Monster Hunter Wilds Redefines the Series with Open World Gameplay

Capcom's Monster Hunter Wilds builds upon the success of Monster Hunter World, revolutionizing the series with an expansive open world.

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Monster Hunter World: The Foundation for Wilds

A New Hunting Ground: Seamless Exploration

Monster Hunter Wilds introduces a dynamic, interconnected world, a significant departure from previous installments. In a Summer Game Fest interview, producer Ryozo Tsujimoto, executive director Kaname Fujioka, and director Yuya Tokuda detailed the game's innovative design. The focus is on seamless gameplay within an immersive environment that reacts to player actions.

Hunters explore a vast, uncharted territory, encountering new creatures and resources. Unlike the mission-based structure of earlier games, Wilds features a continuous open world, allowing unrestricted exploration, hunting, and environmental interaction.

Fujioka emphasized the importance of seamlessness: "Seamlessness is central to Monster Hunter Wilds. We aimed for detailed, immersive ecosystems demanding a unified world filled with freely huntable monsters."

A Dynamic and Living World

The Summer Game Fest demo showcased diverse environments, from desert settlements to expansive biomes, populated by various monsters and hunter NPCs. This open-world design offers a flexible hunting experience, free from time constraints. Fujioka highlighted the importance of world interaction: "We focused on interactions like monster packs pursuing prey and their conflicts with hunters. The characters' 24-hour behavior patterns create a more dynamic and organic feel."

Wilds incorporates real-time weather changes and fluctuating monster populations. Tokuda explained the technological advancements enabling this dynamic world: "Creating a massive, evolving ecosystem with numerous monsters and interactive characters presented a huge challenge. Simultaneous environmental changes—previously impossible—are now a reality."

The success of Monster Hunter World provided valuable insights for Wilds' development. Tsujimoto noted the impact of a global perspective: "Our global approach to Monster Hunter World, with simultaneous worldwide release and extensive localization, shaped Wilds' development. This helped us reach players unfamiliar with the series and bring them into the fold."