Monster Hunter Wilds devs explain new entry’s biggest change

Monster Hunter Wilds is the dawn of a new generation for the iconic series and that means a shakeup to the established order. In our exclusive interview with Executive Producer Ryozo Tsujimoto, he outlined one of the biggest changes to the franchise yet.

Monster Hunter Wilds is edging closer to its launch, and players are in the midst of the game’s second Open Beta Test. While that gives them a taste of what to expect, recent developer streams have teased what awaits in the full game.

The return of fan-favorite Elder Dragons, and unseen locales are just some of the things that players can look forward to engaging with when the game is finally in their hands. Dexerto recently had the opportunity to play a preview build of Monster Hunter Wilds and while most of what we experienced had already been revealed in some fashion, we can say that Monster Hunter Wilds represents a true evolution of the series in all the right ways.

During this preview, we had the opportunity to speak with Monster Hunter Wild’s Executive Producer Ryozo Tsujimoto. We queried him on one of the game’s most exciting new features and heard him explain exactly why the development team had chosen to allow players to swap between weapons mid-hunt.

Ryozo Tsujimoto explains weapon-swapping in Monster Hunter Wilds

Since the initial reveal of Monster Hunter Wilds all the way back during The Game Awards 2023, speculation was rife among fans that this entry in the franchise would allow them to carry two weapons at once and swap between them. This was later confirmed and players got the chance to test the new possibilities that this feature provided during the first Open Beta Test.

Most of the talk among hunters has been about potential combinations for extreme damage dealing and swift hunt times. The developers of Monster Hunter Wilds had a different reason for making this option available, however.

“In Monster Hunter Wilds, the locales are so big in scale and the environment changes so fast, which also changes the Monsters you can face,” Tsujimoto explained to us. “We thought with one weapon only, you wouldn’t be able to take on all the Monsters that are available.”

To the team behind Monster Hunter Wilds, the weapon-swapping mechanic was much more about convenience. In their minds, players needed access to the right tools for the right job.

“We found that having to go back and swap your weapons around would interrupt the gameplay, and we didn’t want that to happen, so we thought switching weapons would give players more options when faced with the new variety in Monster Hunter Wilds,” Tsujomoto concluded.

This line of thought may hint at a difference in perspective between Japanese and Western players when it comes to Monster Hunter. In community discussions on English-speaking forums, it’s not uncommon to see talk of ‘maining’ a weapon. While many will have two or three weapons they enjoy, one stands above the rest.

For Tsujimoto and his team, they vary their loadout based on the Monster they are hunting. For this reason, much of the promotional material showed the player character equipped with a melee and a ranged weapon to adapt to different styles of fighting. You could also swap between a faster weapon and a slower, more damage-intensive one for different phases of a single fight.

While these setups are certainly an option and may help in situations where you’re planning to hunt a flying monster and an aggressive land-based one in the same outing, it’s just as viable to bring two weapons you’re particularly skilled with.

Monster Hunter Wilds launches on February 28, 2025, and with access to all of the new locales and Monsters, you’ll be able to see which brand of weapon-swapping works for you.