Highlights

  • Monster Hunter Wilds is highly anticipated by fans and will bring the franchise into the current console generation, featuring more dynamic hunts with increased monster density.
  • The game's reveal emphasized its weather and dynamic environmental systems, which play a crucial role in immersing players in the world and impacting gameplay.
  • To make sure that this system is as good as it can be, Capcom should take notes from how Tears of the Kingdom uses weather to alter traversal and force players to use different gear.

Monster Hunter Wilds is one of 2025's most anticipated games. Announced at The Game Awards, the title immediately caught the attention of fans. After a smaller, more focused entry with MH Rise, Capcom is now bringing Monster Hunter into the current console generation. The reveal trailer showed off plenty for fans to look forward to. Monster Hunter Wilds will feature monster density that previous entries were unable to, leading to more dynamic hunts. The most notable part of the game's reveal wasn't any of the monsters or the new mount that was shown off, as instead the game's weather and dynamic environmental systems were the star of the show.

Monster Hunter World changed the franchise forever and set the stage that Wilds will be building on. Older Monster Hunter games were mostly released on handheld systems like the Nintendo 3DS. Home console versions were often held to the same limitations. The result is that maps in these games were broken up into zones players had to move between. Each zone was divided by a loading screen. MH World was designed for the PS4 and Xbox One, so it was able to move away from this design to fully open maps. This also opened the doors for more realistic and lived-in environments. Monster Hunter Wilds' reveal showed that it will be making its world even more immersive.

Monster Hunter Wilds Expect 2024
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What to Expect from Monster Hunter Wilds in 2024

Monster Hunter Wilds seems quite far away with a release window of 2025 and may not have dedicated marketing until late in 2024, if at all next year.

Tears of the Kingdom Has A Lot To Teach Monster Hunter Wilds

totk tears of the kingdom zelda lightning game

Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, like its predecessor, Breath of the Wild, features a dynamic weather system that impacts gameplay. During thunderstorms, metal weapons and armor will turn into lighting rods, putting players at risk. Rain makes environments more slippery, decreasing Link's climbing capabilities. Weather in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom makes the players approach the world and combat differently. Lighting forces players to use different gear, potentially leaving them in difficult situations, and rain forces them to move around the world differently. These dynamic weather effects make the world feel alive and keep the experience dynamic.

Monster Hunter Has Underutilized Weapon Materials in the Past

Monster Hunter's gameplay loop consists of hunting monsters to get better gear, enabling one to fight even stronger creatures. A side effect of this is that some Monster Hunter weapons are made of different materials. One way this manifests in World is that metal weapons often have higher sharpness but lower attack, and bone weapons may be less durable but are more damaging. The addition of weather and terraforming in Monster Hunter Wilds could make material matter a lot more. The game's teaser also shows off a bird mount navigating rocky terrain, indicating that environments may be entirely explorable like those of MH Rise.

Monster Hunter Wilds Weather System Could Have Far-Reaching Impact

Monster Hunter Wilds' weather system could do a lot more than simply look pretty by taking some notes from Tears of the Kingdom. Wilds' new bird mount could allow players to carry an additional weapon into the field, meaning that the game could implement a system where lighting will strike metal on the player's person, forcing hunters to switch gear on the fly. This could extend to impacting the elemental damage or resistance of gear in certain conditions as well. On top of impacting the viability and function of weapons, it could impact the way one travels through the environment. Deep gameplay systems like these are one of the ways that MH Wilds could improve over World.

Monster Hunter Wilds' transforming environments and weather systems could make it one of the most immersive games around. Tears of the Kingdom's approach to its world and the weather in it have remained largely unique, but implementing similar systems would be wise for other games as well. Wilds' focus on the environment makes it the perfect game to draw inspiration from this mechanic in contemporary Zelda games. Doing so would make Monster Hunter Wilds' world more immersive and force players to plan ahead for their hunts.