If Monster Hunter World was the first big and noticeable evolution of the long-running series, Wilds is shaping up to be a bright, exciting evolution that takes World’s many surprising changes one step further. While World featured individual zones within each region, Wilds removes the loading screens between each region and its home city, which is now located directly on the map itself; where World allowed you to eat and change gear at camp, Wilds additionally allows you to set up a portable tent; and where World introduced the voices of its human companions, Wilds gives the voices of Felyne Palicos. I learned all this and more in the closed-door demo and interview with Monster Hunter Wilds developers at Summer Game Fest.
As is tradition, the hunt I followed began in a town where you can eat, manage your inventory, and craft weapons and armor with Gemma’s invigorating new forge. However, this village was created within the Windswept Plains hunting location, with no loading screens separating it from the action. In fact, the entire 30-minute demo, from setting up in town to taking down monsters and exploring, was completely seamless.
While still in town, the hunter mounted his Seikret – a new small wyvern-type bird mount that the presenter mentioned was especially useful since the Wilds maps are twice the size of previous games. Considering how vast the places in the World felt, that sounds huge to me.
The hunter then headed to another small settlement in Plány. The people here specialized in growing cheese and raising herbivores for livestock, and among them was a cheese merchant. After the NPC bought some of her merchandise, she said, “We’ll see gouda use.” Personally, I’m glad that the classic Monster Hunter puns are still alternating dialogue, though I understand that some may find it a bit cheesy.
Ingredients in hand, next was to find a monster to hunt. The map in the menu now shows the elevation of the area in a sort of 3D rendering rather than the flat illustrated maps we’re used to, and while viewing it our hunter chose a target for his Seikret to find and track. scent. This is a more automatic approach and didn’t seem to require much action from the hunter. Seikret can even avoid herds of monsters on his own.
During these trips, the hunter demonstrated a new portable tent. The temporary structure allows you to change equipment and eat as in regular tents, which are barely dotted on the map. He also cooked his own food in the field, using previously purchased cheese for the meat. Ready to hunt, he continued on his way.
The hunter focused on Alpha Doshaguma in the herd of beasts. Alpha’s larger size and redder fur set her apart from the others, and the hunter donned the Ghillie Mantle to sneak up on him and start the battle with a sneak attack. (So, mantles are back – at least this one!) Hitting a monster a few times will automatically trigger the start of a quest to defeat it.
Trying to fight one large monster in a herd looked a little messy, but also cool, and Seikret allowed the hunter to lure the mob into a nearby narrow ravine. There, Bahalara’s quicksand trap quickly took care of the Doshagumas’ fill, sucking them into what was likely a sandy grave. Unpredictably, as soon as the embattled hunter and Doshaguma went back outside, a new monster appeared to shake things up. This was the “peak” of the plains – the new wyvern shown in the latest trailer at Summer Game Fest. Usually this flying Wyvern with lightning bolts will (probably) appear with storm, but the presenter said that this time she appeared a little early. To attack, this as-yet-unnamed wyvern braces itself against the ground and “closes” its saucer-like horns into a pointed formation to direct a beam of electricity. It’s an attack that takes some preparation and looks particularly impressive, and while it didn’t happen in my demo, I’ve heard it has the ability to one-shot an unsuspecting (or unwary) hunter.
I was impressed by the storm that followed – the sight of the lightning striking the sand and flashing in the background was mesmerizing. At one point the hunter called back to the tent on the cliff and peered into the distance where a storm rumbled between the strange structure of the environment.
Eventually, the hunter managed to escape the new threat and deal with the alpha Doshaguma with the help of some NPCs summoned by the SOS Flare, a mechanic that allows you to seamlessly “summon” other hunters at will into your current hunt. When you’re online, that would be other players, of course.
Although the Monster Hunter series has toyed with making World and even Rise more cinematic, Wilds really uses the camera’s field of view effect to create additional drama and tension in battles. In the Power Clash, where the hunter fends off Doshaguma with a greatsword driven into its mouth, the camera zooms in so that the ferocious jaws of the hunter and the monster take up most of the screen, adding stress to the moment.
Executive director and art director Kaname Fujioka said that while they’re not trying to make Monster Hunter Wilds like a movie, they’re working on using the camera work to “serve what we want players to focus on visually and increase their immersion.”
Here are some other key moments and details from the demo:
- Director Yuya Tokuda said Palico now having a voice helps the player understand what’s going on because there are a lot of “environmental changes” and “things happen in real time”. For example, Palico spoke in the demo saying “The shock trap is down and ready for you”. I can definitely see the audio cues being useful when it’s hard to read the text in the middle of the action, but Tokuda-san assured me that you can change the voice back to the familiar cat-speech meow if you want.
- You can now pick up and move barrel bombs.
- Wounds appear when fighting a monster. This is a system related to Focus Mode that allows you to target attacks and guards where you point your cursor. When you enter Focus Mode, Scoutflies will highlight injured areas in red. Attacking these wounds specifically, whether in or out of focus mode, will eventually destroy them and deal damage. There are even special moves for each weapon designed to deal damage faster.
- A red line from the monster to you indicates when the monster will chase you.
- Each biome in these “forbidden lands” has different environmental phases and different materials will only be available at certain times. For example, the Windward Plains have dry and abundant phases, punctuated by sandstorm weather events that have strong lightning. Major thunderstorms only appear on the plains during these thunderstorms.
- If you’re patient, you can watch the endemic life go through its life cycles. For example, a bird that builds a nest, hatches eggs and feeds its young. Fujioka said that their goal with the Monster Hunter series has always been to make players feel immersed in a living ecosystem, as well as a real natural environment, and they intend to deepen this concept in Wilds.
- The hunting horn returns to its style from World, but with a few additional changes.
- The Light Bowgun and Heavy Bowgun “received some of the most extensive action changes” of all weapon types, Tokuda said.
- Tokuda said that playing the story in multiplayer is much more comfortable in Wilds than in World, but you won’t be able to play perfectly together and in sync throughout the story because there are some elements of the story that you’ll need to see. backup solo before pairing. “We’ve introduced new features to the game so you’re always connected in the background,” Tokuda explained. “…so once you’re able to go on a quest, it’ll connect with you quickly and you can seamlessly return to multiplayer.”
Overall, Monster Hunter Wilds looks particularly promising for this key at first glance. It’s beautiful on current hardware and seems to take full advantage of the technical possibilities by introducing concepts like herds of large monsters and dynamic, changing environments. Of course, I’m excited to see more, and I’m especially looking forward to learning more about the more subtle tweaks and additions to the game that will keep Wilds fresh and unique. As the start of the sixth generation of the popular Monster Hunter series, it must live up to high expectations!
Casey DeFreitas is IGN’s Associate Editor for Guides. You can catch her on Twitter talking about monsters @ShinyCaseyD