Video Games
‘Monster Hunter World: Iceborne’ Will See Difficulty Scaling And Increased Challenge
Those looking for a challenge with Capcom’s upcoming Monster Hunter World: Iceborne will have it and then some. In an interview with Game Informer, executive director and art director Kaname Fujioka states that the devs have been listening to feedback from fans regarding the original game, and have “taken that feedback to heart from players who wanted more difficulty and more challenge and really delivered on that”.
Specifically, the endgame in Iceborne will have its difficulty ramped up in response to the feedback. Fujioka stated that for World, the difficulty was toned down due to the game being many players’ first entry in the series. But now that players have become accustomed to the game, the team is comfortable with cranking things back up for Iceborne.
The story content for Iceborne will have the gradual rise in difficulty expected from an expansion, but players who have kept up with the original game’s post-launch content will have an a slightly easier time due to the better gear, according to Fujioka.
That being said, Iceborne will also introduce a dynamic difficulty system that fluctuates monster health based on the number of players. In World, a monster either had normal health in singleplayer or double in multiplayer, but that will now appropriately scale if someone drops out of the quest mid-hunt.
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne hits PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on September 6, while PC users get it this winter.
Video Games
Bloody Body Horror Revealed in ‘Stellar Blade: Blood Rain’, Currently in Development [Trailer]
Shift Up has shifted things dramatically from 2024’s action-adventure game Stellar Blade, offering up a body horror bonanza in the newly announced sequel, Stellar Blade: Blood Rain. The sequel is currently early in development, but if the trailer is any indication, players will be in for plenty of body horror.
Continuing the story from the original Stellar Blade, Blood Rain will star a new protagonist named Eve. Earth has been abandoned, and what is left of humanity has fled to a Colony in outer space.
Shift Up had mentioned during a Q&A following its latest earnings presentation last month that development on Blood Rain (which was still unannounced at the time) was progressing smoothly, and was on track to meet their targeted quality standards.
Shift Up stated that with this new title it would be transitioning to a first-party service model, effectively moving away from the restrictions the game experienced with original publisher Sony, which had the game under an exclusivity agreement for the PlayStation 5. “This will allow us to lead marketing strategies that fully reflect the distinctive identity of the Stellar Blade IP, and we expect to communicate the unique appeal of its universe to players more directly and effectively.”
Whether this means that Xbox Players will finally be able to play the original game (or its sequel) is still not clear. Meanwhile, Stellar Blade is reportedly being ported to the Nintendo Switch 2, but no official confirmation has been made.