Capcom’s Monster Hunter franchise has risen to worldwide stardom over the last several years, taking players on a wild ride hunting the biggest, baddest monsters in video game history.
One such title is Monster Hunter Rise. This game is an arcadey take on the Monster Hunter formula, where you fly through the air to chase monsters and face down hordes of them at once with powerful super moves in Tower Defense-like ‘Rampage’ hunts.
This game normally has a modest MSRP of $39.99 at most retailers. However, Amazon is hosting a last-minute Amazon Prime Day sale for a digital code for the Xbox version with an insane 75% discount, taking it down to $10.00.
If you want to get your hands on one of Monster Hunter’s best games for dirt-cheap, don’t miss out on this discount before it goes away at the end of today.
Why should you buy Monster Hunter Rise over Monster Hunter Wilds?
Monster Hunter Rise is a co-op action hunting game released in 2021 for the Nintendo Switch before being later ported to Xbox and PC via Windows and Steam.
This game had you play as a hunter of Kamura Village, sworn to defend their home from an encroaching horde of monsters banded together by a mysterious phenomenon known as the ‘Rampage’.
Like any Monster Hunter title, your goal is to hunt monsters, skin their hides upon slaying upon, and then use their body part to forge mighty weapons and armor so you can hunt bigger monsters.
Monster Hunter Rise sets itself apart from the rest of the series with many unique mechanics exclusive to this game. For one, it has a Palamute mount (a precursor to Monster Hunter Wilds’ Seiket mount), which can help you travel maps faster than on foot when riding it.
Secondly, Monster Hunter Rise features the powerful Wirebug mechanic. This godlike insect can allow players to fly through the air like Spider-Man, perform mighty super-moves that can decimate monsters, and even briefly take control of monsters via the Wyvern Riding technique to beat up other monsters.
Thirdly, in addition to regular hunting missions where you must track and kill your target in the wild, Monster Hunter Rise features unique Tower Defense-like missions called Rampage quests.
In these missions, you must set up siege weapons and fortifications to protect Kamura Village from hordes of monsters looking to raise it to the ground, culminating in epic boss fights with unique Apex Monsters leading the pack.
When I first played Monster Hunter Rise when it came out on the Nintendo Switch, I wasn’t endeared to it. Its High Rank content was incomplete at launch due to the pandemic, and the game’s frame rate performance and resolution were severely held back by the Nintendo Switch’s outdated hardware.
It was a decent action game, but it felt rushed and unfinished. However, thanks to numerous post-launch updates adding more monsters and fixing its incomplete High Rank content, and a well-done PC port which vastly improved its frame rate and resolution (which is carried over in the Xbox version), I grew to appreciate and love Monster Hunter Rise.
It was an over-the-top departure from the mainline titles like Monster Hunter World, which focused on grounded combat and preparation, and instead embraced high-flying Devil May Cry-esque combat insanity.
The new Japanese-inspired monsters were a joy to fight, the combat system was vastly in-depth with many Wirebug super-moves and weapons to play with, and even the Rampage quests were a fun change of pace from regular hunts once I figured out how to optimize my siege equipment and force monsters into choke points.
And this all without getting into its DLC expansion Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak, which vastly improved almost every aspect of the base game while adding tons of new monsters to hunt and endgame content to partake in.
However, even with post-launch updates and performance improvements, Monster Hunter Rise isn’t perfect. Due to be a Nintendo Switch port, the graphics aren’t the most detailed in the world (in fact, it looks on par with PlayStation 3 games), so you won’t be getting a next-gen visual feast for the eyes with this game.
Additionally, the plot basically amounts to “There are monsters trying to eat us, go kill them,” and doesn’t evolve much beyond that.
If you’re looking for a game with a complex plot and captivating character development, you’re better off with JRPGs like Metaphor ReFantazio (which is currently on a 45% discount sale) and Persona 3: Reload (which is also on sale for a 49% discount).
Finally, due to its arcade-like nature with Rampage Quests and Wirebugs, Monster Hunter Rise lacks the hardcore challenge and difficulty curve that previous games like Monster Hunter World and Monster Hunter 4 had.
It may look intimidating at first for newcomers, but once you get the hang of its mechanics, you and your friends will be able to slay monsters in no time without much difficulty (with some endgame exceptions).
Now, that last statement makes me sound hypocritical, as I heavily criticized Monster Hunter Wilds’ for a similar lack of challenge.
However, I would gladly take Monster Hunter Rise over Monster Hunter Wilds in its current state any day of the week for many reasons.
Monster Hunter Rise has a more charming and colorful art style, its combat is way more complex and interesting, it has more endgame content and monsters, and its performance on Xbox and PC is FAR more stable than Monster Hunter Wilds is currently.
For further context, Monster Hunter Rise on Xbox and PC is able to reach a consistent framerate of 60fps or even 120fps with 1080p or 4K resolutions.
Monster Hunter Wilds, meanwhile, can barely perform at 60fps without sacrificing visual fidelity on Xbox. Plus, the PC port has been having so many crashes and stability issues, that fans have started review-bombing Monster Hunter Wilds.
So if you’re looking for a fun, complete Monster Hunter experience to play with friends online while waiting for Capcom to fix Monster Hunter Wilds with post-launch updates, then I highly recommend Monster Hunter Rise.
In fact, now’s the perfect time to get into Monster Hunter Rise as a digital code for the Xbox version is currently being sold with a Rathalos-sized 75% discount, thanks to Amazon Prime Day.
That means for a limited time, Monster Hunter Rise’s usual MSRP of $39.99 has been reduced to $10.00 at Amazon. This is the lowest price I’ve ever seen this game drop to, so get on it while you can, as this deal’s duration ends TODAY.
With the $29.99 you will be saving with this deal, you can use it towards purchasing an Xbox Wireless controller (which is having $28% discount at Walmart) or the Razer Wolverine V2 Chroma controller (which is also having $41% discount at Walmart) to help you perform those Wirebug supermoves with greater input accuracy.
However, there’s a stipulation with this discount when buying Monster Hunter Rise on Amazon. In order to access this discount, you will need to sign up for Amazon Prime Membership.
It’s a worthy price to pay, as becoming an Amazon Prime Member will reward you with various other benefits.
These include access to Amazon’s multimedia streaming services, same-day shipping when ordering physical products, and access to other discount deals like this sweet 26% discount for the Seagate Storage Expansion Card for Xbox Series X|S, so you can install extra space for your Xbox Series X|S to fit in Monster Hunter Rise.
