The release of Monster Hunter Wilds is imminent, coming on February 28th – and in the recent test drives, many players noticed that the game had a bit more structure to its story than usual.
The Monster Hunter games have never lacked a story per se, but it’s always been a gameplay-focused franchise first and foremost, with some strong worldbuilding and a generally-acceptable plot.
Now, with this greater emphasis on storytelling, director Yuya Tokuda speaks about this new direction in an interview with Gamesradar.
The concept that I had from the start of the game was humanity as part of the ecosystem, and realizing that humans weren’t something on the outside of it looking in, they were part of it, and they had an effect on it.
Related
Capcom Explains the Long Delays For Monster Hunter Wilds
Patience pays off.
This idea of humans being one with nature isn’t a new concept for Monster Hunter – my own first experience with the franchise was in Monster Hunter Tri, and its focus on those same themes were ultimately what made me a Monster Hunter fan.
Recent games in the franchise have placed more emphasis on the action side of things, adding new mechanics and unique ways for you to rip those wyverns to shreds. Monster Hunter Wilds, a spiritual successor to Monster Hunter World, retains that influence – but also seeks to strike a balance between that and what the older Monster Hunter titles did well.
Tokuda argues that, since the game places such a strong focus on humanity’s place in the ecosystem, it only made sense that the human stories of the world deserved to be highlighted.
Monster Hunter Wilds’ Story Focus Helps With Learning The Game
Tokuda also says that the game’s chapter-focused structure pairs nicely with the game’s learning curve. That telling the story through chapters was just an easier, and more natural, way of learning to play Monster Hunter.
It spoke to all the other elements of the game, such as the learning curve of which monsters you face in which order as you get started in the game, and how they teach you the necessary skills to play the game, how that interacted with a chapter-based story structure of which one you were going to meet next.
It has been remarked that this new story structure makes the game a lot more RPG-esque. Tokuda clarifies that they didn’t have an explicit goal to make things similar to an RPG, it all just came about naturally.
Related
Preview: Monster Hunter Wilds Dynamic Weather Blew Me Away
One sandstorm made it seem like we were in a completely different world.
If you’d like to try things out for yourself, another open beta test for the game launches on February 13th, getting a 24-hour extension due to PSN’s recent outage.
NEXT
10 Best Monster Hunter Games, Ranked
There are plenty of Monster Hunter games to choose from, but these are the best of the best.
