The last week has been a particularly exciting one for gamers, with every other day bringing some exciting new game reveals and announcements, along with a plethora of updates on upcoming games. While the Xbox and Bethesda Showcase and Summer Games Fest may have taken the limelight, smaller presentations still had their chance to shine, and Capcom's showcase was no different. Along with revealing a brief Resident Evil 4 Remake gameplay clip, and announcing Resident Evil Village's story DLC, Capcom also used its showcase to pull back the curtain on some of the hulking beasts players will face off against in the upcoming Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak DLC.
While Capcom had already revealed Sunbreak's main antagonists, the Three Lords, it had yet to announce some of the other monsters players would be conquering. During the Capcom showcase, fans saw a few fresh, scaly faces, as well as some old returning favorites, all of which will be cropping up in Monster Hunter Rise's upcoming Sunbreak expansion, which is adding a massive amount of content to the game, ranging from new boss monsters to new biomes and a whole slew of new gear.
The Espinas Species Explained
One of the handful of monsters shown off in the latest Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak trailer, the Espinas species will soon be soaring into the game. For long-time fans of Monster Hunter, the Espinas may be familiar, with it first appearing in Monster Hunter Frontier, the series' MMO spin-off. With Monster Hunter Frontier's servers being closed in 2019, the Espinas can now only be found in Sunbreak, where players will need to defeat the flying wyvern to proceed.
From a design perspective, the Espinas is a mean-looking beast, appearing as a huge scaled dragon. Jutting out of its scales are pointed pink spikes that hold lethal venom inside. The Espinas has one of these pink spikes protruding from its head, which it uses to impale and poison its prey. Along with these pink spikes, the Espinas has an array of thorns that stretch across its entire body, from its wings to its legs and tail, making it one tricky monster to approach.
Despite its menacing appearance, the Espinas is actually quite a passive species, appearing relatively unphased by its surroundings in most scenarios. In the wild, hunters will often encounter an Espinas when it's sleeping, in a state akin to a deep hibernation. The Espinas is so passive, in fact, that even attacking the monster will do little to anger it. That being said, if the wyvern takes too much damage, then it will become enraged. Its veins will start to glow a vibrant orange, and it will unleash its anger on its opponent.
The Espinas species has a range of attacks at its disposal. Perhaps its most damaging attack is its ability to shoot toxic fireballs from its mouth. If these make contact with the hunter then it has a chance to inflict both paralysis and poison, while also dealing a great deal of fire damage. The Espinas also an array of physical attacks, most of which use its pink spikes, claws, and tail to both damage the hunter, and inflict poison. If the Espinas becomes sufficiently enraged, then it's also capable of rushing its opponent, ramming it at a great speed with its head-mounted horn. Before heading into battle, hunters should make sure they've got plenty of poison healing on hand.
Monster Hunter Rise is available now for PC and Switch. Sunbreak launches on June 30, 2022.
