Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak: Release date, trailer, everything we know

Capcom revealed new information on what’s to come from the Monster Hunter franchise at the 2021 Tokyo Game Show back in September. The PC port of Monster Hunter Rise, and its upcoming paid DLC expansion, Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak, were among the top announcements of the event.

This expansion promises to build upon the foundation of one of the best multiplayer games on PC with more challenging quests, a setting to explore, new gear to collect, and new monsters to slay. This DLC is scheduled to be released sometime in the summer of 2022. In the meantime, here is everything you need to know about Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak.

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak is a paid DLC expansion to Monster Hunter Rise, the newest mainline title in Capcom’s Monster Hunter franchise. The expansion focuses on the same cycle of hunting giant monsters and using their body parts to forge powerful gear to tackle bigger foes.

The premise of the original Monster Hunter Rise had you protect the peaceful Kamura Village from monsters driven mad by a mysterious phenomenon called The Rampage. Sunbreak takes shortly after this event and it sees your player character set off to a distant land called Elgado at the behest of a female knight. This knight also bears a resemblance to Rondine, one of Kamura’s Villages traders that you buy items from.

This is all that has been revealed of Sunbreak’s plot so far and Capcom says more will be revealed at a later date. I predict that this knight has heard tales of your hunting exploits and is seeking to request your aid in defending her homeland from Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak’s flagship monster, the Elder Dragon, Malzeno.

What new features will Sunbreak bring?

As with previous expansions to Monster Hunter titles like Monster Hunter World: Iceborne and Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate, Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak will bring new features to the base game. For starters, it will feature Master Rank, a difficulty ranking that contains tough missions that make High Rank quests look easy by comparison. Master Rank quests will also reward players with new weapons and armor sets more powerful than the High Rank versions and with new designs to match their might.

There will also be new locales to explore and a new base of operations filled with characters to interact with. One of the new confirmed maps is a ruined castle that Malzeno calls home.

Monster Hunter Rise had a unique quest type called The Rampage where you defended the gates of Kamura village from waves of monsters in tower defense-esque missions. There is no current information if these Rampage Quests will return or if Sunbreak will replace them with a new type of quest altogether.

What new monsters will Sunbreak have?

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak will feature all the monsters of the base game while adding original monsters and fan-favorites to the roster. In contrast to Rise’s new monsters that were inspired by ancient Japanese yōkai, Sunbreak’s new monsters are more akin to creatures of European folklore.

For instance, the flagship monster of Sunbreak, Malzeno, seems to be themed after vampires. It lives in a dilapidated castle, it only comes out in the dead of night, and it is seen biting the neck of a Rathalos in the debut teaser trailer. The second new monster, Lunagaron, is a dog-like Fanged Wyvern that transforms to become more wolf-like while exposed to the light of a full moon, just like a werewolf.

As for returning monsters, the only one that’s been confirmed so far is the Shogun Ceanataur. This is a giant crab monster that debuted all the way back in Monster Hunter 2 on the PlayStation 2. It attacks its prey with razor-sharp claws and sometimes uses the skulls of other monsters as a shell, like a Gravios, for example.

Will Sunbreak have multiplayer?

Just like with the base game, you can play with your friends via four-player online co-op. Quests in Monster Hunter Rise are divided into Village Quests and Hub Quests. Village Quests are offline-only quests meant solo players that also act the game’s story mode. And Hub Quests are where you can play with your friends online but they can be played solo, offline as well.

The difficulty of Hub Quests scales around how many players there are during a hunt. For example, if there are two players in a quest, the monster will have more health than they did when there was only one player. Monster Hunter Rise also allows players to bring an NPC ally with them in multiplayer hunts. A big dog called a Palamute that will help you travel faster or a Palico, a humanoid cat that can deploy traps or healing items for the party.

Are there any pre-order bonuses?

There have been no pre-order bonuses announced at this time.

Are there any special or limited editions?

There are no special or limited editions announced as of yet.

What will the PC specs be?

As an expansion of an existing game, Sunbreak will most likely have the same PC specs as the base version of Monster Hunter Rise.

Minimum PC spec requirements:

Capcom has confirmed via Twitter that the PC versions of Monster Hunter Rise and Sunbreak will not feature cross-platform play or even cross-platform save features with the Nintendo Switch version.

However, it is aware of the growing demand for cross-play support in Monster Hunter titles. So, it is probable it will try to implement cross-play support in future Monster Hunter titles.

Will Monster Hunter Rise or Sunbreak ever come to Xbox?

There are no reports of Capcom confirming nor denying the possibility of Monster Hunter Rise or its expansion Sunbreak coming to the Xbox. According to an interview with Gamesradar, one of the contributing factors of Monster Hunter Rise getting a PC port (aside from the success of the PC version of Monster Hunter World) was due to the feedback from players.

This means that there is a possibility that Monster Hunter Rise and Sunbreak could be ported over to the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S if there is enough demand for it.

What is the launch price and availability?

The price of Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak is currently under wraps, but when it launches, will be available to purchase on the Nintendo Switch’s integrated store and PC via Steam. To access Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak’s content, you will need to buy the base game and complete the in-game 7-Star Hub Quest: Serpent Goddess of Thunder.

What is the release date?

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak has a tentative release date for the summer of 2022, just like the Nintendo Switch version. We currently don’t know an exact release date, but we suspect it will release shortly after the Nintendo Switch version, or on the same date.