A staple of the Monster Hunter series is the ability to play with up to three other friends in order to hunt monsters. This has not changed when it comes to Monster Hunter World and its Iceborne expansion.
However, each Monster Hunter game that released worldwide, with the exception of Monster Hunter Stories on mobile and 3DS, has been on one specific system. Monster Hunter World changed that and came to PS4, Xbox One, and PC. This of course led fans to ask the question whether or not there would be crossplay between platforms.
Unfortunately, Monster Hunter World does not in fact, have any form of crossplay. Players will have to stick to their own preferred platform if they wish to play online with friends. The immediate follow up question however, is regarding the existence of cross save. If players cannot player with players on different platformers, then a possible solution would be to move over their character from one platform onto another if they own more than one copy of the game. Well that's not actually an option either. In every sense, players can only play with friends who are on the same platform as they are.
The inability to play with friends across platforms is not ideal, but Monster Hunter World also removes multiplayer specific quests. In previous games, there would be an online hub that had its own set of quests that could be played with friends. They didn't have to be, but they were scaled for multiplayer, meaning the monsters had inflated health. Monster Hunter Rise is bringing the hub and village separation back, but reportedly with player scaling.
Of course, while World does not technically have any multiplayer specific quests, several quests in the game, are rather difficult to complete alone. Perhaps most notable are the two collaboration monsters, Behemoth and Ancient Leshen. Both have a significant health pool and hit very hard. Even once players have reached Iceborne, going back and fighting these two can prove difficult, let alone how they were before Iceborne launched.
Late game Iceborne monsters can also be very difficult to defeat alone, especially Fatalis given its aggression and small delay in between its attacks. Some players found Alatreon actually easier alone though, as its elemental damage check was easier to meet. Regardless, even without cross play, players may still use the SOS feature which posts their current quest to the quest board for anyone to see which lets them request help for any player regardless of the online session they are currently in.
Monster Hunter World is now available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.