Roughly half of Monster Hunter World: Iceborne will take place in areas already explored in the base game, according to the expansion’s producer.
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne is just a few short months away for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One players, and information is slowly trickling out from Capcom on what hunters can expect when it finally arrives.
To help meter out the info, Iceborne producer Ryozo Tsujimoto and director Daisuke Ichihara sat down with Game Informer for a rapid-fire Q&A-style interview that gave some unique insight into what we’ll find when Monster Hunter: World’s expansion drops later this year.
Perhaps the biggest news is that just half of the expansion will take place in the new area, Hoarfrost Reach. The other half will see hunters return to areas already present in the base game--something that was hinted at when previous trailers showed returning monsters appear in the Ancient Forest.
In order to access the new area, hunters will need to have completed the base game. However, there will be plenty of content added to the rest of the game, including several returning monsters from the rest of the Monster Hunter franchise.
Tsujimoto also told us that Iceborne will be Monster Hunter: World’s first and only expansion. “Iceborne basically completes World, so it will be the last expansion,” he said, but then assured us that there will be plenty of content updates to keep Iceborne feeling fresh. Expect more crossovers such as the recent Witcher event.
We already know there will be a bunch of new content added with an update that will go live at the same time as Iceborne, including new weapon combos, new gear for both hunters and their Palicoes, as well as new recipes. A new Master Rank will be added above High Rank that will challenge hunters to perform even greater feats of monster slaying, too.
Fans of the series will be especially happy to see the Nargacuga, Tigrex, and Popo all return in Iceborne.
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne drops September 6th on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, with PC to come sometime after.