Since Monster Hunter World released in January of last year, Capcom not only managed to create a Monster Hunter experience that anyone could enjoy, but also consistently keep the game alive with updates and challenges for those who have continued to play. With a new expansion on the horizon, surely those experienced players will be taking a trip to the new icy environment. More likely than not, an influx of returning players will also be making that trip which begs the question: How will the devs balance the Monster Hunter World Iceborne difficulty?
In an interview with Game Informer, Kaname Fujioka, Monster Hunter World Iceborne‘s executive director and art director, discussed how well players will transition to the new content depending on their experience with the base game.
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“I think for players who are going straight from the end of the story from World, it’s going to feel a little more difficult when they’re transitioning into the new master rank for Iceborne,” said Fujioka. “If it’s players who have been going in-depth into the content for Monster Hunter World and the updates, then they’ll feel a much smoother transition for difficulty than other players will.”
If Fujioka’s remarks put a damper on your excitement for Iceborne, don’t fret. Game Director Daisuke Ichihara assures that while the difficulty ceiling for people who sped through the game’s campaign may be a bit high, the team put in an effort to accommodate those players.
“Still, we’ve taken great care to make sure that players who are just transitioning straight from World have no fear and have an easy time of getting into the game and enjoying themselves,” Ichihara explained.
For those worried that this difficulty accommodation will affect the overall difficulty and how it might leave veteran players with the same ol’ level of challenge, Fujioka discussed that they have taken player feedback seriously and made a game that will difficult even for those who have played the game since launch.
“Getting players acclimated to the new region — and difficulty — is important, but the team emphasizes that it’s not coming at the cost of end-game challenges,” Fujioka explained. “We’ve taken that feedback to heart from players who wanted more difficulty and more challenge and really delivered on that.”
Lastly, Fujioka wanted to make sure veteran players do temper their expectations in terms of how difficult it will be. The idea is to create a game that everyone can enjoy by giving players more options.
“One of the things about difficulty that was a point of feedback from players was about the number of options they had, and that’s something we really adjusted this time around,” said Fujioka. “There is a higher volume of difficult challenges they can take on in the game while at the same time observing a natural difficulty curve that will make it easier for players to enjoy that difficulty naturally.”
