Which Monster Hunter Game Should You Start With?

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home March 7, 2025 53 Views 10 Min Read
Which Monster Hunter Game Should You Start With?



Spanning over 20 years, the Monster Hunter series has been steadily bringing in new players, improving and iterating on each game with new features, monsters, weapon changes, and more. Monster Hunter games are defined by their difficult fights and satisfying gameplay loops, which can make players looking to start their first Monster Hunter game both excited and apprehensive.

Zatoh in Monster Hunter Wilds.

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Luckily, the series has been on an upward trend in terms of approachability, meaning each new game will be better than the last for new players to dive into. If you’re looking to start your first Monster Hunter game, you’ve come to the right place. Below, we’ll take a look at some recommendations for the best starting points in the series.

1

Monster Hunter Wilds

The latest entry in the series, Monster Hunter Wilds is the perfect place for beginners to start. As the newest game, it has the most active playerbase, meaning you won’t have any trouble finding other players to hunt with on any quest.

Wilds is also the most accessible by far, further reducing some of the unnecessary clunkiness of the series. Every new Monster Hunter iteration seeks to improve on the last, especially in terms of quality-of-life, which means Wilds is the best, at least by these standards.

Wilds also has some great gameplay and fun new monsters. While the series is definitely not known for its outstanding stories, Wilds actually makes a strong attempt, with some of the best cutscenes and lines in the entire franchise.

2

Monster Hunter: World

Monster Hunter: World marked the beginning of a new era for Monster Hunter. At the time, it was the most accessible title, finally releasing on consoles other than the 3DS or Nintendo Switch since Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate in 2011, and eventually becoming the first mainline game on PC.

World set a new trend for the series, with a greater emphasis on the game’s story and graphics, reducing frustrating features like using Paintballs to track monsters or standing in place to drink potions. While Wilds definitely improves on World, it may be worth experiencing World first to see how the series has developed over time.

Monster Hunter: World’s expansion, Iceborne, further expands on the game, nearly doubling its content while adding fun new features like the Guiding Lands, which serves as a sneak peak to the hunting system in Monster Hunter Wilds.

3

Monster Hunter Rise

After World, Monster Hunter Rise was a return to the game’s roots, originally releasing exclusively on the Nintendo Switch, although it was later ported to Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. Rise is set in the Japanese-inspired village of Kamura, where the people deal with frequent Rampages, which cause monsters to go out of control and attack the village.

Monster Hunter Rise Vs World Split Image Of Art

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Rise introduced the Wirebug system, which added a flashy and fun way to not only get around the maps, which have a greater emphasis on verticality, but also to aid in combat using Silkbind Attacks. If you want to play a modern-feeling Monster Hunter game that plays almost like a cross between the previous generation and the modern one, Rise is the place to start.

Monster Hunter Rise is further expanded with its expansion, Sunbreak, which adds even more monsters, Silkbind Attacks, and features like Anomaly Investigations. If you enjoy Rise, you’ll love Sunbreak.

4

Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate

Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate is the last true game of the previous era of the series, lacking many of the quality-of-life improvements introduced in World. That said, Generations Ultimate is a fantastic game that pays homage to the series history, featuring monsters returning from nearly every past game.

The game also lets you visit some of the main villages from previous games, like Pokke Village from Freedom Unite and Kokoto Village from the original Monster Hunter. This, combined with the massive list of monsters, essentially lets you experience some of what the previous games in the series were like, but with updated controls and gameplay.

Generations Ultimate also lets you change up your weapon’s moveset using Hunting Styles, which greatly expand customizability and weapon expressiveness. Plus, the game includes the unique Prowler Mode, which lets you hunt as a Felyne.

If you can handle the older style of the game, Generations Ultimate is the perfect place to start to see how the series has evolved, while also getting a glimpse of past Monster Hunter games.

5

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate

Despite still being locked to the now-unsupported 3DS, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is still considered by some to be one of the best games in the series. As we mentioned above, Monster Hunter games have become progressively more approachable with each new game, which can make going back to previous games that lack updated quality-of-life features difficult.

If you want to avoid the headache of going back in time, you can always start in the past. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate first introduced the Insect Glaive and Charge Blade weapons, and had a cast of amazing new monsters to hunt that have become staples of the series, like Gore Magala and Raging Brachydios.

6

Monster Hunter Stories

Now for something completely different. If you want to get a taste of the Monster Hunter world and general gameplay loop, but prefer a more laidback, turn-based combat system, Monster Hunter Stories may be a good place to start. While you won’t get the action-packed combat that the series is built on, Stories does a good job of capturing the Monster Hunter vibe.

In Stories, you play as a Rider, who, rather than hunting monsters, bonds with them and fights alongside them in battle. Of course, you’ll still have to take down hostile monsters and make new equipment using their corpses, but Monster Hunter Stories has an overall lighter and friendlier tone.

Zinogre roaring in Monster Hunter now, Malzeno covered by red clouds in monster hunter rise sunbreak, and nergigante up close in monster hunter world.

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