The main problem with the series has always been its complex RPG systems that can totally alienate anyone who’s never played a Monster Hunter game before. The real key to the game’s success is that it’s a little friendlier for newcomers. New features like the wirebug and Rampage quest types bring fresh content for fans who have already played hundreds of hours of World. The latest installment is one of the best entries yet. Now Capcom has capitalized on that success with Monster Hunter Rise, bringing the franchise to the Nintendo Switch. The game was a wider hit that started piquing more people’s interests. The tides started changing in 2018 with the release of Monster Hunter World. It was wildly popular in certain parts of the world, but the west simply hadn’t caught on. Go back just a few years ago, and Capcom’s action RPG franchise was a bit of a niche experience.

Pardon the pun, but the Monster Hunter franchise is on the rise. With more characters, weapons, and secrets to uncover, Age of Calamity is a high-quality action game that sets a new bar for Nintendo spinoffs. While the game presents itself as a Zelda version of Rogue One, where you know that Hyrule is doomed, the story takes some unexpected twists that make for an exciting Zelda side story. It acts as a pseudo-prequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and tells the story of the Great Calamity. Unlike the first game, Age of Calamity is part of the actual Zelda cannon. Nintendo capitalized on that promise with Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, a more fully realized entry that opens the doors wide open for the series’ future. It wasn’t a replacement for mainline Zelda adventures, but it showed that the franchise had some untapped potential when it came to side games. The hack-and-slash game turned Zelda into Dynasty Warriors with larger-than-life battles. When the first Hyrule Warriors game was originally released on the Wii U, it didn’t seem like much more than a niche spinoff.

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