Monster Hunter Riseis less than a week out from release and no doubt many fans will want to play the game as soon as humanly possible. Thankfully, digital pre-orders ofMonster Hunter Risecan be downloaded ahead of time so that players can start hunting as soon as the game is unlocked.
The process for pre-loading the game is actually relatively simple. With Switch pre-orders, Nintendo will charge players for the purchase a week from the release of the title in question. Given thatMonster Hunter Risereleases on March 26, any active pre-orders will already have been charged and any future ones will be immediately charged.
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After payment goes through, players may go ahead and immediately pre-load the game. Once downloaded the game will be on the Switch home screen, but selecting it will prompt a pop up saying that an Internet connection is needed to determine if the game has been unlocked yet. Proceeding will result in another pop-up informing that the game is unable to be played yet, with a prompt togo to the eShopfor more details.
Neither pop-up explains when exactly the game will unlock, however. Thankfully, Nintendo’s support site gives additional information on this. For the most part, games will launch at 12 am EST on the day of release, but some third-party games launch at 3 pm EST the day of release. Nintendo also notes that there is usually a small update that is needed before the game can be played on release day, but this is not always the case. Unfortunately, it is as of now unclear whether or not such an update will be required or ifMonster Hunter Riseis one of the third-party titles that will be releasing later during its release window.
For those who are wanting to get a head start on their hunting, ademo forMonster Hunter Riseis currently availablefor download. It is not quite an accurate reflection of the game proper as there isn’t an option to customize gear beyond the choice of one of the 14 weapons, but it does give players a sense of how the hunts operate even if they are a bit more difficult than they will be in the actual game.
An earlier version of the demo released in January and contained two tutorial missions as well as fights against Great Izuchi and Mizutsune. The demo that is currently available includes all of those missions, but also added a hunt againstthe new flagship monster Magnamalo.
Monster Hunter Risewill be released on Switch on March 26 and on PC in 2022.
