Monster Hunter Wilds – Everything You Need to Know

A new Monster Hunter game is always an important event, especially given Capcom’s output quality over the past several years with Monster Hunter World and Rise. Monster Hunter Wilds is undoubtedly the biggest entry yet, at least in terms of sheer size and scale, building off the foundations of World and taking the franchise to new heights. It launches on February 28th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC, but what can you look forward to? Here are 15 new things you should know before the hunt begins anew.

New and Returning Monsters

Rathalos and Rathian aside, Monster Hunter Wilds features plenty of returning monsters. Gypceros from Monster Hunter 1, Congalala from Monster Hunter 2 – even Gravios, who’s been missing since Generations Ultimate will return. However, there’s a heavy assortment of newcomers as well, with the more recent additions including the spidery Lala Barina, the Brute Wyvern Quematrice, Nu Udra, an oily cephalopod, and a new Flying Wyvern, Rey Dau.

New Locales Revealed

This time around, the Guild sends the Research Commission into the Forbidden Lands with the Hunter part of the Avis Unit. Their task is to investigate Arkveld, the mysterious White Wraith (and new mascot). Alongside the Windward Plains, players will venture through the Crimson Forest with its extensive foliage and Oilwell Basin, the latter more cavernous and vertically layered. Other locales have yet to be revealed, but if Monster Hunter World and Iceborne are any indication, expect a late or endgame area with its own unique ecosystem.

Seamless Open Stages

Perhaps the coolest aspect of Monster Hunter Wilds is the seamless traversal. Players will no longer take on quests at their base and then fly out, waiting for the locale to load. Instead, they can ride into the wide world with no loading screens. Even better, you can seamlessly travel from Windward Plains to the Scarlet Forest. How they’ll respectively progress remains to be seen, but it makes Wilds feel like an open-world experience.

Set Up Camp Anywhere

Given the larger size of the locales and their locations, not to mention seamlessly traversing areas, you can now set up camp anywhere. Find a peaceful spot, deploy the pop-up camp and use it like previous games’ campsites. However, pay attention to the zone in question – if it’s too dangerous, your camp could be destroyed by a roaming monster.

Starting Quests in the Wild

The other benefit of a seamless world is starting quests out in the wild. No more need to return to base or even camp – discover a monster out in the locale, and if there’s a relevant quest, you can start it. Combined with carrying a second weapon to swap to when necessary, this is a game changer. Of course, those who want to stick to the traditional approach or regroup back at base can still accept quests from the Handler or quest boards.

Attack Skills on Weapons

When optimizing your build in a Monster Hunter game, you’re torn between the various skills on armor pieces, decorations, and charms/talismans. In Monster Hunter Wilds, weapons will now inherently possess attack skills like Focus, Attack Boost, and Critical Draw. Not only does this allow for more easily reaching skill thresholds, but frees up space for slotting in other skills.

Wounding Monsters

Wounds are back, but they’re much different from World. Instead of grappling onto a monster’s body part and attacking with the clutch claw to tenderize it, wounds will appear as you focus on a specific body part or area. It sounds so simple, yet it’s effective – plus it feeds into the new Focus Strikes.

Focus Strikes

The Focus system is brand new and allows for properly “aiming” your attacks. If you’re in the middle of a combo or a True Charged Slash, you can activate Focus mode to redirect it against constantly moving monsters. However, it also highlights any wounds inflicted and feeds into a new attack type – Focus Strikes. By targeting a monster’s wounds and executing a Focus Strike, you can deal extensive damage and stun it for a further whooping.

Improvements to Various Weapons

The 14 weapon trees return with each offering new moves for players to leverage and master. After the first open beta, however, the Insect Glaive, Lance, Switchaxe and so on were found to be lacking. Fortunately, Capcom has confirmed improvements for all three, from Vaulting Dance on Insect Glaive to chaining Perfect Guard and Power Guard into a new move on the Lance and the Switchaxe’s Full Release Slash negating knockback. Hitstop has also been added to make strikes feel meatier.

New Multiplayer Features

Lobbies are getting a massive upgrade in Wilds and can now hold up to 100 players. Alongside lobby search, there’s a Recommended Lobby feature to join “the most popular based on your settings,” per Capcom. Cross-platform play will also be available on day one, though you can turn it off.

PC Requirements

With all the added fidelity and scale, Monster Hunter Wilds’ PC requirements are quite hefty. The minimum requirements for playing at an upscaled 1080p/30 FPS on the Lowest settings include an Intel Core i5-10600, a Core i3-12100F or an AMD Ryzen 5 3600, 16 GB RAM, and a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super (6 GB) or an AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT(6 GB).

The recommended requirements for playing at 1080p/60 FPS with frame generation and on Medium settings include a Core i5-11600K, Core i5-12400, a Ryzen 5 3600X or a Ryzen 5 5500, 16 GB RAM, and an RTX 2070 Super(8 GB), an RTX 4060 (8GB) or a Radeon RX 6700XT (12 GB). A solid-state drive with 140 GB of free space is required for everyone, and we’re yet to learn about the hardware necessary for 4K.

Reducing Minimum PC requirements

Fortunately, Capcom is aware that the requirements may be slightly too heavy, especially after the first open beta, and it’s working on lowering the minimum specifications. It may also look into releasing a benchmark tool for PC players, though it’s yet to be confirmed when.

Console Graphics Modes

PS5 and Xbox Series X players will have two modes in Wilds – Prioritize Graphics, which renders at 3072×1728 and outputs at 2160p while running at 30 frames per second and Prioritize Framerate for 60 FPS with a rendered resolution of 1080p that outputs to 2160p. Meanwhile, Xbox Series S players can only play at 1080p/30 FPS. Capcom has also confirmed that instead of checkerboard rendering from the first beta, AMD FSR is used for upscaling in-game. Prioritize Framerate mode also offers improved performance after some bug fixes.

PS5 Pro Support on Day One

Those on PlayStation 5 Pro can look forward to support via a day one patch. The graphical modes and visual improvements have yet to be detailed, so expect more information in the weeks leading up to launch.

Layered Armor

Finally, layered armor returns for those whose endgame begins and ends with fashion. On top of turning any armor piece into layered armor, Capcom is also releasing exclusive layered armor sets as a pre-order bonus and part of the Deluxe Pack. Additional cosmetic DLC will go live in Spring and Summer as part of the Premium Deluxe Edition, though their contents have yet to be revealed.