We are only in February, and yet the year 2025 has already started on the wheel hats. This is often the case in video games, since for a few years, publishers have made this period a second Christmas. Not only does it unclog the holiday season, but it also allows you to give a last boost to their fiscal year which ends at the end of March. We were pretty well spoiled with the shot outing for a stroke of Dynasty Warriors Origins, Civilization VII and Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, and we are waiting for the arrival of Yakuza Like A Dragon Hawaii, Avowed and of course Monster Hunter Wilds in question today ‘Hui. That’s good, because I was able to replay it to Capcom’s game, several months after the Gamescom preview last summer. This time, it was 5 hours of gameplay on unpublished passages and which were not shown during beta.
Monster Hunter World, released in 2018, it’s 28 million copies sold worldwide, its Iceborne extension, it’s 15 million units sold, Monster Hunter Rise, the episode of 2021 is 17 million copies sold Worldwide, and its DLC 10 million; If you still have doubts about the devastating commercial potential of the Capcom license, it would then be time to put you on the page. It is the locomotive franchise of the Japanese publisher who managed to impose it international, with Western players, not without a few years of galley, it must be admitted. And as much to say to you that with Monster Hunter Wilds, which comes out in a few weeks, the whole video game industry is attentive, especially since for this opus, Capcom has given itself the means to go even further, in S ‘ Adapting even more to the codes and habits of Western players.*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gikgj1qa3um
Seduction operation
But then, what are these elements cut for the American and European public who were injected into this Monster Hunter Wilds to try to please a wider audience? The story and the narration to begin with, and this is one of the highlights that Capcom wanted to show us during this new grip. Because it is true that so far, Monster Hunter, it is above all a game which aims to bring together friends online, up to 4 if possible, to let go of big storms with more weapons Burdle of each other, all in a fictitious world where large pirate boats sail on seas of sand. So for the initiates of the series, having a complete story with a captive plot, interesting characters and a frame that holds up, they don’t care. But the changes made with the World episode have proven that it was possible to renew the public.
In Monster Hunter Wilds, the scenario will revolve around Nata, a young boy of a dozen years and Arkveld, one of the new creatures introduced in this episode. Singling a little like Gore Magala, it is covered with a gray shell that is akin to stone, with in addition scales and fur which gives it consistency. The kind of beast that we try to flee if you are a sensible person, and precisely, according to Nata, Arkveld is at the origin of the massacre of its people, that of the prohibited lands. After all his family tree was fucked by this aggressive watch, Nata is rescued and taken care of by our hunter and her guild who will promise him to take care of him, but above all to go and search for Arkvelld, because he is revealing It’s cool, but fighting against a new creature and discovering new places is better. Nata will therefore be at the heart of this new equation, but not only, since Capcom has given importance to many other protagonists. There is Alma to start that you can easily recognize with her glasses, Olivia who is distinguished by her short haircut but above all her shiny metal armor, Gemma our blacksmith, probably modeled on Cidney the mechanic of Final Fantasy XV and Sure our Palico who has the right of speech, just like our hunter, who is not yet another silent hero and who lets his interlocutors chain monologues, not there, he will cause and he will not hesitate to share his states of soul. There is therefore a desire to immerse the player in a worked story, with the added bonus a real staging, with in addition to the neat archimatics, worthy of the best productions of Capcom. For players like me who took the train of the Hype En Marche with Monster Hunter World, but who did not go, it is obviously blessed bread, but for the players who swear by the multi, that Perhaps going to annoy them, because they will be forced to go through the solo which will ask them to make specific quests. But that, we will have time to talk about it at the time of the full test to find out whether or not it is problematic.
Narrative Driven
With this desire to offer a worked narration and a rhythm of play adapted to this story, Capcom also had to upset certain things, starting by cutting his game into chapters. In Monster Hunter Wilds, no need to go back to your camp after each big battle, since it is now possible to set up a makeshift camp anywhere, with the possibility of going there through fast travel . The idea is indeed to make progression more fluid, more natural, in line with this organic side that Capcom wishes to instill. Because Monster Hunter Wilds also wants to make exploration interesting. Finished the time of large open zones without much interest, each plot that has been modeled must be put forward, especially in the end of Level DesignCAPCOM teams were given the trouble to offer land with relief, sometimes even verticality and inevitably, when we introduce this seductive creature that is Seikret, how not to give it a playground worthy of His capacities? I had already talked about it in my preview last October, but this frame halfway between the raptor and the chocobo, it is game change For the series. Not only has its modeling and movements were made with the greatest of care, but in addition, the Seikret has this ability to adapt to the terrain, with this incredible agility which allows it to climb everywhere. Better still, thanks to its small wings, it can even hover over a short distance, which ensures vertiginous jumps, without fear of fracturing its mouth on the ground.
But seikret has another role, just as important and that changes the relationship you can have with hunting, is that it is now to go in battle with two weapons and that too, it changes the prospects . Not only does it bring variety in the gameplay, but it also upsets the approach of hunting in the game. For Capcom, this is in line with this desire to open up to a wider audience and no longer block the player With a single type of weapon. There was already this approach in World and Rise, but in Wilds, it is much faster and in osmosis with the fact that it is the equipment that defines its way of playing. There is no skill shaft or statistical points to spend, but parts of armor to make to increase your capacities, whether in attack, in defense and which especially allow you to sharpen sess weapons more Quickly during fights. Here, it is the weapon that makes the hero, and not the opposite.
Muscle your game
That said, in Monster Hunter Wilds, the usual 14 iconic weapons of the saga are indeed there and if you are an unconditional of the series, you will know what type of weapon to you, while if you are a novice that Take the train on the march, this is a part that should not be overlooked. Depending on your affinities, it’s up to you to see if you prefer to opt for mild weapons that offer fast movements but do minor or moderate damage, or heavy weapons to wear with two hands, considerably slowing down your movements, but which makes big damage Each time worn. Whatever happens, there is a new mechanics in Monster Hunter Wilds, it is the focus mode, which makes it possible to target creatures with more precision and thus reveal the fragile areas or the injuries that are likely to tire them more quickly . And it’s a feature Let it be necessary to learn to master, because in Monster Hunter Wilds, there is no life bar of monsters that can give us an overview of their state of health, we will have to do without, what will push you To make the ‘Focus Attack’ speak which are a kind of concentrated attack which works on the wounds or the weak points of the critters and which inflict big damage. Besides, if you want to get out of it, you can use partners managed by AI if you never play in multi. Your hunter will ask for help by swinging a distress rocket and it will take several minutes before the cavalry arrives.
On the other hand, what is good is that your teammates will not come there to do just an act of presence, they invest in the fights, leaving you time to take a step back, the distance, to heal your wounds For example, sharpen your weapons if necessary and plan another strategy to better bring down the monsters in question, knowing that the environment also plays a role in the way of slaughtering them, there too for the sake of consistency. The weather system is also one of those mechanics which will have an impact on how to hunt a critters. Depending on the environment and the time that rages, the behavior of creatures and the difficulty will not be the same, bringing consistency and variety to fights. But hunters can also take advantage of each place to take advantage of it, sometimes creating traps, or taking advantage of certain reliefs to take the advantage. The organic side of the open world also involves this kind of thing, and then all that injects a much more fluid rhythm to the sessions.