One of the biggest games I’m looking forward to playing in 2025 has to be Capcom’s Monster Hunter Wilds, hands down. I’ve been drooling over this game ever since it was announced. Thanks to the Summer Game Fest, Scott Adams and I got to attend a Capcom event about the game and see live gameplay. It looks amazing in person, as it did in the trailers. Sadly, all we could do was watch, and we didn’t get a chance to play the game for ourselves.
During this session, we were provided with lots of new information to share with you all, and this is my data dump oi it all. Here’s everything we’ve learned about Monster Hunter Wilds during the Capcom presentation during Summer Game Fest 2024.
Here’s what we found out about Monster Hunter Wilds
As the Monster Hunter Wilds presentation started, the audience was told that the game maps would be twice that of Monster Hunter World. We were given a look at the map, and it is massive. When looking at the map on the menu screen, a 3D map is now shown, providing a clear view of the top and bottom sections of the map. It doesn’t end there, as the map layouts now point out resources and when they will respawn, which is a nice feature. This feature will help save time when it’s time to farm for maps.
One of the most mind-blowing things is that thanks to your mount, the Seikret, you can carry two different weapons into the world. In Monster Hunter World and Rise, you had to head back to your camp to switch weapons. Now, you can hop onto your mount and swap whenever you want. During the gameplay session, I saw a melee weapon being swapped to a heavy bowgun while using it to shoot monsters while using the mount, making it into a makeshift tank. It adds depth to the combat, letting you get some damage while keeping a distance from the monsters. Mounts can be used to glide over a monster and act them from above to get some meaty damage. It’s a valuable tactic, for sure.
When moving from Camps to the game world, it is seamless with no loading, and camps can now be placed at locations of your choosing, but they are also subject to damage. While we didn’t see it during the demo, the presenter mentioned that the camp may not be there when they got back to it. I suppose that it’s being suggested that other monsters could walk into it to decide it doesn’t like what it is. Sadly, we didn’t get to see that.
While we saw this in a previous trailer, it was confirmed that Palicos will no longer speak in Lynian. Instead, they will speak the native tongue of the hunters. I’m unsure how well that will go over, as that’s a significant change to the Monster Hunter series. Well, outside of the spin-offs, that is.
There’s also a significant change in how mounts work in Monster Hunter Wilds compared to Monster Hunter Rise. In Rise, when you summoned the Palamute, it would need to run to you. Whereas in Wilds, or at least from what we’ve seen during this presentation, being able to mount the Seikret instantly once called. During this gameplay presentation, the person at the controls could call and mount quickly during battle, which will be helpful in the full game.
While we already knew that the game has a weather system, we saw it in action firsthand. During the session, a dust storm rolled in, which changed the entire dynamic of the game. Certain creatures who were in the area prior had moved out, while new monsters moved it. This can also help or hinder a player during a hunt. Following that, another weather change occurred, this one called the Season of Abundance. This change was more like a spring season, with more monsters being rotated out, but more resources could be found. The presenter also pointed out little things like little baby birds in a nest waiting for their mother to return. We didn’t get to learn more about it, as the session ended around this point.
However, before that, an Alpha Dishaguma, the monster that was being hunted, was designed to get rough, and that’s when three other computer-controlled players were called in. As mentioned, you can always have those players available when playing offline. They seemed capable of holding their own during the hunt, so that’s encouraging. During this session, that same monster had run off to sleep, and it’s when everyone’s favorite tactic, placing bombs, was showcased. Now, bombs can be picked up after being placed, and they can be tossed as well.
Turf wars are back and are still a sight to behold as they were in World and Rise. During my gameplay session, the alpha Doshaguma that was being hunted was lured over to the new Monster Hunter Wilds monster; I’m not sure what it was called. I goofed up before and called it the Balahara, but it was not. This is why I wish we had access to that footage. Whatever it was, when it noticed the Doshaguma, it fired off a burst of lightning that did massive damage before the Doshaguma decided it wasn’t worth fighting that beast and left the area. There was another turf war that wasn’t as eventful, but nonetheless, I’m happy to see that they are still as exciting to see as they were when I first played World.
Another nice change is once you finish a hunt, you aren’t kicked back to the main town. I hated that in World and Rise, and having that no longer being a thing is great, especially if you’re looking to take on multiple quests at once.
Again, Capcom says Monster Hunter Wilds will feature some crossplay across the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. There is still no mention of cross-saves or cross-progression, but at least we can finally expand the pool of available players between console and PC.
Finally, while we didn’t play the game during the Summer Game Fest, Capcom announced that a playable version will be available for Gamescom 2024. So, if you needed a reason to attend that upcoming gaming event, this would be it.
Well, that’s everything that I noted during the Monster Hunter Wilds gameplay session. I’m sure I missed a thing or two, as I was mesmerized by the game. Hopefully, we’ll see more of the game in action sooner rather than later.
Monster Hunter Wilds will be released sometime in 2025 for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
