Monster: Hunter World announces Iceborne expansion and Witcher crossover
Please give Geralt a Palico catpal
In a monster-sized newsblast, Capcom have announced that Monster Hunter: World will next year receive a full expansion named Iceborne, a crossover that brings Geralt from The Witcher to Monster Hunter with new quests, and new mega-tough versions of some nasty raid beasties. A demo is coming this week too. Busy times in Monsterland. Mostly I'm excited to see Geralt encounter Palico catpals. Please give Geralt a Palico.
Iceborne will be off to an icy new land with new monsters, a new quest rank, new moves, new equipment, and such expansion stuff for a new story set after the main game. It's coming to consoles in autumn 2019 but, while a PC version is confirmed, Capcom didn't say when it'll come to PC. We've been running late with most things, because our version launched later, but hopefully we might catch up by then?
Iceberg, right ahead!
As for our boy Geralt, he'll be playable in a crossover collaboration after he's whisked through a portal to the world of Monster Hunter. While his pal Ciri has visited the world of Cyberpunk (not that she'll be in that game), going to another world to hunt monsters is a bit of a busman's holiday for Geralt. Still, probably more fun for him than his appearance in Soulcalibur VI.
Witcher developers CD Projekt Red explained in their own announcement that we'll get to "take on the mantle of Geralt of Rivia" for "a series of Witcher-inspired quests." They say these "offer a unique gameplay experience blending RPG mechanics of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt with Monster Hunter: World’s game systems," and we'll "get to utilise his signature fighting style, seamlessly blending swordplay, combat magic, and an assortment of monster hunting equipment."
Doug Cockle is providing Geralt's English voice again, recording new lines for this, and Geralt will have native voices in other localisations too.
The Witcher crossover is due to hit consoles in "early 2019", with the PC version following at a yet-unknown time. Back to work hunting those monster, Geralt:
The new big monsters mentioned are 'arch-tempered' variants of two nasties, Arch-tempered Kulve Taroth and Arch-tempered Nergigante. The even tougher Nergigante is due to be the last content update before Iceborne hits.
Capcom also announced a limited demo, available only for one week, but that's not coming to PC so to heck with that.