The next highly anticipated title in Capcom’s Monster Hunter series has finally reappeared at PlayStation’s recent State of Play showcase. The upcoming RPG, called Monster Hunter Wilds, appears to borrow elements from both Monster Hunter: World and Monster Hunter Rise, melding them into an even greater, and more interactive world.
First unveiled with a 90-second teaser at the the tail-end of last year’s Game Awards, Monster Hunter Wilds looks to allow for mountable companion monsters similar to Rise, but with a greater degree of hostile environments and fluid traversal mechanics. As the central character of the trailer maneuvered through a desert environment, we were treated to a glimpse at the improved density of monsters onscreen and how the world might change in real-time.
The trailer at the State of Play showcase doubled down on the arid desert biome teased in Wilds’ first trailer, and gave us our first extended look at gameplay of the upcoming title. The player character can be seen wielding the equivalent of a greatsword, a common weapon archetype featured in the Monster Hunter games, as well as a rifle and a flamethrower, as they execute a number of weapon skills against some truly terrifying new monsters.
One of Wilds’ most prominent features seems to be the shifting environment, as seen in the sandstorm that sweeps up the player in the middle of combat. The weather appears to dramatically alter as well—at one point a thunderstorm is raging in the background of an epic encounter. Another great addition is a mountable companion that looks to be a game-changer. It appears to seamlessly weave in and out of combat, and at one point even picks up the player to save them from getting crushed by a monster’s follow-up attack.
Check out the latest trailer for Monster Hunter Wilds below:
Monster Hunter: World launched the long-running series into the mainstream back in 2018, when it became Capcom’s best-selling game of all time. Monster Hunter: World’s environments were lauded for their density, as well as how monsters would interact with one another as part of the shared ecosystem.
Monster Hunter Rise first launched on the Switch back in 2021 before releasing onto other platforms alongside a hefty expansion back in 2023. Monster Hunter Wilds looks to build upon the foundation of Monster Hunter: World’s massive and layered biomes and pair it with Rise’s focus on streamlined and refined movement systems to make potentially a hell of a game. We’ll find out if it’s succeeded when Wilds lands in 2025.