The first big Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak update has four monsters and a huge endgame change

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Gold Rathian and Silver Rathalos join Lucent Nargacuga and Seething Bazelgeuse

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak title update 1 is coming tomorrow, August 10, with four new monsters and some big end game pursuits.

This update will also introduce tier-five Anomaly monsters to hunt, with the likes of Lunagaron, Mizutsune, Zinogre, and plenty more filling out the new tier. This will roll out alongside a system of Anomaly Investigations which seem similar to the Guild Quests from Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. These special Anomaly Investigations have random difficulties, party limitations, locales, and rewards, with higher-level variants offering different rewards. From what we've seen, these investigations can range from levels in the 20s up to at least the 80s, so expect a pretty big range of encounters. 

These Anomaly hunts are tied to the Qurious Crafting system also coming in this update. By collecting afflicted materials and trading them with the researcher Bahari, you can add extra attributes to maxed-out weapons and try your hand at random bonuses on armor pieces. Capcom clarified that armor "skill points can be randomly changed" using Qurious Crafting, which could let us replace unwanted skills on otherwise good armor pieces. Between these upgrades and the armor offered by the latest monsters, this update is poised to shake up a lot of mixed armor sets. 

After this update's launch, Capcom's also promising new event quests every week beginning August 18, including some "Dual Threat" hunts which drop you into an arena with two monsters at the same time. These will seemingly continue through to the next title update, which is scheduled for late September. 

Even after 120 hours, I still can't get enough of Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak. 

Austin Wood
Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.