Itching to see some “Monster Hunter World: Iceborne” content before the game’s official release on Sept. 6?

We recently had a chance to play and record video of the first few hours of the Iceborne expansion during a visit to Capcom’s U.S. headquarters in San Francisco a few days ago. The test build we tried out remains a work in progress and we weren’t allowed to show equipment loadouts, new jewels and mods or go too in-depth about monster weaknesses for spoiler reasons. But the playthrough still provided an interesting first look at the game, including the new Seliana base, some previously unannounced monsters and new gameplay mechanics such as the clutch claw.

Here are some of the takeaways from the five-hour session.

Four more new monsters revealed

One of the best parts of the campaign playthrough we did was seeing new monsters that weren’t publicly shown yet at the time. These were Viper Tobi Kadachi, Nightmare Paolumu, Coral Pukei Pukei and one of many favorite monsters, the saber-toothed snow wyvern Barioth.

Viper Tobi Kadachi: This Tobi Kadachi subspecies boasts orange and black pigmentation instead of the silvery blue and white color of its main counterpart. Its spikes also can inflict not one but two status effects: paralysis and poison. Add the speed and agility that Tobi Kadachi is known for and you’ve got a potential headache in your hands if you’re not careful — or out of antidotes.

Nightshade Paolumu: This subspecies doesn’t appear to be particularly threatening at first blush. It kind of looks more like a darker, emo Paolumu who wallows in its lair while listening to old My Chemical Romance songs. That is, until it sprays you with oodles of noxious gas, which it can shoot forward or downward in a big, billowy cloud when it’s floating. Let’s just say this monster ain’t passing the DMV smog check anytime soon. That gas cloud, by the way, can send hunters to sleep, making items such as Energy Drinks a must when hunting Nightshade Paolumu.

Coral Pukei Pukei: Like a two-legged fire truck, this monster can look comical at first until it brings out the big guns — and by that, I mean the big water guns. Coral Pukei Pukei can pretty much bend and angle its tail like a Joby Gorillapod, resulting in all sorts of ways that it can spray you with high-quality H2O. Its water attacks can reach far distances as well, making it a threat even when it seems far away. Watching it in action was like seeing my fellow hunters playing in one of those public water fountains. Except each blast of water sends them flying a mile away.

Barioth: The apex predator of our multiplayer session, hunting Barioth remains an intense, white-knuckle affair. The saber-toothed wyvern is fast and furious, especially at the first half of the hunt when its wing claws are still undamaged. Add its wide-ranged blizzard attacks and you might just find yourself having a tough time to let it go, let it go when the monster gets you frozen with numbing Iceblight. Barioth also looks better than ever after getting the Monster Hunter World visual treatment. If you’re a fan of the monster, you’ll enjoy his addition to Iceborne.

Three words: Hot spring petting

The new hunter base in Hoarfrost Reach features a more centralized design that allows for easier access to the various shops and services as well as the Gathering Hub. While the vertical design of Astera was awesome to look at, it was a bit inconvenient for multiplayer matches so the new layout for Seliana makes it easier to go from Point A to Point B or C and D.

Here’s a quick tour of the various stations you can check out in Seliana.

Housekeeper: Starting on the right from the main entrance, you can go up the ramp past the Popo and you will see a wooden house with a counter manned by a Palico with a fuzzy duckbill cap. This is actually a housekeeper cat who can send you to the Training Area, which now includes an option for practicing clutch claw mechanics on a dummy cart. The housekeeper can help you claim add-on bonuses as well. Leaving the Training Area sends you to your private room.

Your private room: Do you fancy yourself as a room auteur? Well, get ready to knock your socks off in your new hunter’s quarters in Seliana, which you can now trick out with all sorts of furniture and finery. When you enter the room for the first time, you’ll find yourself inside a rustic space featuring stonework, plenty of wood accents and some large fur pelts. Don’t worry if that setup doesn’t tickle your fancy, however. Iceborne lets you pick between various curtains, tables and beds — including some that might be familiar to series veterans. In addition to picking your choice of materials such as cloth or fur, you can change their patterns, too. These designs can range from a muted, natural look to more garish offerings that’ll make your inner Caligula squeal with delight. More decor can be unlocked as you progress through the game and complete bounties. You also get a private hot spring, a new aquarium and nice window views of Seliana’s cold environs. Continuing with the theme of easy access, your private room can be reached from various spaces in Seliana, including our next room, the Gathering Hub.

