Monster Hunter Wilds recently released a new trailer showing new gameplay and even a little bit about its story, but there’s more to it than meets the eye. Read on to see our breakdown of the trailer and other details about its story, setting, and gameplay.
MH Wilds First Trailer is Out!
After months of silence since The Game Awards last year, a new trailer for Monster Hunter Wilds has finally been announced! We at Game8 are on the job to analyze and dissect the new trailer for new gameplay mechanics and possible predictions on how these mechanics work. Without further ado, let’s dive right in.
MH Wilds Trailer Story Analysis
So to no one’s surprise, you will be playing as the Hunter, only this time they immediately show that you are chosen to lead a special Research Commission expedition to the Forbidden Lands. There aren’t any hints as of now if there were any hunts prior to the events in the trailer that led to you being chosen as the lead Hunter. Normally, you rise up the ranks through the village quests; only then are you given more high-priority quests. In the case of Monster Hunter World (MH World) and Monster Hunter Rise (MH Rise), you become the one they go to in times of crisis.
Seeing as they mentioned the Research Commission, this could be a direct continuation of MH World’s story, as the Research Commission was responsible for many of the discoveries made in the New World, like the purpose of Nergigante and the existence of several world-threatening elder dragons.
Gemma is Little Miss Forge?
Speaking of direct continuations, one of the characters that’s been revealed to be part of the expedition team is Gemma, who will be responsible for the player’s smithing needs. She is implied to be Little Miss Forge, all grown up from Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (MH4U). The basis for this claim is based on her attire and the little details included, as well as her existence as the team’s blacksmith. She is shown to be wearing the Caravaneer’s jacket and the Guildmarm’s Yian-Kut-Ku doll as well, who are both part of the Val Habar crew in MH4U. Also, the color scheme and the accessories that she’s wearing, like the goggles and hair tie, also match Little Miss Forge’s attire.
Ace Lancer Got Promoted
Another character who seemingly got a promotion from his days back in Val Habar is the Ace Lancer, who is now shown to be the Ace Commander. He is actually the one responsible for assigning you to be the leader of the special expedition team. This correlation is based on his appearance, as he had the same hairstyle back then. Plus, it makes sense that he got promoted since he was already at an Ace level back then as well.
New Characters to Round Out the Cast
The other characters in the group: Alma and Nata, while having no direct resemblance to or connection to the past, are also quite interesting. Alma will be the Handler of the group, meaning she will be with the player most of the time. She will be the one responsible for giving the player quests from the guild as well as providing insight regarding the things that you encounter in the field. It’s also interesting to note that she was shown to be riding with the Hunter in the trailer since they could be implementing the Follower system in MH Rise where the NPC can accompany you in quests.
Nata, on the other hand, is a mystery. Other than the remark that Gemma made about "finding them soon," in the trailer, not much is known about him. It could be a plot point where his family is part of a missing expedition team and the Hunter is assigned to find them.
Possible Jhen Mohran Return?
While there has only been one biome or region of the map that has been revealed, the trailer resembled the scene in Monster Hunter Tri’s (MH Tri) intro cinematic, which may lead to an appearance by the legendary Jhen Mohran. With regards to the story, it seems to have a slightly more serious tone as compared to the past and a completely different one at that, as you’re seemingly given a mission to look for a different expedition team as opposed to looking for monster tracks or evidence. Also, for the first time ever, the Hunter and their partner Palico are fully voiced! So, no more silent protagonists from here on.
MH Wilds New Mechanics and Gameplay Analysis
Now, onto the main aspect of Monster Hunter’s gameplay, the combat. Before we start on the weapons, let’s first talk about the outlying mechanics that complement the gameplay like the Seikret and the slinger changes.
Seikret Techniques and Weapon Swapping
To the uninitiated, the Seikret is the new and exclusive mount that players will have access to during hunts, but may not be considered similar to MH Rise’s Palamute where they are outfitted with different skills, gear, and the choice to run hunts with different partners. Instead, they may be similar to the Wirebug mechanic, as they are primarily for mobility and a safety net in a pinch. In one instance, they were even shown picking up the player after being knocked down by a monster. One of the most important parts is the ability to switch between two weapons on the fly, which we’ll get to later.
Hopefully, they’re similar to the Palico where they’re also involved in combat and can be improved by giving them new gear and skills similar to the Palamute in MH Rise, as having an exclusive mount opens the opportunity for way bigger areas to explore and even more secrets to discover. Also, having an extra partner couldn’t hurt anyone, except maybe the monsters you’re hunting.
Hook Slinger
For the slinger, it has been revealed that the slinger now has the capability to hook items from afar. This means that players don’t need to stand on top of slinger ammo to pick them up anymore. There aren’t any details if you could pick up monster drops from afar as well but it could be a possible feature now.
