Monster Hunter Wilds is bringing back the winning formula you’ve wanted since 2018

Monster Hunter World was an eye-opening moment for me and many others. While the franchise has always been enormous in Japan, it has had a smaller-scale audience outside of it. However, Monster Hunter World changed everything, bringing it to mainstream attention in other countries.

With it, Capcom took what worked with the original formula most: hunting down big fantastical creatures and making them into powerful armors and weapons, and brought in a structure that spoke to the mainstream sensibilities of the rest of the world.

While it sanded down some of the nuances of the previous games, it returned it in huge areas, graphical prowess, and spectacular moments of monsters squaring up to one another. For me, the game was like a switch, making me realize what I’d been missing. 

However, that was (somehow) six years ago. World’s effect on the franchise is still felt with Monster Hunter Rise doing well, a title more in line with traditional entires. Still, there is a big audience out there waiting to get what’s next from the Monster Hunter World team. 

Thankfully, that long wait is nearly over. Monster Hunter Wilds is out next year, and it’s shaping up amazingly well. I know because I got to play the game at Gamescom 2024. What I saw, too, is bound to please any fan of the 2018 powerhouse. 

Embarking on the first Wilds hunt

The main focus of my demo was a multiplayer session that had me and three other players chasing down a titular monster. After selecting my preset for a character and a very grumpy-looking Palico, I headed into the world of Monster Hunter Wilds. 

I selected the weapon I mained throughout my playthrough of World, the Insect Glaive. I then jumped up on my mount, the new Seikret, and headed out, with my team not far behind. Our goal was to take down an alpha Doshaguma – a hulking cross between a bison, bear, and a lion. 

We first had to separate it from smaller Doshaguma by firing dung at the beast to send it running. It was here that I remembered how much of the gameplay loop was working through the mini-menu on the fly. It took a moment, but I quickly picked it back up. 

What I didn’t pick back up naturally was the Insect Glaive. To my teammate’s chagrin, I spent my time flipping around and bouncing into the air while doing minuscule amounts of damage – but hey – you can’t put a value on looking cool while doing nothing. 

Wilds combat evokes the epic scale of Monster Hunter World

It didn’t take long for the spectacular elements that were so pronounced in World to become apparent again. Me and my teammates, all chasing down this poor creature on our bird mounts like a pack of Velociraptors, were relentless. That was until we led it into a pack of smaller creatures who all pounced on the Doshaguma, binding it with their various bodies.

It was one of those really cool in-game moments that make this version of Monster Hunter so special. Seeing the creatures interact and attack each other with unique animations never ceases to be a ‘stop what you’re doing and appreciate it’ moment. Our target wasn’t having a great day. 

In Monster Hunter, creatures always lose bits and pieces as you fight, letting you pick them up and later fashion into a nice hat. However, in Wilds, it goes a step further. As we continued to slash and cut away (and I jumped into the air doing nothing), patches of fur began to disappear, revealing wounds.

The wounds then act as weak points for you to continually hit them. It’s a little real and only heightened my sympathy for these creatures as me and my crew mercilessly cut them down – but my Palico needs a new hat, too. Sorry, buddy.

The shifting weather of Wilds makes the world feel alive

Wild’s location also feels like a bigger departure than World. While that game changed the locale a lot, this was a rocky desert for you to explore. This feels a lot more like a ‘frontier,’ as you are out on an expedition to further reaches within this world. 

The game also had weather changes as we continued to hunt down the hulk, going from a searing hot day, to a rapid thunderstorm. While this didn’t change a lot gameplay-wise, it does make you wonder – could it? In World, you could send a Ratahlos spiraling down a cliff by breaking dams in flooded areas. Could the weather do the same here? I don’t know, but I’d be surprised if Capcom missed out on the opportunity. 

It was all going well, and then – disaster. The game crashed. This is obviously pre-release material. I won’t begrudge the game for that. That kind of thing can be down to a bad glitch in the build or things that will be ironed out in the proceeding months to a year. Before that though, the build I played was quite frame-y. It’s clear there is still work to do, though I don’t doubt it will get done. 

The bonus to this was it let me switch to Dual Blades. These were much more effective and I was able to tank the beast on my own a lot more while I waited for my group to catch up.

This run was much cleaner and turned out to be a blessing in disguise. There was no monster interaction this time, but a different beast flew close to getting involved. It was a reminder that every hunt is different, and even just in this demo, the diversity to run into new problems each time was clear. 

Monster Hunter Wilds refines the established formula that fans love

Monster Hunter Wilds, at least from the limited slice I played, is not reinventing the formula. This is not some huge, unrecognizable overhaul of what came before. Instead, it’s a deepening of that formula. Offering more of that experience, with more destruction, new mounts, and a fun multiplayer experience. If you are hoping for a massive evolution – that hasn’t revealed itself yet.

However, if you just want another game in the vein of Monster Hunter World – well, Capcom is cooking up a meal to rival the gorgeous-looking food those Palicos put together for you before a hunt.