Summary
- Monster Hunter Wilds pushes boundaries with new features, such as a dynamic weather system.
- The game introduces the game-changing Seikret mount, and a weapon sling that allows players to swap weapons mid-hunt.
- Monster Hunter Wilds breaks traditions with a voiced protagonist, named NPCs, and monsters traveling in packs.
With each new reveal, Capcom's Monster Hunter Wilds is looking increasingly ambitious. For the most part, the Monster Hunter franchise has remained true to its guns, offering fans everything they've come to expect from a Monster Hunter game, with a few innovations here and there. Monster Hunter Wilds, on the other hand, seems to be a completely different story. While not everything in the next Monster Hunter title is entirely new, Capcom seems to have taken the series' beloved formula and bent the rules enough to make this particular installment feel like a brand-new experience that still ultimately relies on its well-established roots.
Monster Hunter Wilds is far from the first Monster Hunter title to expand on the franchise's formula, as installments like Monster Hunter: World, for instance, even took things a little too far for longtime fans of the series to get behind. Its successor, Monster Hunter Rise, then reined things in a bit — likely as an appeal to Monster Hunter veterans — and now Monster Hunter Wilds is splashing onto the scene with what seems to be the largest set of changes and additions ever made between two of the series' installments. Whether this proves to be an acceptable move remains to be seen, but it's clear that Capcom wants Monster Hunter Wilds to be the talk of the town when it comes out in 2025.
Monster Hunter Wilds' Creatures Need to Answer the New Weapon Swapping System in Kind
Bringing two weapons to any hunt in Monster Hunter Wilds is a big change, so monsters should get a new advantage of their own.
Monster Hunter Wilds Seems to Be the Most Ambitious Installment Yet
Monster Hunter Wilds' New Seikret Mount Is a Game Changer
The foundation for some of the game-changing features in Monster Hunter Wilds is the new Seikret mount. Firstly, as they could with Monster Hunter: World's Raider Ride feature, players can ride their Seikret and have it automatically take them to a monster while they prepare for the fight ahead of them. The most significant change, however, is the Seikret's weapon sling, which allows players to change their weapon during a hunt without going back to base first. It's unclear whether the Seikret will function as a free-roaming mount, but since Monster Hunter Wilds also allows players to fight while on their Seikret, it can be assumed they will have full control of the mount.
Monster Hunter Wilds' Breaks Two Major Character Traditions
Another of Monster Hunter Wilds' most noticeable changes comes with its characters. Firstly, Monster Hunter Wilds has already introduced several named NPCs, which implies a much deeper narrative than the series is known for. Secondly, Monster Hunter Wilds' protagonist is fully voiced, which is something even the Monster Hunter Stories spin-off games have never done. Even after breaking some of the series' most stubborn traditions, this particular Monster Hunter installment isn't quite finished yet.
Monster Hunter Wilds Features a Dynamic Weather System Unlike Anything Before It
The Monster Hunter franchise has featured weather effects like rain in the past, but never before has a weather system been as dynamic as what Monster Hunter Wilds' weather appears to be. It seems as though its weather system will directly affect hunts, so there may be even more to it than meets the eye. Finally, Monster Hunter Wilds also appears to feature a pack system in which monsters travel in packs rather than alone. This could increase its difficulty considerably, but more on that remains to be seen.
Ambition is a bit of a double-edged sword for longstanding franchises like Monster Hunter, as it can prove to draw in newcomers but simultaneously drive away veteran fans. Whether these changes accomplish the former, the latter, or both will only be revealed with time, but that still won't stop Monster Hunter Wilds from being the most distinctive Monster Hunter installment yet.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 89 /100 Critics Rec: 95%
WHERE TO PLAY
The unbridled force of nature runs wild and relentless, with environments transforming drastically from one moment to the next. This is a story of monsters and humans and their struggles to live in harmony in a world of duality.
Fulfill your duty as a Hunter by tracking and defeating powerful monsters and forging strong new weapons and armor from the materials you harvest from your hunt as you uncover the connection between the people of the Forbidden Lands and the locales they inhabit.
The ultimate hunting experience awaits you in Monster Hunter Wilds.
- Franchise
- Monster Hunter
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