Gathering Hub: The gathering spot for multiplayer hunting features familiar stations such as the quest counters, item shop and hub canteen. On top of that, it now adds other services that used to only be available outside the hub in Astera. One of the Pub Sailors, for example, gives you access to the Botanical Research station for farming herbs, mushrooms and the like, as well as the Argosy ship for folks interested in making material requests. The hub also gets a new sauna, foot bath and several hot springs to help warm your insides after spending time in the Hoarforst Reach’s chilly snowscapes. Take a dip in the foot bath or hot springs and you will get to experience what’s arguably the greatest feature ever in Monster Hunter-dom, petting your Palico. Seriously, you can rub and caress your cat, carry it up and dip its furry body into the water, and splash water at its face while frolicking around the bath’s soupy warm waters. In fact, I had to be reminded that we were about to start a hunt at one point because I couldn’t stop messing around with my Palico in the Gathering Hub baths. By the way, Palico shenanigans can also be done in any hot spring, including the one in your private quarters.

Other rooms: From the Gathering Hub, there’s an exit that’s connected directly to the Smithy in case you want to craft new gear after a hunt. If you exit the Gathering Hub's main doors instead, you will see the new war room to your left. That’s where the fleet’s leadership council gathers to concoct all sorts of strategery about the New World. Just to the left of the war room is the Ecological Research hub for gathering monster info. In front of the Research Hub is the new canteen, which is staffed by the Meowscular Chef’s teacher. From the canteen is a little nook that serves as a shortcut to the new Steamworks station, which powers the whole camp. It also lets you play a minigame where you can guess the order for the three gauges and earn materials in exchange. You can earn fuel to power the Steamworks by doing quests. The Steamworks Tech Chief will also ask you to undertake optional quests from time to time, as do other NPCs in the game.

Integrated story & multiplayer

Once again, the Iceborne expansion lets you experience the game’s campaign with other people in case you don’t want to go solo. For our session, we basically had everyone gather in the same Seliana hub, had someone post the quest or expedition and then had the other players join that quest.

The same caveats from World still apply to the Iceborne multiplayer campaign, however. In order to do campaign missions involving expeditions, for example, we all had to do the same expedition separately then back out after triggering the cutscene. We could then do the same mission after that. You also can’t skip story cutscenes.

We’re pretty limited in what we can say about the story itself but the process should be familiar to folks who played Monster Hunter World. You basically have to undertake missions and expeditions in order to progress the story, which is centered on the sudden migration of Legiana. The cause behind the ecological disturbance ends up rippling throughout the New World’s ecosystem, with monsters showing up in places they normally don’t frequent. As indicated in the previews released by Capcom, the Handler seems to have a personal stake in the ongoing events. As to what those stakes are, well, you’ll need to play the game to find out.

The claw

Remember when mentioning the “claw” in Monster Hunter referred to the way you had to grip your PSP due to the lack of a second analog stick? With the arrival of Iceborne, the term now refers to the Clutch Claw, a mechanic that lets you grapple monsters and pump them full of Slinger ammo. I was concerned at first that the Clutch Claw would be easy to spam, especially since multiple hunters can use it against a monster at the same time. But it proved to be pretty balanced and was a hoot when used at the right time. Attacking with your weapon while clutched, for example, doesn’t inflict massive damage. Sending a monster careening into a wall, which was the mechanic that I thought was potentially rife for abuse since it topples the large creatures, is pretty situational and requires slinger ammo. It also isn’t as effective against enraged monsters so it’s best used when you have a proper opening as opposed to just spamming it. Examples of good times to use it, based on my own experience, include:

The first time you meet a monster before it roars.

After a monster does a big move that has a long recovery.

When a monster is tired.

When a monster is fleeing.

When a monster is flashed.

Rocky Boaboa

Do Gajalakas make you see red? Well, Boaboas will make you see blue if you end up on the receiving end of their trolling. These little rabid Ewoks can smack you around or send you to sleep at inopportune times should you cross their paths while fighting a monster. On the plus side, they are equal-opportunity griefers and can send a monster to sleep, too. This actually happened during our Barioth Hunt, allowing us to conveniently plant several barrel bombs on the poor sleeping monster’s head.

Raider Rides

This feature was not yet unlocked by our characters during our playthrough session so we were not able to test it.

Final thoughts

While we’re limited in terms of the things we can talk about from the preview, I can say that Iceborne feels like a G-rank expansion (or Master Rank in today’s parlance) so far. It has plenty of new content, including new monsters to hunt, as well as new gear and jewels to farm all over again. The new mechanics also freshen up the series enough to make it feel new, even for folks who have plunked hundreds of hours into Monster Hunter World as I have. It remains to be seen how expansive the full game will be but I like what I’ve seen so far from the first four or so hours that I’ve played.

Monster Hunter World Iceborne will have two versions when it releases this fall. The Master Edition, which will be available physically and digitally, will retail for $59.99 and come with both Icebrone and the base MHW game. Players who already own a copy of the base Monster Hunter World game can simply purchase the digital Iceborne DLC expansion for $39.99.

Jason Hidalgo covers business and technology for the Reno Gazette Journal, and also reviews video games as part of his Technobubble features. Follow him on Twitter @jasonhidalgo. Like this content? Support local journalism with an RGJ digital subscription.