It is hard to describe how excited people were for Monster Hunter Wilds at Gamescom in Köln last week. If you have attended the show as a member of the public, you will know that lines to play anything can get pretty damn long. Up until this year, the longest we had ever heard of was the infamous four-hour queue to play Super Mario Odyessy for 15 minutes.
The line to play Monster Hunter Wilds in the public hall this year was capped at 10 hours on the opening day...
And, you know what? Having now played an hour and a half of the game, we can see why. Monster Hunter World will always be pointed to as the game where the series finally (truly) broke out in the West thanks to its countless quality-of-life improvements and refinements on the tried and true gameplay formula. However, it's hard not to look at the raft of changes and improvements — even in our short time with the title — and feel like Capcom has only gone and taken just as big of an evolutionary leap with its latest entry in the series.
The first of two sequences we got to play was shockingly story-focused, and while previous Monster Hunter games have often suffered from boring military characters droning on about the thrill of the hunt, Wilds feels distinctly more human. This may be down to Capcom’s improved storytelling chops in recent years, but opening the game on a rescue mission to help a long-thought-dead tribe rather than yet another uncomfortably imperialistic conquest to tame the unclaimed lands, instantly gave everything a genuine weight. It helps too that the RE Engine is firing on all cylinders here and the facial capture and character designs are extremely expressive and memorable respectively.
The voice acting was also top-notch too. Maybe it was just the mental and physical exhaustion of the third day on the show floor catching up to us, but we found ourselves strangely distressed hearing the lone escapee of a monster attack, Nata, beg us and our fellow hunters to bring his sister home safe.
Once we arrived in the new Forbidden Lands region on our sand skimming boat, we were thrust into a cinematic sequence where we had to save an unconscious little girl riding away from sandworm-like monsters on a Seikret (the new ridable mount). The Monster Hunter series has struggled with these cinematic sequences in recent entries with often repetitive fort defence missions and Zorah Magdaros fights. Thankfully, this scene kept things interesting with a chase sequence and some great-looking cinematics that culminated with us saving the girl.
From there, we went on to look for Nata’s brother, who saw us hunting a Chatacabra who was obviously never told about holding back on the tongue during a first date. This was obviously not an especially difficult fight (it being the first hunt in the game), but the whole sequence felt a lot better structured narratively than anything seen in World. What’s more, the inclusion of humans native to the Forbidden Lands allows us to see the monsters of this world in a different light. This was highlighted when Nata’s brother refused to leave his injured Seikret behind. It’s a small shift, but at least shows Capcom’s growing awareness of how messed up the premise of “let’s hunt to extinction Indigenous life in foreign lands” of past games has been.
The second part of the demo threw us much further along into the story as we explored the interconnected Forbidden Lands. Despite having played well over 200 hours of World back when it was released, this was a sharp reminder of just how complex these games are, as we instantly felt out of our depth, failing to juggle multiple quick menus and getting somewhat lost in the UI. Capcom seems to be aware of how difficult it is for returning players to remember the four-step process to light an S.O.S. beacon, because we even had a little sheet of paper in the demo room with a QR code we could scan laying out a bunch of these controls and simple combo strings for some of the weapons.
However, as the demo wore on (and we regained some of our muscle memory from 2018), we quickly found ourselves enthralled with the methodical and deliberate phases of the hunt. It all started with us separating the pack of Doshaguma from the Alpha by throwing literal faeces at them, then chasing the Alpha on our Seikret while firing off our Heavy Bowgun. That is until we then got caught in a fight between the Doshaguma and the apex predator of the area, the Windward Plains Moster, then injuring the Doshaguma by attacking wounds we had created, and calling in our AI teammates for support, leading to us cornering the beast in its den about 25 minutes later.
It’s all immensely satisfying and the deliberate and complex controls go from feeling obtuse to becoming pinpoint instruments of precision, allowing you to tackle any situation during these protracted battles precisely how you’d like. This hunt culminated with us and our companions littering exploding barrels at the feet of this poor creature before quickly slaying him in a final explosive onslaught.
It was only then, once the beast was felled, and we weren’t thrown to a loading screen that would take us back to base, did we take some time to look around. The sand of the barren desert glistened in the sun as a storm cloud began to build in the distance. We were just left there, only accompanied by our palico and our thoughts. And all we could think about was how we wish it was 2025 already.
Are you too yearning for 2025 just so you can play Monster Hunter Wilds sooner? Let us know in the comments below.
Comments 29
I'm impressed with what I've seen so far and I'm eagerly looking forward to the release. Some performance concerns and my dislike of the wavy health and stamina bars aside, this looks like it could be an all time favorite.
Happy to see them improve the narrative side of things. Nobody wants to see these games become heavily story-based, but just improving the writing around missions will be huge.
Also still buzzed about them untethering the armor designs from sex. Femboy Monster Hunter here we go~
Question: Was this joyous gameplay played at 60fps on a PC build or 30fps on a console build?
Can't wait to see an insect glaive in action in this game. Started play MHR when it came to PSPlus and a couple of months later I'm nearly 300 hours in and still enjoying the gameplay loop. Phenomenal gameplay.
