Monster Hunter: World gets Witcher Geralt and 'Iceborne' expansion soon (update)

Updated January 11, 2019: The Witcher content is coming to Monster Hunter: World on February 7.

Over the past year, Monster Hunter: World has received many crossover events and other festivals. The title has also received numerous updates and boasts a significant fan following many months later. For the past few weeks, there haven't been many changes to the game. Luckily, that's about to change in two important ways. 

After the "Winter Star Fest" ends on December 17, 2018, Geralt of Rivia from The Witcher series is joining Monster Hunter: World. According to CD Projekt RED, the collaboration sees Monster Hunter: World players take on the mantle of Geralt of Rivia in a series of Witcher-inspired quests. These offer a unique gameplay experience blending the role-playing mechanics of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt with Monster Hunter: World's game systems. As we all know, Geralt is a master swordsman. Players should get to utilize his signature fighting style, seamlessly blending swordplay, combat magic, and an assortment of monster hunting equipment.

The Witcher content is coming to Monster Hunter: World on Xbox One in early 2019 as a free update. However, that's not all. Today, Capcom also announced a major expansion for the game. The "Iceborne" content should launch in Spring 2019. It's unclear if this is a free update or how much it'll cost. When Monster Hunter: World launched, the publisher said that all future updates would be free, however, it doesn't seem to be the case with Iceborne.

Hopefully Capcom will clear up this confusion soon. The fact that the company hasn't said anywhere that it'll be free like it does with other updates seems to imply that it won't. Despite this issue, it's great to see that Monster Hunter: World is getting aggressive post-launch support.

Monster Hunter: World launched on Xbox One on January 26. The Monster Hunter franchise started off on the PlayStation 2 in 2004, but then became a Nintendo exclusive for many years. Games like Monster Hunter Tri, Monster Hunter 4, and even Monster Hunter Generations were only available on systems like the Nintendo Wii.

The premise behind Monster Hunter: World might be simple, but it tells a rather complex story. Once every decade, monsters known Elder Dragons trek across the water to travel to the region known as the New World. This migration event is referred to as the Elder Crossing. To get to the bottom of this mysterious pattern, the Guild has formed the Research Commission, dispatching them in large groups to the New World. The Guild is the main governing body in the Monster Hunter universe. They work alongside the Elder Dragon Observation to monitor and research particular species of interest.

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