Capcom's franchise may not be very accessible to beginners, but this new episode is described as "the most accessible of the series" by Yasunori Ichinose, the game's director. But what is it?
To find out, let's go to Kamura, where the adventure starts. This medieval Japanese town lives in the dread of calamity, a catastrophe during which a horde of rampaging monsters threatens to exterminate the inhabitants.
During the introduction phase, the beginner hunter that I am has to get acquainted with many colourful villagers: they correspond to archetypes of the role-playing game (merchant, blacksmith, cook etc.). I am also introduced to the quest system of increasing difficulty that will punctuate my adventure.
Once the setting is set, I head towards the arena where my training will be eager to fight. Delighted, I get ready to take out my weapons, just before I get caught in a tunnel of tutorials. Countless panels, like instructions, follow one another, all the more burdensome as these lengthy explanations systematically end with the same guilt-inducing question: "Leave the tutorial? Yes-No."
The player must then assimilate the typical buttons of the franchise, familiarize himself with multiple menus and discover that the hunter has fourteen very different weapons at his disposal. He also has to take an interest in the pets (a cat and a fighting dog and an owl for exploration), whose equipment is managed and actions are set. All of this happens at once, and if I haven't had the opportunity to knock out a monster, I'm it.
Fortunately, in the meantime, we go through levels with sumptuous landscapes, which take full advantage of the Switch's capabilities and different hunting grounds full of unexpected corners, new secrets or unique resources that are sometimes difficult to access.
However, I didn't come out of my first encounters with giant monsters any better: the character has a particular rhythm, a bit slow. It would help if you didn't get carried away: too many hits and you're guaranteed a fatal counter-attack. The beaks and fireballs of this giant aggressive crane of Aknosom send me twice to the mat. I concentrate on dodging, only striking by repeating the basic blows very sparingly, in short: our confrontations drag on, and I feel like I'm stuck in the amateur league of hunters.
The hunter always has the opportunity to recover the remains of the hunted. This is then used to fashion new weapons and armour. During the first hours of the game, the hunter doesn't necessarily see the point of filling his trunk with entire sets of equipment made from the remains of monsters that he has faced over and over again.
But after ten hours of playing, feeling the inexplicable need to own a blue and furry suit made of Arzuros (a massive bear with spikes), I have to admit that I'm hooked. This necessary equipment proves to be a strategic asset for my character, who gains attack points, defence points and even gives him diversion effects against monsters.
For the next ten hours, I'll be able to start honing combat techniques, wandering through environments teeming with life, collecting rare resources and solving side quests.
Once the serial failures of the beginning of the game are over, the access is not so difficult: quickly, the beginner that I am, shivering during the epic face to face with the gigantic monsters, has the impression to deserve his virtual hunting license. All that's left for me to do is to go and play with seasoned hunters in multiplayer mode. After all these hours, I can finally answer "Yes" to the question I've read about 50 times: "Leave the tutorial? Yes-No.
