The Switch exclusive was originally going to have areas separated by loading screens.
Monster Hunter World was a major step forward for its series in many ways, and many of those leaps forward were focused on the tech behind the game. For instance, where the series had previously always had areas within its maps separated by loading screens, in World, every single map was completely seamless.
While that’s going to continue in the upcoming Monster Hunter Rise, that wasn’t originally the plan. Speaking in a recent interview with IGN, the game’s director Yasunori Ichinose said that early on during the game’s development, owing to the Switch’s technical limitations, Capcom had planned on having areas within maps separated by loading screens. As development progressed though, the developers saw that having a seamless map without any immersion breaking transitions was crucial- a belief that was driven even further by the success of Monster Hunter World.
“On the Nintendo Switch, we thought it would be difficult to preserve visual quality and detail in a sandbox environment,” said Ichinose. “However, as development progressed we started realizing that open environments had become more and more the norm for blockbuster titles, and the success of World inspired us to take on the challenge.”
Monster Hunter Rise is due out exclusively for the Nintendo Switch on March 26. Though it will only be releasing for the Switch for now, leaks have suggested that the game will eventually make its way over to PC. Read more on that through here.