To send June out with a bang, Capcom has today released Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak. This is paid DLC for the new entry. Yesterday there was also a regular Monster Hunter Rise update preparing for this expansion.

If you are still unsure if you should pick up the DLC, even after the game demo trial, we've put together a round up of the reviews so far. We've also got our own review on the way, so be on the lookout for that. And if you're curious - here are the patch notes:

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With that out of the way, let's see what the critics had to say about this next chapter in Monster Hunter Rise.

Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak
Image: via Nintendo / Capcom

Starting off with IGN, it summed it up as having some cool new monsters but not many new ideas. It attached a score of eight out of ten to the original game but gave the DLC one point less - awarding it seven out of ten:

"Sunbreak isn’t nearly as substantial or surprising as Iceborne was for Monster Hunter World, lacking fresh ideas beyond clever AI followers that are restricted to single-player hunts, and even abandoning Rampage quests without really trying to fill the gap their absence has left."

The team over at Polygon enjoyed the DLC, but felt it should have jumped straight into the new Monster content:

"With so many good brawls in Sunbreak, it’s frustrating that it falls victim to one of the biggest villains in AAA video games: bloat. I’d much rather see Sunbreak offer a shorter campaign with more of a focus on new monsters, and give me the option to fight Master Rank versions of the original roster at my leisure. But instead, I spent the opening hours of the expansion bashing familiar foes, just so I could get to the good stuff. As such, playing Sunbreak feels a bit like unwrapping an exciting present covered in too much tape."

PC Gamer gave the computer version 89 out of 100. It thinks Rise is "as good as the series has ever been", but noted how the DLC was essentially "more of the same", and may not provide enough "new" content for some fans:

"Monster Hunter Rise is as good as this series has ever been, and Sunbreak is much more of the same. It's also a lot tougher, but that feels like the right call. For some fans of the series, you could probably add a 10 onto the score. It does lack the thrill of the new, even if some of its additions are more significant than they first appear, and essentially functions as a proper endgame to an already expansive experience. Less a Sunbreak, then, than a sunset."

The hunters at Twinfinite felt "everything old is new" in the Sunbreak DLC - praising it with a score of 4.5 out of 5, and recommending it as an "absolute no-brainer" for anyone looking to dive back in:

"As it stands, Sunbreak represents the very best of Monster Hunter Rise, recontextualizing the base game through its clever integration of the old and the new. It won’t convert die-hard fans that bounced off of Rise, but for those that loved the changes to the Monster Hunter formula, Sunbreak represents a new high water mark for the series and is an absolute no-brainer for anyone looking to dive back in."

And last but not least, The Mako Reactor gave it 10 out of 10 - labelling it "absolutely essential" for existing owners of Monster Hunter Rise:

"Sunbreak enhances and improves Monster Hunter Rise in every way. The monsters are more challenging, the music is a lot better, and the postgame is actually good for more than a few hunts. The new mechanics add even more depth for those looking to dig deeper into each weapon. Even if Capcom didn't do a single title update, this would be absolutely essential for every Monster Hunter Rise owner. It is that good, and I can't wait to put hundreds of hours into it over the next year."

Will you be giving this new DLC for Monster Hunter Rise a go? Tell us in the comments.