Recent reviews by Orion

Seems fun, pretty stable already even in early access. New game play aspects work well too and help differentiate it from the first part. Feels worth it even at full price.

Downgrade to first one in all aspects except visuals. Disappointing even more so given tall claims made by the team leading up to its release on how engaging the open world is while it’s mostly barren and empty.

Doesn't overstay it's welcome or get stale combat wise which I usually find happening in mediocre hack and slash games. Yet to try out challenge modes or other extras in it.

The action set pieces, enemy variations and soundtrack stand out to me as the best parts of this game.

Recommend this if you're looking for a short main campaign to beat over the weekend.

Great game for most part, I liked wirebug system and new moves for Gunlance increasing its mobility in battle. Would've been nicer to see Investigation quests to spice things up a bit.

Hope Sunbreak comes soon with lot more content, since this base game is quite short compared to World.

Did 2 runs back to back, strongly recommend this game
+ Really great atmosphere (esp. in the initial hours it was fun navigating around wondering if the object in front of you is a mimic that's going to attack you)
+ Abilities/skills change the way you get through obstacles giving some variation to playthroughs
+ Scope for exploration, liked a few side quests (especially the imposter quests)
+ Okay plot, nothing extraordinary but it was decent
- Enemy variety lacking, gets stale in the last 1/3rd part
- Enemies keep moving back into cleared areas which I didn't enjoy, then again YMMV

Combat takes some getting used to but the monster variety and interesting locales to explore make it worth it. Even better with friends but the community is great to beginners as well so you might easily find someone online if not.

Update: This game definitely does not play "Great on deck" in contrast to its label. I found screen flickering and flashing issues which made iceborne map unplayable. Do re-consider if you're buying it for steam deck.