I’m still shocked that Capcom revealed its next-generation Monster Hunter title, Monster Hunter Wilds, during the 2023 The Game Awards. It’s been six years since Monster Hunter World was released, and respite Monster Hunter Rise came out fairly recently; my true love is MHW. That said, there’s a long wait until Monster Hunter Wilds releases in 2025, and I’m hoping when it does, it will include some or even all of the tasks that I’ve included below.
Monster Hunter Wilds needs to be released simultaneously
One of my biggest peeves with Monster Hunter World was released, and to an extent, Monster Hunter Rise, was that it wasn’t released on all platforms simultaneously. For Monster Hunter World, it was released on the PS4 and Xbox One in early 2018, whereas the PC version wasn’t released until August 2018. This left the PC version behind in content, which took quite some time before the platform eventually caught up. But until it did, PC gamers like myself, were highly frustrated with Capcom. This also happened with Monster Hunter Rise, but it was a bit more complicated (and frustrating) as it was released for the Nintendo Switch on March 26, 2021. However, due to the PC gaming community demanding a port and seeing how well Monster Hunter World sold on the PC, Capcom decided to port the game to the PC on January 12, 2022. That still left out the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S, which eventually got ports following the Switch and PC versions on January 20, 2023, which was an entire year later a whole year later.
While Monster Hunter Wilds has been announced for the PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, it needs to be a simultaneous release. I don’t want to see the console versions released first, only to have the PC version released later. Despite the game being announced for the current-gen platforms and PC, that doesn’t mean a release date will align for all three—look at what happened with Monster Hunter World.
Performance needs to be on point
This is without saying, but Monster Hunter Wilds needs to be at an acceptable playable level for all platforms. That said, Monster Hunter Wilds is being developed on Capcom’s RE Engine, a far cry from the previous engine that Capcom had used on Monster Hunter World, MT Framework. Capcom finally got MT Framework under control, and Monster Hunter World runs like a champ on all platforms. And yes, Wilds will use the same engine as Monster Hunter Rise, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t without performance issues. Early in its life on the Switch and the consoles and PC, Monster Hunter Rise had several problems, such as stuttering and frame rate issues.
Given that Capcom has been champing the RE Engine for years and has gotten better with it, I doubt we’ll see many issues, but I’d love to see no performance-related issues. We won’t see Monster Hunter Wilds until 2025, but hopefully, we’ll see a demo that will allow us to get a taste of the next-gen Monster Hunter title before that.
Crossplay and Cross-Progression, please
Perhaps the biggest issue with Monster Hunter World and Monster Hunter Rise is that they are time sinks, which is great fun. However, if you wanted to move from the Switch version of Rise to the PC or current-gen consoles or the console version of MWH to the PC, you were left starting all over again. It was a hassle, and Capcom wasn’t helping to make the transition any easier, and the Monster Hunter community was constantly voicing its opinion about that. This time around, this needs to be done right. Crossplay and Cross-Progression need to be included. If a smaller yet not as successful title called Wild Hearts (The monster-hunting game) can at least offer crossplay, there shouldn’t be any reason why Capcom can’t. Well, outside of not wanting to.
Should crossplay be the only option, at least this time? Assuming Monster Hunter Wilds is released simultaneously, cross-progression isn’t a massive deal breaker, but not having crossplay most definitely would be.
Weather to interrupt my fight
While we already had a peak of weather and elemental elements being shown in the Monster Hunter Wilds trailer, I want it to go as far as possible. I’ve always been that guy who wanted stuff beyond my nature to control, to come up and mess up my fights in games. This is why I’ve always loved it when I’d be fighting a monster, and another one came up and caused complete chaos. But now that we’re getting elemental stuff, I want Capcom to go overboard. I want it to rain, causing puddles on the ground that impede my ability to walk. I want massive winds to push me out of the way. I want lightning storms to make fights a hassle for me and the monster I’m fighting and striking the monsters, stunning them for me. I want Capcom to take advantage of the new hardware and show us this next-gen Monster Hunter.
The ability to carry multiple weapons and armor
One of the most significant issues I’ve had with MHW was if I needed to swap a weapon, I would have to head back to the tent or town. After playing Wild Heart, which allowed me to set up a forge and switch weapons and gear throughout the biomes whenever I wanted, I could also upgrade my stuff. This needs to be something that Monster Hunter Wilds adopts. Now, we’ve all seen the trailer multiple times (you have, right?), and we’ve seen that the new bird-like mount has a bunch of bags and what looks to be a light bowgun and a tent on it. Could the mount act as a mobile tent, letting us switch out weapons and various other things without heading back to either the tent or the main base? Or perhaps there won’t be a stationary tent, and the mount will be the one-stop shop for everything. Of course, this is all speculation, but I would love to carry multiple weapons and sets of gear, being able to change either at a moment’s whim.
Increased number of large monsters on maps
One of the best things about Monster Hunter World was the vast number of big and small monsters available on the map at once. While there wasn’t an issue with having smaller monsters around, the game was capped at having three monsters on the map at a time, and I’ve always wanted more. With Wilds stuck in my brain, I’m hoping that Capcom ups the number, given that it will be working with hardware that won’t have the constraints as the prior generation of consoles. Call me crazy, but being stuck in the middle of a five-monster throwdown would be pretty cool, as long as they don’t start to attack me.
While the trailer for Monster Hunter Wilds did showcase several smaller and larger monsters on screen together, we still can’t tell how much of that is scripted compared to what we see in the game. But if we can finally get at least four or five large monsters on the map simultaneously, that would be impressive.
Please, no more Diablos fights
We all have our favorite and not-so-favorite monsters, where Diablo ranks on my list. I’m sure this beast hasn’t missed any games and is due for a vacation. Or at least save it for later with some new form or something.
No more Diablos!
If you’re a fan of Monster Hunter and are looking forward to Monster Hunter Wilds, what are some of the things you want to see in the game? Let us know in the comments!
Monster Hunter Wilds will be released in 2025 for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC (Steam).
