Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak developer draws praise for Flaming Espinas solo hunt

Capcom has released a new gameplay video of Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak on its official Twitter account. The video shows a member of the game’s development team taking on the Flaming Espinas, a monster being added in free Title Update 2, in a solo hunt. The impressive skills that are on display in the video have drawn praise from many players.

Particularly noteworthy is the way that the dev team member uses sidesteps to evade the monster’s initial roar. They use the Switch Axe’s sword mode to continuously slash the Flaming Espinas but cease their attacks just before the monster is about to roar and use the period of invulnerability afforded by the sidestep to gracefully evade it. Their skillful playstyle can be seen throughout the entirety of the video as they slash at the monster’s legs while using perfectly timed sidesteps to avoid any attacks.

The video also shows the Flaming Espinas unleash a charged breath attack. The monster raises its head into the air and stands up tall, its body trembling. It then launches a giant fireball at the hunter towards its rear as it leaps into the air. Through the large explosion effect and ensuing cloud of poisonous smoke we can see the hunter calmly walking in the direction of the monster. The dev team member was once again successful at using a period of invulnerability to evade the powerful attack.

The Flaming Espinas is easily subdued by the dev team member, and the video comes to an end. The footage on display was taken from the Tokyo Game Show floor demo that let players take on a special quest that had a 15-minute time limit and seemingly increased the monster’s power. This means that the video is more than just someone taking on the Flaming Espinas solo—it’s a video of someone completing a high-difficulty quest. Many replies to the tweet compliment the skillful gameplay, with some even dubbing the dev team member a “Pro Hunter.”

Nevertheless, some users have pointed out that the Switch Axe hunter’s equipment possessed the Evade Window skill. The Tokyo Game Show quest featured predetermined sets of equipment for each weapon type, and the Switch Axe hunter’s set included Evade Window Lv. 5. It may have been a lot more difficult to evade the Flaming Espinas’ attacks were it not for the skill, which lengthens the window of invulnerability when evading, so players should keep that in mind when they take on the monster on themselves. That being said, it certainly doesn’t take away from the skills that the dev team member put on display.

Incidentally, before the release of free Title Update 1, Capcom had released a video featuring hunters taking on Lucent Nargacuga. That video, too, gained attention from players but for a very different reason: the flinching hunter who was frequently interrupted by their allies’ attacks because they lacked the Flinch Free skill (related article). The new Flaming Espinas video may have been the dev team’s attempt to restore their reputation following the reaction to the Nargacuga video.

Free Title Update 2 for Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak is due to release on September 29.

Written by. Marco Farinaccia based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2022-09-23 11:18 JST)