在玩家开始狩猎时，就需要在一块巨大的开放区域中找到自己的猎物，并利用各种环境要素和其他怪物使自己占于上风。

As you begin a hunt, you enter a large open area and must search for your prey, using the environment and other monsters in your advantage.

对笔者来说，游玩本作的过程有时候反而更像是在观看一部自然生态纪录片。我经常坐在一块儿很高的岩石上，看两只大型怪物互相争斗，直到一只怪物落败而逃，而获胜的那一只则在抢到的新狩猎场中大快朵颐（以区域内的食草动物为对象），此时我感觉自己仿佛就是虚拟世界的大卫 · 艾登堡^[5] 。从岩石上悄悄滑下，一路顺手收集起打斗中掉落的怪物牙齿和鳞片，食草动物的粪便以及在激烈的战斗中被打破的蛋壳，让我感觉自己已经变成了游戏故事中想让我成为的生态学家，而且是以真正的生态学家会采用的研究方法，并不是游戏中猎人的方式。

最重要的是，所有的怪物设计都将奇幻生物和合理的生态栖息习惯完美的结合在一起。从生活在陆珊瑚台地上干枯海床上的浮空龙到在龙结晶之地的熔岩中打洞来猎食熔岩兽的岩贼龙^[6] ：这些怪物在整个群落中的重要性就和他们迫使玩家更新装备的力度一样大。

For me, it was way often more like watching a nature documentary. Sitting on a high rock, watching wyrm and wyvern duel it out until one ran off and the other started reaping its new hunting grounds by healing up on herbivores, I felt like the David Attenborough of the virtual world. Sneaking down from my rock, collecting splintered off fang pieces and scales from the battle and herbivore dung and broken egg shells from the riled-up prey made me the biologist the game's story wanted me to become, but by the actual methods of a biologist instead of that of a big game hunter.

On top of that, all of the monsters are just the right mixture between weird fantasy creature and reasonably realistic habitat dweller. From the puffy, fluffy blowfish flyer that lives between the coral fields of a dried-up ocean floor to the ore armadillo that digs tunnels through volcanos to chomp on lava snakes: they work as habitants of their biome just as well as they do as enticing enemies to make a pauldron out of.

在这令人沉迷的外表下，是系列传统的足够满足系列死忠粉的复杂装备打造系统。武器的教程仍然做的不够好，但是也可以原谅了。大量的补给品和为新玩家设计的联机选项使得游戏的序盘难度大大降低了，也能让更多新玩家接触到游戏复杂硬核的中后期内容。

初步上手一种武器并击败一只较弱的怪物确实已经不算很难了，但是想要精通一种武器仍然需要大量的练习。这种从上手到精通的过程会为新玩家带来充足的满足感，更容易沉醉到系列传统的刷怪换装备循环之中。对那些还苦苦挣扎在某只比较难打的怪物的人来说，他们现在可以通过在线功能呼叫三名陌生玩家来帮自己渡过难关，高手也可以去支线任务中挑战更强的“历战”个体^[7] 。

将系列新手和资深猎人之间的鸿沟弥合起来，使得《怪猎：世界》成为了卡普空出品的游戏中销量最佳的一部作品，截止 2020 年中期，全世界已经售出 1600 万部拷贝，我要说，它值得。

Underneath this aesthetic appeal lies a complex crafting that pleased even the longest running Monster Hunter fans. Weapon tutorials are still not great, but a forgiving game over system, plenty of support items and cooperation options for new players help soften the first brush with more complex mid- and endgame content.

Getting familiar with any weapon by button mashing one of the weaker enemies into defeat is easy enough, while mastering a weapon still takes practice and provides enough effective results and inherent satisfaction that newcomers might become entangled in the Monster Hunter loot spiral. Difficulty spikes can be alleviated with the help of up to three strangers through the online function for those struggling, or ramped up even further through optional side missions against even stronger “Tempered” enemies.

Bridging the rift between newcomers to the series and veteran hunters made Monster Hunter: World the bestselling Capcom game of all time, with over 20 million units sold mid-2020. Deservedly, I say.

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⁵ 译者注：大卫·爱登堡（David Attenborough，全名 David Frederick Attenborough）被认为是有史以来旅行路程最长的人，多年来与 BBC 的制作团队一起，实地探索过地球上已知的所有生态环境，不仅是一位杰出的自然博物学家，还是勇敢无畏的探险家和旅行家，被世人誉为“世界自然纪录片之父”。
⁶ 译者注：实在搞不清楚原文作者所指的究竟是生活在龙结晶之地的哪种大型怪物，此处翻译为译者自行补充。
⁷ 译者注：“历战”个体，是《怪猎：世界》中大部分怪物强化难度的一种方式，所谓“历战”指的是在残酷的生存战斗中活到最后的最强个体，这些“历战”个体的任务会掉落强化装备必须的素材。