Latest news with #MonsterHunterWorld
South China Morning Post
07-03-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Monster Hunter Wilds video game brings new levels of combat ability in an open world
Although popular franchises dot the video game landscape, few stand the test of time. Advertisement Some capitalise on a spectacular idea and run the idea into the ground. Others are fine with building on the strength of a memorable story, but the best and longest-running series have a knack for reinvention. The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros and Resident Evil constantly evolve and grow. The developers handling these franchises not only know when a formula is growing stale, but they also figure out how to forge a new path. The Monster Hunter series fits that mould. The series has become less complex and cumbersome and more accessible and streamlined over time. Advertisement Initially, players had to track monsters by throwing paintballs at them, but Monster Hunter World introduced the concept of scout flies that guide players to a target.
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
I quit Monster Hunter World after a few hours — but Monster Hunter Wilds just became my early GOTY pick
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Monster Hunter World was one of those games where everybody around me seemed to love it, and I just couldn't find the hook. I did try. I played for around half a dozen hours at launch before my patience ran thin, and I was forced to conclude it just wasn't for me. I uninstalled it and haven't touched it since. So, heading into 2025, it's fair to say that Monster Hunter Wilds was not especially high on my gaming wishlist. But, just like with Worlds, seeing all the hype and anticipation surrounding the next mainline installment in the uber-popular franchise had me itching to give Monster Hunter another try. I was fortunate enough to get early access to the game, and have spent the last couple of weeks totally falling in love with Monster Hunter Wilds. It's gone from a title I was curious (but pretty reserved) about, to easily my early pick for my personal Game of the Year for 2025. It even ranks ahead of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, which is some feat as I have a lot of love for the medieval RPG. It's perhaps a little surprising, as Wilds doesn't really do anything radically different compared to Worlds, but it's proved to be the right game, at the right time. Here's why I've become obsessed with Monster Hunter Wilds completely against my own expectations. Monster Hunter Wilds is the latest entry in the long-running series, and sees you venture into new terrortiy teeming with fearsome creatures to craft. Sticking closely to the series' well-established formula, it combines thrilling battles with deep crafting and customization. And also boats a highly cinematic main story campaign that can be played in full four-player co-op. View Deal Curiously, I don't actually think the biggest reason why I'm enjoying Wilds in a way that I never did with Worlds comes down to any radical differences between the two games. Wilds is very much an iterative sequel, taking the foundation from Worlds and making small (but still pretty meaningful) adjustments and improvements. What's changed this time is me. A person can change a lot over seven years, and with Monster Hunter Wilds, I'm taking a very different approach. When I played Worlds, I sped between objectives, and rarely spent time at base camp. I felt as if I wasn't hunting monsters every moment I was playing, then I was doing something wrong. That approach led to me being woefully unprepared and under-leveled for even some early-game encounters and resulted in plenty of frustration. In Wilds, I've found the joys in fully gearing up ahead of fights, making sure I've crafted the best items I can, cooking up meals that give me additional buffs, and restocking my consumable pouches to make sure I have what I need. Just taking a moment to slow down, and engage with the game's intricate series of upgrade, item and equipment menus has greatly aided my overall enjoyment. It's also made the actual fights with monsters feel even more exciting as they come after a careful period of proper preparation. One new addition in Wilds compared to World is the inclusion of Support Hunters. These are NPC characters that you can assist you out in the field. This might seem a small addition on paper (and I believe the feature originated in Monster Hunter Rise), but it's made a huge difference. Playing Monster Hunter solo is sort of dull — it's just you whaling on an oversized beast for minutes on end — but when experienced with other players, there's a real sense of camaraderie, and also potential for synergizing your load-outs. Of course, playing with other humans online is preferable, but when those aren't available (or when the servers were sparsely populated during the review period), I've found the NPC hunters to be more than adequate. Plus, as it's always the same NPCs, I've started to build an attachment to them. Rosso has become my trusted sharpshooter, and Olivia once came in clutch to distract a towering monster when it was about to take a lethal swing at me. Another aspect of Monster Hunter Wilds that has fueled my current obsession is that after every single mission, I always feel like I'm suitably rewarded for the effort. I can definitely recall heading back to base in Worlds and not having enough materials to craft anything substantial. But in Wilds, even as I approach the end of the story, I haven't encountered the same friction. Whenever I return victorious from a hunt, there's always been some way for me to approve my character, upgrade my gear, or just craft a new weapon. The loop of crafting cool gear to hunt monsters to craft even cooler gear has always been Monster Hunter's bread and butter, but it's been polished to a fine sheen in this latest entry. All these elements add up to create an experience that I simply don't want to put down. At the start of the year, I would have thought it unlikely to see Monster Hunter Wilds among my GOTY picks, but now, I'd be shocked if it doesn't rank near the very top. The best gaming PCs in 2025 Monster Hunter Wilds review — there goes my social life Epic Nintendo Switch game sale is live from $4