I couldn't be more excited; open world MH w/ HZD-tier graphics is my personal gaming holy grail
After DD2 no way im getting exited for this until we know what performance is like on PS5 - i've played the DD2 demo and dumpster fire would be kind.
A friend of mine that's a big Monster Hunter fan got my hyped for this. I played Worlds when it released but not a long time.
Can't wait for this.
Can’t wait for 2025. Ughh
Welp time to get back into GU and finally start World Iceborne in prep. Probably my most anticipated 2025 game announced so far
It looks incredible. I been playing monster hunter since the first one on psp. The UI might be confusing but I find it to look really clean with all the small icons etc.
It looks amazing. This is definitely my most anticipated game of next year.
I hope they can get it polished enough for console so it can have a chance at Game of the Year as the series really deserves some recognition.
"...but at least shows Capcom’s growing awareness of how messed up the premise of “let’s hunt to extinction Indigenous life in foreign lands” of past games has been."
While the gameplay loop often comes to that, you couldn't be much further from the overall story premise of why the Hunters and their Guild exist and what they canonically do.
Interesting to hear the story telling has improved. Unexpected as I felt this was by far the weakest point of MH Worlds, where the characters felt plain and boring. Which is fine as the monsters are of course the star of the show, but a more compelling narrative would be great to see.
30fps big leap
Bring it on.
Give me a date.
Can’t wait.
@crossbit Yeah, I don't think a lot of people realise that the Guild exists for conservation purposes, from a gameplay only perspective you're murdering animals to make gear, from the lore and narrative it is done to preserve the natural balance of the lands.
@Mintie none of that changes the fact that every fight ends with you chasing a wounded animal back to its nest. its so so depressing. i put maybe 300 HOURS into mhw and thought the gameplay itself was in a literal tier by itself, but that cruel aspect eventually killed it for me to the point where I was going to skip this one. the tone and themes of that game (and the deranged imperial politics) as a first time player were TERRIBLE.
Always down for more MonHun. Day one for me.
My main concern now is performance. I can play MH at 30fps because well World/Rise on PS5 aside that's how i've played the series but if it performs like DD2 then its not good.
@man_what So you would rather leave those deadly animals around to kill everything else because there's too many of them? There's a reason you hunt them
@DennisReynolds sigh. im not talking about the lore reasons. im talking about how its just a bummer to see a creature staring at the sunset and then when you have injured it sufficiently jt runs to hide at its home and you chase it down to kill it there. and anyway the lore was communicated pretty badly in that game. the entire game felt like this strange argument for like... colonization and expansion. the lore can say "no no they are actually bad Monsters" all it wants but the actual thing you are seeing on screen doesnt actually communicate that whatsoever.
Looks incredible, but I do fear I'll miss the features added in Rise...
Currently playing World for the first time, after ploughing 800hrs into Rise (Achieving AR300 level, then put it down)
As a GS Main, I am really really missing my Power Sheathe, Surge Slash Combo, Hunting Edge etc. Feels strange to be fully reliant on TCS only, and I am definitely missing the wirebug mobility. World is absolutely gorgeous though, and maybe slightly more immersive than Rise.
Rise set a high benchmark for me though!
@man_what I feel it should be pointed out that for everything except Elder Dragons you don't have to kill them, you can capture them for examination and, if they aren't a danger, release back into their home ecology. You are encouraged by the game's mechanics (more and rarer loot) as well as the narrative to capture whenever possible.
Elder Dragons have to be killed because they will, without exception, destroy the biosphere they nest in either through predation or environmental contamination.
I do agree that the games could do a better job of showing this - we do see biomes that are a result of past ED contamination but it isn't ever made obvious unless you do a lot of digging.
But the killing thing, yeah you don't need to do that, only lazy or bloodthirsty hunters put the regular animals down in the field, so that's on you.
@Ralizah Not until they actually allow some feminine male character models. I don´t wanna be just John Monsterhunter but dressed in a skirt
On another note, they may just end up doing more androgynous armor designs now that it´s no longer gender locked
@man_what You should read up on some of the lore. Monster hunters are the REAL monsters, finishing a war that they started
White Fatalis is literally the incarnation of revenge for all the slain monsters, which is why hunters go insane wearing its armor (maybe this was retconned in later gens, but 2nd Gen this was canon)
Reads like it’s finally ready for the masses. Always be tempted but never had the time to overcome the perceived chore elements. Looking forward to it regardless of the armour shape I can wear Wasn’t really one of the inhibitors for me but respect, our hobby is wonderful in its breadth.
@NEStalgia PS5 Dev kits and the framerate seemed consistent and stable but jeez, it was the final day of Gamescom and about a month ago now, so I want to say it was 30fps but could have been 60.
It was perfectly stable and playable though, even when the storm picked up.
@Mintie I played like 200 hours of World and and bunch of Rise and somehow completely missed this, which kinda proves the point of these games struggling to convey their story.
@BasicalliLexi I'm really hoping we get better context in Wilds' story because yeah, to date they haven't done the best job of conveying why we do what we do as Hunters.
Won't stop me bonking a massive pink dinosaur on the head with a sledgehammer!
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