Monster Hunter Wilds Hands-Off Preview – Not Your Dad’s Monster Hunter

Monster Hunter is a long-running series of action RPGs focusing on stalking and hunting incredibly large monsters. The series initially debuted back in 2004 on PlayStation 2, and since it has seen roughly twenty-seven releases over a bunch of consoles , there is always a feeling that the series itself is complex to penetrate as a newcomer.

While the story usually takes a back seat, there is a big focus on the varied gameplay. With a myriad of weapon classes and secondary skills to each weapon class, Monster Hunter really is a game that lets a player hone their preferred gameplay style to heighten their experience. With Monster Hunter Wilds, Capcom is looking to change their immersion and, in turn, help players, both new and old, finally get a grip on the series.

During Summer Game Fest, we were shown a roughly twenty-minute hands-off live gameplay section of Monster Hunter Wilds, which had our player tracking down a monster and fighting it through multiple biomes and levels of weathering. The immediate stand out to me was with other Monster Hunter games . The towns act as hubs, and within each town, you need to accept a hunt, wait for the area to load while you eat some food and off you go.

In Monster Hunter Wilds , it’s all open. There is no loading between the town and the hunting area. This means you can take on a hunt and go right to it with no more downtime between. This speeds the game up in such a way that it makes the mission we saw much more immersive.

“With Monster Hunter Wilds, Capcom is looking to change their immersion and, in turn, help players, both new and old, finally get a grip on the series.”

When our hunter entered the world, it was immediately apparent that there was a push for graphical fidelity and that the world would always be moving and shifting, so we, as players, needed to be ready for every scenario. Now, there is not only a day and night cycle but a complete weather system to complement the day and night. We got to see a few different weather systems move through, but the most exciting and intense part took place halfway through our hunter’s monster hunt: a thunderstorm, but more on that later.

Tracking down the monster was a visual feast; the world seemed teeming with life, not only in the huntable monster but in other wildlife as well. As the hunter approached the prey, a Doshaguma for the Monster Hunter fans out there, it was surrounded by other creators of the same type. Stealth was the best option to get off a first attack. Once our hunter awakened the main Doshaguma, they all started pilling up on him, forcing him to retreat but using throwing items to maintain the attention of the alpha.

While I’m not incredibly versed in the Monster Hunter series, what seemed really interesting to me was how creatures interacted with each other in Monster Hunter Wild s. As the alpha Doshaguma was chasing our hunter, it ran into different creatures and started fighting each other. This helps us gain the necessary time to heal and gather our thoughts before a storm caught up to us.

It was in this storm that things took a real turn, and if events like this can just happen whenever during Monster Hunter Wilds, then we are all in for a treat. As the storm came crashing in, a nearby monster hiding in the sands triggered its trap as the sand came crashing around both us and the Dosgaguma in tow, leaving a giant sand pit that we needed to crawl out of. During this, the creature that had created the sand pit was battling with the Doshaguma until a ravenous thunderbird came across us in the eye of the storm, summoning down deadly bolts of lighting.

“In Monster Hunter Wilds , it’s all open. There is no loading between the town and the hunting area.”

We were told that, since that is a legendary creature, our hunter had to be really careful as they could one hit us, but it didn’t hang around long enough, just long enough for our hunter to trick it into hitting our original prey with a few bolts of lighting before carrying off with the storm.

Once the storm had passed, the Doshaguma started running away injured; it was here that our hunter marked it and let it get back to its hideout. Then we saw one of the newer features of Monster Hunter Wilds, the seamless joining of co-op members as they just hop right in and help our hunter take down the Doshaguma, using the environment to help, whether it swinging around trying to get some height on it to strike from above, or pulling stalactites (Stalactites hang from the ceiling and Stalagmites, MIGHT be on the ground…right?) onto the creature damaging it.

Once our prey had fallen, in typical Monster Hunter fashion, we had sixty seconds to carve the animal clean for materials to upgrade. Still, once the sixty seconds were up, we didn’t get transported back. It seamlessly went right back into the world. The big push is that no more stopping points or halts for having fun exist.

Monster Hunter Wilds is all about being open, fun, and seemingly the most accessible game of the series by far. With a broad release window of sometime in 2025 for PS5 , Xbox Series X|S, and PC , it seems we’ll have to wait to see exactly how accessible Monster Hunter Wilds turns out to be.