters appearing for the first time in World, variations of old monsters,
and even new behaviors for returning monsters in Master Rank,
the level you'll be doing quests at in Iceborne.
The Master Rank treatment is more noticeable in some monsters than others.
Rathalos, for instance, is a lot more stubborn in Master Rank, taking to the air far more frequently,
making the wyvern harder to pin down and deadlier overall.
The brand new monsters mostly leave fantastic and lasting impressions,
except for Beotodus which feels like it's just there at the very beginning to get the ball rolling.
Banbaro, on the other hand, is another early monster that fares much better.
The creature is immense.
In combat, Banbaro causes considerable chaos, using gigantic horns to roll boulders around
or violently charge forward with a broken tree.
For veteran hunters, Banbaro isn't difficult to take down, but because of the personality
the creature exhibits during a fight, it's still entertaining regardless.
Velkhana, the new flagship monster,
is absolutely worthy of the wonder and awe the story gives the ice-covered beast.
It's both nimble and capable of large destructive attacks, manipulating ice in a variety of ways.
Sometimes Velkhana shoots sweeping blasts of cold that cover an enormous range,
and other times, giant chunks of ice radiate outward from wherever Velkhana is standing.
These chunks can be broken and then used as platforms
to initiate jumping attacks, which is a clever touch.
Velkhana is how you'd want a monster of such prominence to feel.
It requires considerable skill and focus to defeat
as well as a willingness to understand how it behaves in battle.
Old monsters that show up for the first time in World add so much to the game.
Tigrex, Barrioth, and Nargacuga are all intensely aggressive and can make for relentless fights.
Glavenus with its absurdly long tail creates wonderful panic moments
when it's about to do a frightening spin attack and you desperately have to get out of the way.
Brachydios is just so creative, punching the ground to create explosive puddles of slime,
making whatever area it’s terrorizing a dangerous minefield.
Subspecies, such as the Coral Pukei-Pukei which blasts water instead of poison,
aren’t quite as exciting as the other additions, but have enough to them to make them worthwhile.
Iceborne doesn't just add on to what already made World great,
but takes a careful look at the game and finds ways of injecting variety and challenge
to make it magical all over again.
Along with an increasing number of threats comes new ways to deal with them.
Iceborne adds new mechanics for every weapon, and there's also the clutch claw
which is a new universal tool.
With the clutch claw, you grapple to a monster and either perform an attack
or send it hurling in a particular direction.
Depending on the weapon being used, a successful clutch claw attack either causes slinger ammo to drop
or softens up the monster, allowing for more damage when that particular spot is struck.
If a player carelessly throws out a clutch claw attack,
there's a good chance the monster will just interrupt them and throw them off.
Similarly, a good clutch claw attack can grab a fleeing monster,
but due to the claw's limited range, it's not guaranteed.
Like the weapons themselves, the clutch claw demands precision
that varies depending on what you're fighting.
So it's helpful without becoming a crutch.
Hoarfrost Reach is where you fight a lot of new monsters in the expansion.
The intense cold of the area necessitates either a trip to some hot springs
or hot drinks to gulp down to stave off the freezing temperature for a bit.
Depending on where you're fighting something within Hoarfrost Reach,
the encounter can feel quite different.
There might be deep snow or pools of water that impede movement,
or even gusts of wind that shoot up out of the ground and send you flying into the air.
As one would hope, Hoarfrost Reach does a lot to enhance fights
that already have so much going on thanks to the incredible creatures themselves.
Seliana, a new base of operations, is both charming and very practical.
It's easy to get around with all the major services so close to one another,
which is a notable step up from the more spread-out Astera, the old base in World.
There's also an abundance of simple comfort found in Seliana.
It's impossible to hate the Grammeowster Chef,
an elderly cat who lovingly cooks hunters food.
In the gathering hub, you can play around in the hot springs and even splash water on your palico if desired.
Your room can also be customized,
allowing you to change the furniture to give your residence a different mood.
There are seemingly innumerable little touches that
although not strictly necessary make Seliana a place
you actually want to be because it's so endearing.
It's the same quality that World already has,
and seeing that same sentiment carried through here is easy to appreciate.
For as meticulously constructed as Iceborne can feel, the problems it does have
are puzzling because of how clumsy they are.
Once again, there are quests that require players to view a cut-scene
before they can group up with others, which is immensely annoying when playing with friends
and leads to unnecessary steps.
Considering the pushback against it already in World,
it's odd that the process hasn’t been smoothed out in Iceborne.
In the story, there are points when you essentially have to fill bars to move on,
amounting to busywork rather than just getting on with the hunt.
World already did this, and it's odd that it returns so similarly here.
It makes both the narrative and the progression feel like they’re echoing World's worst parts
when these things pop up.
Thankfully, the more set-piece driven quests of Iceborne
easily eclipse any of the boring Zorah Magdaros quests in World
and make for genuinely exciting moments.
In the most vital ways, Iceborne nails what it needs to as an expansion.
It's easy to marvel at both how much there is and the quality of so much of it.
There are things this review hasn't even mentioned,
such as the elaborate endgame, but these elements are probably better
to discover on your own.
There is no doubt that Iceborne is worth both the money and time,
leaving such an impression that it's hard not to be optimistic about the series' future.
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