Other than these changes, it remains largely the same as MH World, which is another tool for players to use to their advantage. While it wasn’t shown in the trailer, the slinger probably still has the function to use Flash Bombs, Sonic Bombs, and the like. Part of the footage in the trailer was the Hunter picking up a stone from afar while mounted on their Seikret, then shooting with the slinger ammo onto the loose rock to separate the pack of monsters from each other.
Charging Run, Mounted Combat, Weapon Swapping, and More?!
The trailer showed two weapons that have existed since the first Monster Hunter game, which were the Great Sword and the Heavy Bowgun, and both of them had significant changes to their movesets in the short amount of time they were shown in the trailer.
Starting with the Great Sword, after watching the footage at a slower pace, it still has some of its core identity intact. It still has its charged attacks in the trailer, but they weren’t shown to connect as the Hunter was hit during his charge. It retains the shoulder tackle move introduced in MH World, and it was even improved to become a running tackle that covers a LOT more distance now. Its combos and strings still look largely the same, with the exception of some new moves in the trailer.
One of these is the new dismount attack that the Great Sword has, which is surprisingly quicker than expected, and the other is a new stance that the weapon has. This stance may be tied to the game’s Focus mechanic, where you can use certain attacks to induce certain behaviors like how the next attack after the stance toppled the monster right after. It also has a new slashing attack where the Hunter drags the Great Sword across the monster after connecting, which may be tied to the game’s new Wound mechanic. Lastly, the Great Sword was shown to block and keep the monster in place at the end of the trailer, which may be the game’s new version of the Mount mechanic exclusive to certain weapons.
On the other hand, the Heavy Bowgun had a shorter time in the spotlight but has changed nonetheless. It was shown to be able to shoot while riding the mount, which is a completely new mechanic. There’s no information yet about whether this will be available for every ranged weapon in the game, but the existence of this mechanic will definitely change up the gameplay for ranged weapon users. As for Heavy Bowgun exclusive moves, it had a similar version of the Wyvernsnipe that it had in MH World and in MH Rise, which may point to the game still having other variants like the rapid fire Wyvernheart.
Weapon Swapping Speculation – Implications and Optimizations
With the existence of weapon swapping as revealed in the trailer, has many implications and raises questions as to how combat will change. One of the questions is how skills and decorations will now work since having two weapons will change your build entirely. This would mean a gigantic rework of how skills work or how you’d slot in skills for your weapons.
To those who are unfamiliar, Monster Hunter’s armor sets determine the passive skills and abilities that the player has. Over the course of the series, they’ve constantly switched up the way to "complete" your build, which is MH World’s Decoration Farming or MH Rise’s Talisman Gacha.
With the existence of being able to use multiple weapons, this might mean that players will have access to more base skills for their armor sets or have more agency to add more Decorations to armors and weapons, especially for certain weapon types that have special decorations needed for their build. Some examples are the Great Sword’s use of the Focus skill to hasten their time to charge up to the maximum level of their attacks or the Gunlance and Charge Blade-specific skills that affect their shelling type.
This could also mean that weapons that are "low-maintenance" or use less specific decorations are better choices for secondary weapons. One example is the Sword and Shield not needing specific Decorations that are mandatory for their builds. Only time will tell how the game’s Skill System will work or how Decorations will be affected, as everything I’ve said is just pure speculation.
MH Wilds Ecology and Monster Analysis
Moving on to the opposition, all of the monsters, both Large and Small, shown thus far have been brand new. Let’s start off with the Doshaguma and its pack.
Doshaguma – Hunting with the Pack
The Doshaguma is a four-legged Fanged Beast that was shown extensively in the game’s first trailer. This may be the equivalent of the game’s starting Large Monster similar to MH World’s Great Jagras and MH Rise’s Arzuros. Based on the gameplay footage, it was shown to be larger than the rest of their kin but can also work in tandem with their pack. This may prove to be a cross between the Arzuros and the other pack leader monsters, like the Great Ibushi in MH Rise.
Chatacabra – Stone for Limbs
With the use of its sticky saliva, the Chatacabra uses the different natural stones in its surroundings to hunt its prey or fend for itself. Appearance-wise, it seems to be a cross between an amphibian and a giant gorilla with how it uses its forearms to move around. It may also use its saliva to spit and leave sticky surfaces during combat to trap its prey.
Mob Mentality
In the trailer, it was shown that the Large Monsters were sometimes mobbed by other Small Monsters in the vicinity. This may be another form of Turf Wars as introduced in MH World, as maybe it extends to even the smaller monsters in the area as well. It could prove beneficial to the player as it could provide more opportunities for them to attack the monster, or it could also just be another annoyance as the Small Monsters could easily agitate the monsters further.
MH Wilds – What’s Next?
To be honest, I don’t know what to expect! There could be more weather shifts and more special interactions with how monsters affect the region or even crazier additions to the twelve other weapons that are yet to be showcased! Rest assured, we at Game8 are excited for the game’s future, and we’ll be tuning in to this coming Summer Game Fest 2024 for more information.
