Monster Hunter World review – feast of fun and fury where you're on the menu

PlayStation 4, Xbox One; Capcom
Pitting you against everything from fire-breathing dinosaurs to fluffy bird-wyverns, this is destined to be one of 2018's best games

It's rare that a video game forges a connection with nature, but Monster Hunter World does so by returning players to a time when humans were a part of the food chain, casting you simultaneously as a hunter-gatherer and zoologist. Like a virtual Attenborough, the hunter heads out into stupendously gorgeous places, rich with natural life and untouched by human influence, to track and observe extraordinary creatures, gathering local plants, bugs and mushrooms to study their healing or offensive properties. Then, distinctly unlike Attenborough, they must battle to the death.

Monster Hunter's foes range from fire-breathing dinosaurs to building-size elder dragons to fluffy bird-wyverns that look like a cross between a hamster and a bat. They are realised so convincingly, with such personality, that it's easy to believe that they could be real creatures despite their fantastical appearance. Each of them exists within a natural hierarchy, feeding on smaller monsters and fleeing when larger ones appear in the middle of a fight. And beginners beware: they will feed on you, too, given half a chance.