What you need to know
- Capcom has uploaded three new gameplay trailers for Monster Hunter Wilds, the latest upcoming entry for the hugely popular action-hunting franchise, Monster Hunter.
- These gameplay trailers show off Monster Hunter Wilds' basic mechanics, the new Focus Mode, and the Great Sword weapon type.
- Monster Hunter Wilds is scheduled to be released sometime in 2025 for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam.
Monster Hunter Wilds, the next upcoming entry in the Monster Hunter series and the next-gen successor to Capcom's best-selling game of all time, Monster Hunter World, has just received three new gameplay trailers on its official YouTube channel.
These gameplay videos contain elaborate showcases of this upcoming Xbox title/upcoming PC title's basic mechanics, the new Focus Mode mechanic, and one of the weapon types players will use – the Great Sword.
First off is a trailer for Monster Hunter Wilds' basic mechanics. Monster Hunter Wilds, like most Monster Hunter games, is an action-hunting game centralized on exploring large open-ended biomes, collecting resources to craft potions and combat items, and tracking down giant monsters to slay them.
The trailer confirms that most of the Monster Hunter series' basic mechanics will be intact in Monster Hunter Wilds and that it will feature the quality-of-life improvements of Monster Hunter World such as being able to move while drinking healing potions and using the slinger tool to fire special projectiles like Flash bombs.
Additionally, the trailer gives us a closer look at Seikret, a Bird Wyvern-type creature that players can ride to get around the map and complete quests more quickly by automatically escorting to a target monster's location on the map. Also, it confirms that players will be able to sharpen weapons, drink potions, and even switch to a secondary weapon type while riding Seikret.
The second trailer is 'focused' around the new Focus Mode mechanic that will be introduced in Monster Hunter Wilds. How Focus Mode works is that it activates an aiming reticle for all weapon types and allows the player to aim and direct their attacks and guard blocks to wherever the camera or aiming reticule is facing.
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For example, if you're preparing a Great Sword's slow charged-slash attacks and the enemy monster moves out of the way, you can use Focus Mode to rotate the camera while charging the attack and redirect it so that it lands while reducing the chances of it missing. Focus Mode can also be used in the middle of combo attacks as shown in the clip of a player with Sword & Shield weapon type redirecting their attacks mid-combo to stay on the offensive while not losing sight of their target.
The Focus Mode trailer also showcases another new mechanic – wounding monsters. If a player keeps damaging specific parts of a monster's body, it will create wounds on them and that will cause extra damage to the enemy if the player manages to hit them. Focus Mode can synergize with the wounding mechanic because when activated, Focus Mode can highlight wounds on a monster's body so a player can identify them more easily.
This synergy is further emphasized when the Focus Mode trailer shows off the Focus Mode's deadliest trick – Focus Strikes. Focus Strikes are special new attacks for every weapon type that can only be used in Focus Mode. These attacks are designed specifically for exploiting wounds on a monster to deal extraordinary damage and make you look cool while doing it.
The last Monster Hunter Wilds trailer Capcom has shown for the day is a highlight reel for one of the game's 14 weapon types, the Great Sword. The Great Sword is a gigantic, heavy weapon designed for hit-and-run tactics where you charge up slow but extremely powerful attacks that cut down anything in your path.
Additionally, Great Swords can block attacks like a shield and withstand the knockback of incoming attacks with the Shoulder Tackle technique so you can follow up with combo attacks without being interrupted.
According to the trailer, Monster Hunter Wilds' iteration of the Great Sword will play almost identically to how it functioned in Monster Hunter World. However, the Great Sword will receive a new counter attack where the player unleashes an epic overhead slash that when successfully landed, will knock enemy monsters backward and allow the player to follow up with a running attack to close the distance and slash at them twice to continue their offense.
The Great Sword's Focus Strike has the player embedding the weapon into a wound and dragging the Great Sword across the monster's body to rip its hide to shreds.
Additionally, the Great Sword's guard block seems to possess a new mechanic where if a player blocks a specific attack at the right time, both the player and monster will be engaged in a grapple power struggle where one opponent tries to overpower the other. It is currently unknown if this new power-struggle mechanic is specific to the Great Sword or if all the other weapon types are capable of doing this.
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Monster Hunter Wilds will have players adopting new awesome techniques to hunt monsters
With Monster Hunter Wilds' first playable public demo scheduled for the upcoming Gamescom 2024 event drawing closer, it seems Capcom is starting to build up people's excitement for this occasion with these new trailers. I have a feeling that this could indicate that we will be seeing more gameplay trailers very soon for the rest of the 14 weapon types in the coming weeks leading up to Gamescom, culminating in a new elaborate cinematic trailer at the event debuting new monsters to hunt.
As a die-hard Monster Hunter fan, it's gratifying to see that from what's being shown so far, Monster Hunter Wilds will play very similarly to Monster Hunter World, one of my favorite Xbox games and favorite PC games of all time, while keeping gameplay fresh with new mechanics to learn and a giant bestiary of monsters to hunt.
I can't wait to try out these new mechanics and techniques when Monster Hunter Wilds releases on February 28, 2025 for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC.
