We Played Monster Hunter Wilds, And So Far, It Rules

Monster Hunter Wilds, the next installment in Capcom's Monster Hunter series, won't be arriving until next year. However, GameSpot was invited to a hands on preview during Gamescom, and senior producer Jean-Luc Seipke is sharing their Monster Hunter Wilds experience in our video overview. And there's a lot for fans to look forward to.

The first thing that fans may notice is that Monster Hunter Wilds has a much bigger map to explore than previous titles. The Monster Hunter camp site is also directly connected to the map this time, and a further sense of community can be found while going on four player co-op hunts. Players are also allowed to pick secondary weapons, which dramatically changes combat in the game.

Monster Hunter Wilds is also adding a new focus mode to combat that allows players more precise control of their weapons. This mode also makes the weak points on a monster's body glowing in red, which cues the player to attack those body parts to bring down the creature more quickly. That also makes it easier for teammates to coordinate their attacks.

During the demo, there were periodic lightning storms that heralded the arrival of lightning dragons, which Seipke was not able to defeat. The storms also drastically changed the visibility of the environment. Additionally, the demo did away with Monster Hunters' quest board and let players pick their hunts more naturally.

There were some bugs in the demo, including a lagging frame rate and an occasional crash. But these aren't uncommon for games that haven't been finished. We expect those flaws to be corrected by the time the game hits stores, and the rest of the experience more than made up for the few hiccups that occurred.

Monster Hunter Wilds will be released on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC in 2025.