Monster Hunter World Iceborne reviews round-up, all the scores

News by Sherif Saed Contributing Editor

Published on Sept. 5, 2019

Monster Hunter World was exceptionally well received when it arrived over a year ago, will Iceborne get the same response?

Monster Hunter World's first big expansion, Iceborne, comes to PS4 and Xbox One tomorrow, September 6. Iceborne is World's only confirmed expansion so far, and it comes with a hefty chunk of new content for players.

As the name suggests, Iceborne's setting is the snowy area of Hoarfrost Reach, a completely new zone being added to World's already varied list of locations. Hoarfrost Reach is home to several returning and new monsters, but the main game is also getting its fair share of newcomers.

Outside of original monsters, Iceborne also introduces the concept of subspeieces, altered versions of existing monsters which have new attacks and new elemental effects. Then there's the new gathering hub, which houses all the different stops on a single floor, making it easier to run from the smithy to the investigations board and so on.

As far as weapons, Iceborne adds the new Clutch Claw, a tool that lets players grapple onto monsters. We also can't forget a big reason for Iceborne's existence: Master Rank, the new name for the series' ultra-challenging G Rank, a step beyond High Rank.

Iceborne content itself can only be accessed by those who buy the expansion, but the main game benefits from this release through a number of new additions and balance tweaks that affect everybody. In fact, those who have Monster Hunter World installed have already received most of these in a free patch, which also added a new armour set intended to help new players fast-track through World content before jumping into Iceborne.