After almost a year’s worth of jaw-dropping updates to Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, it seems Capcom has one more trick up its sleeve before the curtains are drawn for this expansion. And what better way to close this chapter of the game out than by bringing back Fatalis, the legendary black dragon from the original game?
The Fatalis free title update will come to the game on 1 October. To unlock the investigation for Fatalis, players will have to have completed the main storyline for Iceborne, as well as unlock and complete the Alatreon special investigation. Unlike a traditional hunt, however, the one with Fatalis will be a cross between an arena and a siege event, so players are encouraged to use both their own weapons and ballistae and cannons to best this iconic beast.
Most significantly, the fight will be staged at Castle Schrade, the location for the original fight with the black dragon in the original Monster Hunter.
While many hunters will no doubt be rearing to fight and craft weapons and armour from Fatalis’ hide, there is also the fact that the Palico armour turns your trusty feline friend into a miniature version of the black dragon. And in a bizarre twist, the Palico’s weapon is a straight up Hunter, which the Palico picks up to whack enemies around.
Interestingly, Fatalis’ addition was a result of the fanbase’s enthusiastic reaction to the franchise’s 15th anniversary artwork published last year.
“We decided we wanted to show Fatalis off for the first time in a while,” said executive director Kaname Fujioka in the latest developer update. “As you expect from bringing something out from the past, the old assets were dated and kind of hard to use, even after touching them up in CG. So we decided to properly recreate Fatalis for the 15th anniversary. It completely went viral on the internet. It was a huge hit. And we thought, ‘okay, we can’t not put in the game now.’”
In addition to Fatalis, Hunters can look forward to taking on Arch-Tempered Velkhana in a new limited-time investigation, as well as a new Halloween-themed timed event on 16 October, among other updates.
Marion has a serious RPG addiction. Sometimes it bleeds into real life; he forgets to sleep because he thinks he has a Witcher’s body clock. Forgive him in advance if he suddenly blurts out terms such as “Mind Flayer” and “Magic Missile”, because never once does he stop thinking about his next Dungeons & Dragons game.
Edwin Teo
Trinity Sun
Yonk
