Monster Hunter Wilds Gives Us a Welcome New World to Escape Into

I cannot stress this enough: Monster Hunter Wilds can’t come any quicker. The upcoming installment in the now globally beloved RPG franchise is inevitably going to be one of the biggest games of the year when it lands later this month and I’m kind of counting on it at this point. In the weeks since my preview, the world has gone, with no hint of exaggeration, to shit. Please, Monster Hunter Wilds, save us. 

For a few hours in an office in downtown New York in January, I was able to drown out my own world by melting into that of Monster Hunter Wilds. During my time, I had the pleasure of taking on countless fresh fights, including the terrifying and spider-like Lala Barina in the Scarlet Forest as well as the scaled and water-loving Uth Duna. With every next hunt, I grew increasingly more comfortable performing Monster Hunter‘s familiar and delicate dance until, eventually, I was fully immersed in the sights and sounds of the Windward Plains.The pounding of my Seikret mount’s claws against the sand as it picked me up and ferried me from a fearsome foe that punched a hole in the dune where I once stood. The distinctive clang of an enemy’s blow bouncing off of my shield, and the frenzied howls my own hunter would let out as he leapt through the air and critically maimed a creature. The sharp incision of a small hunting knife into the carcass of the beast I surmounted.

Monster Hunter Wilds is, more or less, exactly what you expect of the next major game in the series. Little of my four hours will come as a surprise to anyone well-versed in the titles, which pit players (often in multiplayer groups of four) against large monsters. For more than 20 years Monster Hunter has stayed the course, promising increasingly larger-than-life weaponry, epic fights, and wondrously dense environments, and Wilds keeps that lineage alive. Newcomers who have been following Wilds or checking out recent entries like Monster Hunter: World will feel right at home in the newest game. It doesn’t revolutionize the series as much as refine it through calculated changes, like the ability to wield a second weapon in the field and a focus mode that allows players to target monster parts and power through fights more tactically. As a result, Wilds provides similar thrills, but manages to bring them to further, and more emergent, heights.

For example, I’ll never take for granted how a sandstorm can roll through the Windward Plains and drastically transform an arena. During my preview, I faced off against a Doshaguma—a new monster in the series that has figured prominently in pre-release material for Wilds—when an encounter took a (scripted) turn for the worst and lightning began to come down. Even if the sudden storm didn’t agitate my prey, it certainly threw me off my game to have my immediate surroundings (where I’m already a stranger) become much more hostile. Considering that environments will cycle through phases that bring on inclement events like this sandstorm—the Scarlet Forest is plagued by torrential downpours that flood zones of the map—I can’t wait to see how they continue to throw a wrench in later hunts. Especially since inclement events also draw out apex monsters that run the risk of interfering with your mission by engaging in an awe-inspiring turf war with the creature you’re already hunting.

The quintessential thing I’ve found I respond to in these games is the way these interactions unfold and escalate. Being able to grapple hook a brittle dam and bring down hell on a monster’s head. Falling into a sinkhole that reveals an otherwise hidden underground cavern. The unexpected and simultaneous feelings of joy and fear that rise in your chest as a surprise Rathalos snatches an Anjanath into its claws, flies into the air, and slams it back down, critically weakening your opponent and bringing you a step closer to victory. Building upon that system, and turning the ecosystem into a living and constantly shifting part of the mental math a player has to do, is the kind of stuff that excites me most about Monster Hunter Wilds, and it’s a point of pride for the team. 

In a short conversation after my preview with Wilds’ producer Ryozo Tsujimoto and director Yuya Tokuda, both shared that, besides an ending that makes Tokuda “emotional” every time he finishes the game, they are most proud of how well they feel they’ve realized an actual ecosystem after the development of Monster Hunter: World. The density and composition of Wilds’ environments ebb and flow depending on the cycle, which can range from a fallow period defined by scarcity to a bountiful spring-like season, as well as the aforementioned inclemency. The result, according to them, is a level of immersion that draws players in rather than pushes them away, which is a tough feat to accomplish in systems-heavy games like Monster Hunter. Fortunately, the numbers (Monster Hunter: World is Capcom’s highest selling game ever, pushing more than 25 million copies as of March 2024) seem to prove that they’re on to something.

My favorite games to get lost in often feature strongly defined characters and dialogue impossible to find anywhere else. Though Monster Hunter isn’t a series particularly known for its script, my preview of Wilds gave me the impression that this installment would prefer to change that perception. Characters like Alma, Gemma, and Olivia take center stage in the game’s opening hours and the Hunter is now fully voiced. Tsujimoto later told me that the latter point is part of the team’s effort to “deepen the understanding of what the hunters are in this world.” That, as well as the presence of dialogue options, seem to suggest that the developers really want to enable players to define the character beyond grunts and pained shouts. 

An indigenous people also make up part of the cast, and when I asked for the motivation behind their creation and role in the story, Tsujimoto provided a similar answer, sharing that they really “wanted to illustrate the people living in the world of Monster Hunter,” and the daily lives they lead in such a tumultuous and dangerous environment. I can’t say with absolute certainty that Wilds‘ script—which seems like standard fare to begin with—will completely win people over or reach previously unseen heights, but it is at least clear that the team would like players to reconsider what they think an Monster Hunter story (and title) can be.

I, for one, need the balm of a different world to immerse myself in—one whose rhythms, unlike the one we live i n, make any kind of sense. One where I am more than capable of cutting down large monsters and fashioning them into protective armor and weaponry for the future. One where communities come together and beat back the existential threats of their world. Monster Hunter Wilds‘ immersive fantasy is an intoxicating concoction, and it can’t arrive at a better time.