With Capcom getting ready for Monster Hunter Wilds getting its Ascendance expansion next year, series producer Ryozo Tsujimoto has spoken about how the company dealt with the various issues faced by the title’s PC version, and what kinds of improvements players can expect in the Master Rank expansion. Speaking to VideoGamesChronicle, Tsujimoto said that the company has been “working hard” on making sure that it learned the right lessons from the launch of Monster Hunter Wilds, especially when it comes to developing Ascendance.
“We’ve been working hard on bringing the lessons learned from the launch of Monster Hunter Wilds to bear on Ascendance, and it just takes a lot of time and research to examine what it is you need to achieve on PC to make the game perform well on a variety of hardware. It’s just a matter of experience really, so I’m hoping that we can bring those lessons forward into Ascendance.”
Performance wasn’t the only area where the Monster Hunter Wilds team took player feedback to heart. Executive director Kaname Fujioka spoke about how aspects like UI and UX, and even the development of the Boost Bracer mechanic, were a result of the team wanting to improve on what was already considered strong foundational gameplay from the base game.
“I think the action gameplay itself was one of the best received aspects of the base game. So, building on that and adding in the Boost Bracer mechanic has just been our way to make the action gameplay even more dynamic, and it adds an opportunity for players to create more windows of opportunity to do big damage as they use up the boost gauge on special powerful actions.
“On a more zoomed-out level, UI and UX improvements are something that we were able to do based on feedback from the original game and helped the game’s menus and systems get more out of the player’s way and let them get into the action. We’ve done a lot of work on making the UI hopefully more accessible and letting that, combined with the new upgraded action, create a totally improved experience.”
Over the course of September, Capcom has released several trailers for Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance showcasing how the Boost Bracer will bring in more combat options across all 14 of its weapon types. The most recent of these gave us a look at how the new gameplay system will add even more explosive power to the Switch Axe and the Gunlance.
When it comes to monsters, Ascendance will feature a mix of returning ones as well as entirely new creatures. Long-time fans of the series will be happy to see Lao-Shan Lung coming back after its previous appearance in Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate, alongside series stalwarts like Teostra and Kushala Daora. As for new ones, Gundoraja and Arakeeta are among the newcomers arriving with the expansion, with the former being an Elder Dragon.
Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance is coming to PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2. Capcom confirmed that the base game will be coming to the Switch 2 on December 4th.
