Monster Hunter has always been opaque, its menus pebble-dashed with byzantine statistics, and its combat purposefully designed to be methodical and challenging in a way that feels strange next to modern action games’ fluidity. After just the first few hours, it becomes abundantly clear those concerns are unfounded.

But let’s get something out of the way: there’s been an assumption among the waiting audience over the past few months that - despite the protestations of Capcom itself - World would simplify the series’ more obscure ideas to help court a western audience. The deeper you look, the deeper it all seems to get - and that sheer level of complexity has historically been what stops Monster Hunter from offering mainstream appeal. And when it all seems like you’ve got it sussed, along comes High-Rank, Monster Hunter’s “post-game” content, which changes some monsters, adds new ones, and essentially doubles the amount of gear to lust after. You also have an adorable cat companion called a Palico which can be outfitted with its own gear, all offering different bonuses for your character. Monsters themselves come with a wealth of strengths and weaknesses and many, many materials to harvest, all of which can be used to create tens of possible items. “Each of 14 weapon types makes combat feel like an entirely different game, from the grace and familiarity of a sword and shield, to the explosive pummel of an ammo-switching Bowgun, to the downright oddity of the Hunting Horn, a massive hammer that plays stat-buffing tunes.

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