As Capcom’s Monster Hunter sequence has grown in scope and recognition over the previous 20 years, so too have the sport’s worlds. They’ve gone from discrete zones to large open-world environments populated with smarter, extra plausible creatures. Monster Hunter Wilds continues that evolution, with an emphasis on its ecosystem, an ever-changing local weather, and wildlife that feels extra sensible than ever earlier than.
I received to pattern a small slice of what Monster Hunter Wilds has to supply throughout a hands-on occasion in August, and a few new parts stood out as doubtlessly having a big influence on how gamers expertise this world.
That begins with the brand new mount, a dinosaur-like creature referred to as a Seikret. I received my palms on a Seikret from the earliest moments of the sport, which act as a type of tutorial for how one can trip and command one. Due to this speedy new mount, it’s simpler than ever to maintain tempo along with your prey in Monster Hunter Wilds. The Seikret opens up new fight techniques, too: You’ll be able to retailer a back-up weapon in your Seikret that you could swap to whereas driving it — very useful when you want a ranged choice on the go.
Nevertheless it was throughout my battle to seek out a Doshaguma — a new bear-like monster — the place the ecosystem of Monster Hunter Wilds began to indicate its potential. In an early mission, I used to be tasked with slaying the alpha Doshaguma in a pack of the beasts, and was instructed that launching a massive dung pod at a group of Doshaguma would assist cut up them up. So it did; I launched that shit proper at a charging pack and watched them panic. The chase was on.
Shortly after the pursuit started, the Doshaguma alpha bumped into an space with inclement climate that rapidly become a raging thunderstorm. The Doshaguma had foolishly run into the territory of a Rey Dau, a new sort of flying wyvern that’s the apex predator of the desert space often known as Windward Plains. A turf warfare was on. The 2 beasts clashed, and for a second I believed the Rey Dau may simply end the job for me. It zapped the Doshaguma with lightning bolts, draining tons of of hit factors from the beast.
The Doshaguma fled, and located a secure haven in a valley. It was badly wounded, and utilizing my nice sword (and a few assist from summoned AI-controlled allies), rapidly dispatched the beast. Utilizing Monster Hunter Wilds’ new Focus Mode assaults, which supplied an easier-to-follow digital camera angle of the Doshaguma throughout fight, I bested the alpha and carved off my spoils.
Picture: Capcom
After I used to be performed with the Doshaguma quest, I discovered from a Capcom worker that I had an alternative choice. As an alternative of utilizing the dung pod to sow chaos among the many Doshaguma pack, I might have lured the trio into a sand pit and drowned them in quicksand. Apparently, solely the alpha Doshaguma of the group would have been sturdy sufficient to struggle its approach out of that sand lure. Clearly I wouldn’t have had the help from the Rey Dau, however the sand lure scheme seems like one other intelligent approach to make use of Monster Hunter Wilds’ dynamic ecosystem to method battles.
I actually solely received to mess around with Monster Hunter Wilds’ desert setting, however clearly there’s extra to the sport’s ecosystem than simply sand, lightning, and wind. The wetlands and jungle flora of the sport’s Scarlet Forest certainly have some qualities of their very own that can result in completely different gameplay methods. I’m not likely wanting ahead to dealing with the brand new menace there, the arachnoid often known as Lala Barina, once I get my palms on Wilds subsequent time.
We’ll discover out far more about Monster Hunter Wilds’ diverse ecosystem and the creatures that inhabit it when the sport launches on PlayStation 5, Home windows PC, and Xbox Sequence X someday in 2025.
