Monster Hunter Wilds Director Wants Players to Approach Hunts From a “Nature-Focused Perspective”

Capcom has revealed some more details about its design intentions with changes to the classical quest structure of Monster Hunter games with the upcoming Monster Hunter Wilds. In an interview with IGN, Monster Hunter Wilds director Yuya Tokuda talks about how the more open structure of the game allows for players to face monsters from a more nature-focused perspective.

“The design (in past Monster Hunter games) where you participate in one quest at a time does provide the benefit of a game that you can always play in a stable environment, but you can’t help but feel this to be unnatural in ways for a game that depicts ecosystems in the wild,” said Tokuda. “It seems like a given that you’d face different monsters and winds from one day to the next, considering that nature-focused perspective.”

Tokuda also talks about the dynamic weather system and open design of Monster Hunter Wilds could lead to more dramatic moments for players as they face down the game’s roster of monsters.

“There are only a few dramatic scenes and events you get to encounter and experience in everyday life over the course of a year,” said executive director and art director Kaname Fujioka.

“You may only be able to see an evening’s beauty for a few dozen minutes over the course of a day, but those moments leave an incredible impression on you,” Fujioka continued. “The team has constantly shared an awareness of how important it is to have these kinds of dramatic moments and experiences properly playing out before you in a game while also making sure that they don’t appear unnatural.

“There’s the risk of ‘nothing happening’ to a player within a large open world or with changes in circumstances like seamless shifts in weather. We discussed this concern many times during development, and I was quite aware as a designer to be compacting and connecting what we can do to make things more fun, creating dramatic twists that constantly play out before you.”

Monster Hunter Wilds is currently in development for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. The game had an open beta test back in November, where players got to experience some of its new open-world systems and new monster hunts like Doshugama and Rey Dau.

Capcom has recently announced a second open beta test for Monster Hunter Wilds, which is slated to take place over the course of two weekends in February: February 6 to February 9, and February 13 to February 16. This second beta test will not feature the improvements that have been made to the game’s performance, and is meant to be a way for players that missed the first beta to get some hands-on time with the title before its February 28 release. The upcoming beta will also include a returning monster for players to hunt – the Gypceros.

For more details about how the game is expected to run on consoles, here is information about the title’s graphics options on consoles.