I’ll by no means be one to bemoan my privilege to play much-anticipated video games early, but getting simply an hour to go hands-on with Monster Hunter Wilds is as agonizing as it’s pleasant. I am keen on Capcom’s beloved RPG sequence, and Monster Hunter World – the storied developer’s best-selling recreation up to now – had me hooked for 2,000 hours earlier than I had my fill of its Iceborne growth. Spending such a short time with the sequel at Gamescom 2024, then, is like licking my favourite ice cream as soon as after which strolling away. With that stated, I’m happy to report that Monster Hunter Wilds tastes extra scrumptious than ever.
With 14 weapons to select from, every complicated sufficient that it looks like a separate recreation, there’s no means I may even start to check the whole lot about Monster Hunter Wilds that I’d wish to. But the overall really feel is on level – as anticipated, it’s nearer to World than the marginally faster-paced Rise – and the environments are a dramatic step up. That’s maybe essentially the most instantly hanging side, provided that World’s vital evolution of the locales and the way in which you interacted with them helped cement it as one of many finest RPGs ever.
I’d seen the reveals earlier than Gamescom, but experiencing it for your self is one thing else. The design is much more intricate and pure, sustaining the sequence’ basic zone-by-zone construction with out ever feeling openly mechanical in its development. Having a sandstorm kick up round you, adopted by the thunder rolling in as spiky new lightning bastard Rey Dau arrives, is a spectacular sight.
The primary monster I’m there to struggle is a Chatacabra – a stout, spiky-jawed creature considerably paying homage to a cross between fan favorites Dodogama and Pukei-Pukei. Regardless of the intimidating opening, this poor pal is somewhat a pushover. That most likely isn’t helped by me choosing my most-used weapon, the Longsword, which retains its wonderful Iai Sheathe stance from Iceborne and Rise together with the overwhelming majority of its typical bag of methods. With that stated, the struggle is a enjoyable one, even when it’s not often out of my management.
I slide away from assaults with the Spirit Counter, shortly construct up my Spirit meter, after which unleash it to deal enormous harm. Right here, I check out Focus Mode, the brand new showpiece function, which has you maintain L2 to zoom in and manually goal your assaults. This isn’t important to make use of, however it means that you can shortly reorient your assaults and helpfully highlights spots to wound, which is made even simpler utilizing a brand new Focus Strike transfer on L2 and R1.
The wound system is a better adaptation of the clutch claw softening from Iceborne. Wounds begin to kind as you assault a selected half a number of occasions, and when you can spot them on the monster pretty simply, you may as well use the Focus button to focus on them. Deal sufficient harm, and also you’ll rating a break, which immediately nets you a drop that goes straight into your luggage.
The slinger additionally makes a welcome return, permitting you to fireplace off the assorted crafted or gathered pods that you need to use to achieve a bonus mid-fight. There’s additionally a grappling hook in your slinger, which is helpful for snatching objects at vary. This trick additionally works on gathering spots reminiscent of ore, though you’ll solely get one pickup every time, and you possibly can even use it whereas driving your mount.
That mount, the Seikret, capabilities as a midway home between Iceborne’s Raider Using and Rise’s Palamutes. You possibly can management its motion manually, or hit up on the d-pad to ship it into autopilot in the direction of your present goal. Whereas on board, you possibly can sharpen your weapon, use objects, after which leap off to ship an aerial assault to attempt to snag a cheeky mount. Some would possibly discover this virtually an excessive amount of of a comfort, however I prefer it – I wouldn’t wish to lose the sharpening mechanic altogether, however dying due to it’s not often enjoyable.
With Chatacabra dealt with, my subsequent goal is an Alpha Doshaguma – the chief of a pack of equally large, shaggy beasts. Combating a number of of those without delay, particularly on the steep sand dunes, is simply as chaotic as you’d anticipate. Happily, a brand new ‘massive dung pod’ is a good way to scatter the pack out shortly so I can pursue the chief in a extra one-on-one format.
This time, I’ve introduced alongside a Looking Horn and a Bow – one other helpful function of the Seikret is which you can retailer a second weapon, permitting you to modify between them mid-hunt whereas mounted. The Looking Horn has me curious as a result of Rise’s implementation was so distinct from what got here earlier than, however what we get in Wilds is far more akin to World’s implementation, which looks like the appropriate name. There’s a little style of Rise, nevertheless, as the brand new Focus Strike may be very a lot that recreation’s Earthshaker wirebug talent.
A bit experimentation shortly reveals that, sure, you possibly can nonetheless sneak a second be aware enter on the two-hit swing. Wonderful. Much more apparently, your buffs appear to hold on even after you turn weapons, though whether or not the time taken to swap over, map out and play your songs, after which swap again will really be definitely worth the effort stays to be seen.
My Bow abilities have extra notably atrophied of late – particularly as Rise gave the weapon a barely totally different rhythm – so I don’t keep it up for too lengthy right here. That stated, my temporary experimentation reveals that it retains a whole lot of the slide-and-shoot mobility that makes it a lot enjoyable to play, permitting you to deftly swoop away from enemy assaults as you ship fixed barrages.
The Bow additionally has some good methods up its sleeve: a brand new tracer spherical causes additional photographs to residence in for a short time earlier than detonating, making it simpler to give attention to damaging particular elements. This transfer, together with making use of coatings, is now dealt with by spending a meter that refills as you hit enemies or carry out completely timed dodges. It’s a wise strategy to make utilizing coatings play a bit extra of an energetic position within the hunt, and also needs to make sure you received’t run out of them and have to return to camp to restock.
These sensible little selections are evident all over the place in Monster Hunter Wilds, even in my brief time enjoying. The BBQ has been expanded to a system the place you possibly can mix components to attain numerous results. A brand new heal possibility will robotically choose the appropriate power of potion to drink based mostly on the harm you’ve taken whenever you use it. The merchandise bar now has a setting that means that you can stack objects up in a grid format somewhat than a single line, permitting you to entry the gear you need even quicker. All the standard management tweaks stay out there, too, and in a lot the identical format as at all times, so getting my most popular setup was dealt with very quickly.
The very last thing I’ll contact on is the story. This has by no means actually been the first draw of the Monster Hunter video games, though I loved World and Rise’s mild narratives nicely sufficient. Wilds, nevertheless, seems to step issues up right here as nicely. The cinematic presentation is powerful, and I used to be significantly taken by how a lot the characters care for his or her Seikret, somewhat than treating them as disposable assistants. As one remaining quality-of-life enchancment, now you can skip all these cutscenes if you wish to get to enterprise ASAP.
Up to now, Monster Hunter Wilds is extra evolution than revolution – however provided that World was such a very good recreation, that’s completely the proper transfer. And what an evolution it’s: larger, scarier, extra awe-inspiring. I’m simply determined to play extra. The Monster Hunter Wilds launch date is ready to fall in 2025, and whereas we don’t have any extra data than that, I’m quietly hoping that Capcom is planning to stay with its love for first-quarter launches. In the event that they do, there’s a slim likelihood we’d even see a public demo late this yr. Fairly please?
Whereas we wait, at the least we’ve the perfect video games like Monster Hunter to maintain us busy. Alternatively, in case you can’t get sufficient of the fun of journey and exploration, the perfect open-world video games are filled with wondrous locations to discover.
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