Monster Hunter Wilds is nearly upon us, launching in a little over two weeks for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. The hype is palpable, especially given all the improvements, changes, and new features, and thankfully, there’s no shortage of new details. Check out 15 new things you should know about Monster Hunter Wilds before pre-ordering.
Newly Revealed Monsters
Following the latest showcase, the developer revealed another new monster – Hirabami, a Leviathan who floats around and deals Ice damage. It’s found in Iceshard Cliffs, the fourth confirmed region thus far, and seemingly travels in packs of three, acting as much more of an annoyance for Hunters.
Confirmed Returning Monsters
Of course, even more classic monsters return, including Nerscylla from (last seen in Generations Ultimate) and Gore Magala (who last rampaged through Sunbreak). The former is a Temnoceran who can web its prey and deal Poison damage. The latter fights chaotically and serves as the amateur form of Shagaru Magala, an Elder Dragon.
Power Clash
As you’ve probably seen throughout multiple trailers by now, a new mechanic called Power Clash can trigger while fighting. It sees the player and monster locked in a struggle to gain leverage as you desperately mash the attack button. While it’s not much more than a cool-looking sequence, you can create a small opening after winning out.
Strength Levels for Monsters
Opening the regional map in Wilds will display all the different monsters present at the time. If you hover over a specific target, you can see their Strength Level, which is – surprise, surprise – an estimate of their power. So, if you’re venturing through the Windward Plains and see an Alpha Doshaguma with a 4-star Strength Level, maybe exercise some caution before diving in.
Dialogue Choices
Monster Hunter isn’t full of branching choices and alternate endings like some other RPGs. However, Wilds is dabbling in dialogue choices inspired by The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt collaboration quest from Monster Hunter World. Interestingly, the developer told IGN that they looked at the latter as a “test” for how players would react to dialogue options in a Monster Hunter title. Whether these choices offer more than just additional information on the setting and characters remains to be seen.
HUD Change
Another new feature inspired by a collaboration quest in World with Final Fantasy 14 is the names of attacks appearing in the heads-up display. Though meant to emulate the raid-like atmosphere of the MMO, it can offer some more context on the moves performed in Wilds. Besides, players like seeing the names of their attacks while performing them.
Radial Menu Improvements
While Monster Hunter Wilds provides a whopping eight radial menus to customize, up from four, it also offers a new dynamic menu. This contains options that change on the fly, like selecting the best healing item for a situation. If you’re slightly injured, the option for a Potion appears. Close to death? A Max Potion option will become available to consume. It’s a great way to cut down even more on cycling through menus and receive the proper healing.
Creating Wounds While Mounted
Wounds are new in Wilds and serve as little weak spots you can target with Focus Strikes for more damage. While they’ll appear naturally during fights as you damage a specific area, you can also wound a monster while mounting them. Even better is that you can then destroy the wound while mounted, dealing massive damage and toppling the monster.
Sharpening Animations
Remember the good old days when taking damage could reset your weapon sharpening process if the animation wasn’t completed? In Monster Hunter Wilds, each motion now individually contributes to the sharpness meter of a weapon. This means you can at least restore some sharpness, even if the process is interrupted for whatever reason.
Return of Decorations
Good or terrible news based on your struggles to min-max – Decorations are returning, doled out completely at random. Present throughout the series, Decorations offer additional skills of varying levels. The developer confirmed to IGN that they’ll function similarly to World, alongside the option to create single-skill decorations through other activities.
Online Single-Player Mode
Revealed during the recent showcase, online single-player mode will start you out in lobbies that don’t have other players. However, while exploring, you can choose the SOS Flare, and it will immediately transition to online play to call on flesh-and-blood Hunters to help out. Offline play is still very much an option, though, so don’t worry.
Layered Armor
While Layered Armor is available as bonuses for pre-ordering or picking up the Deluxe Edition, you can also unlock the same when crafting High Rank equipment. This is essentially Transmog and only changes the look of your armor without affecting its stats.
Updated PC Requirements
As promised, the development team has slightly lowered the requirements for playing on PC while also outlining the hardware necessary for other settings. At the lowest preset, you need a Core i5-10400, a Core i3-12100 or a Ryzen 5 3600 with 16 GB RAM and a GTX 1660 or Radeon RX 5500 XT. This will ensure 1080 (upscaled from 720p) and 30 FPS at the lowest quality. Meanwhile, playing at 1440p/60 FPS (with Frame Generation enabled) requires the same level of Intel CPUs, an RTX 460 Ti or Radeon RX 6700 XT, and 16 GB of RAM.
If you want 4K/60 FPS and Ultra settings, you better have a Core i5-11600K or a Ryzen 7 5800X with an RTX 4070 Ti or Radeon RX 7800 XT with 16 GB of RAM. Also, regardless of everything else, a solid state drive with 75 GB of free space is required. Those running the game at 4K settings can also download a high-resolution texture pack, though this bumps the installation space up to 150 GB and requires a GPU with 16 GB VRAM.
PC Benchmark Tool
If you’re curious how your PC will cope with Wilds, a new benchmark tool is available, allowing the testing of various settings for cutscenes and gameplay. Based on how well your hardware performs, it will receive a score advising you on whether it’s playable or whether some settings require changing. Granted, it’s not a one-to-one guarantee for the full game’s performance, but should provide a decent outline.
PS5 Pro Features
Monster Hunter Wilds will also launch with PS5 Pro support, with the developer confirming Prioritize Resolution and Prioritize Framerate modes. The former will focus more on the resolution and image quality while offering ray-traced reflections, while the latter runs at 60 frames per second and seemingly uses PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution for upscaling. The update will be available on day one for the console.