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Palworld developer Pocketpair announces "special holiday" on Monster Hunter Wilds' launch day as most employees will probably "feel unwell" anyway
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Anticipation for Monster Hunter Wilds has reached such a fever pitch that it's release is seemingly causing large waves of people to feel too unwell to work. (Shh.) At least, that seems to be the case at Palworld developer Pocketpair as the company just announced that all employees can have February 28 off work to recover from their sudden/upcoming/pre-planned illnesses that just so happen to coincide with Monster Hunter Wilds release date. "For some reason, we have received reports from many employees that they might feel unwell tomorrow, so tomorrow has been designated as a special holiday," the studio wrote on social media. That "special holiday" will probably be spent recovering with some tea, right? It has nothing to do with slaying big beasts and turning their hides into evermore durable leather pants, right? Right. In all seriousness, Monster Hunter Wilds is set to have a massive launch. Its open betas sometimes pulled in more than half a million concurrent players on PC alone, and when early reviews proclaimed it one of the best games of the year, Capcom's moreish action game also rocketed up Steam's best-selling games chart a full week before release. Not to mention the fact that its predecessor, Monster Hunter World, has also moved more than 20 million copies. So, yeah, some people might be feeling a little sick soo- cough cough - I think I'm catching it too (editor's note: same, actually). Elsewhere in the Palworldworld, Pocketpair's new publishing arm got absolutely swamped after just one week as over 150 game pitches were quickly sent over. And that's all happening while Nintendo and the Pokemon Company's lawsuit rumbles on in the background. Check out the Monster Hunter Wilds roadmap to see everything else coming to the blockbuster post-launch.
BBC News
28-02-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Monster Hunter Wilds: How the series conquered the world
The latest release in one of Japan's most popular video game series has had one of the most successful debuts of all one million people were logged on to the PC version of Monster Hunter Wilds at the same time within hours of its launch, according to figures from online store have been complaints from the first wave of players on Steam about the game's performance on computers, but its critical response has been Newsbeat spoke to director Yuya Tokuda and producer Ryozo Tsujimoto prior to the release of Wilds about turning the game into a global hit. Monster Hunter first launched on the PlayStation 2 in 2004. As the title suggests, players spend the game navigating an area known as The Forbidden Lands capturing and battling a cast of increasingly fearsome fans of the series are drawn in by its challenging, complex systems and option to play co-operatively, teaming up with friends to take down massive foes. Breakout 2018 hit Monster Hunter World has has sold 21.3 million copies, according to publisher Capcom, rising to 28.1 million when sales of an upgraded 2019 edition are Mr Tsujimoto told BBC Newsbeat the game was a culmination of all the work and lessons learned from previous titles on the series. "Anything that we hadn't been doing we really tried to do with Monster Hunter World to get everything ready so that the game was ready to break through," he said. Games industry layoffs and studio closures in the West and Europe have led to fears of "brain drain" - a loss of knowledge as people leave companies or even look for work in different where employment protections for workers are much stronger, has not been as badly affected and developers often stay with the same company for a long Hunter director Mr Tokuda says he's worked on the series for 20 years and it's fed into his work on Wilds."It's the groundwork that you create with your previous titles that you hope can inform the success of later ones," he says."We have the ability to take data from past titles like Monster Hunter World and analyse that data in order to understand what players were enjoying and what we could improve."Other Japanese studios are known for taking this iterative approach and building on what has come Ga Gotoku Studio, the makers of the popular Yakuza series and its Like a Dragon spin-offs, have put out a new game more or less every year since 2020. The company's boss Masayoshi Yokoyama has spoken openly about how the team is happy to revisit previous locations and reuse elements from earlier games rather doing a "fresh reboot" each time. This can help to lower development costs and reduce the time it takes to make new titles. 'We're working in our own lanes' The Japanese games industry was a dominant force from the 1980s until the early 2000s, but a power shift saw Western developers begin to lead the way. More recently, the country has been behind some of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful titles last year's Game Awards - described by some as the industry's answer to The Oscars - Japanese-made games occupied four of the six Game of the Year Tsujimoto says he can't pinpoint a specific reason for this, but says the Monster Hunter team has learned there are certain things needed to make a "triple-A success in today's market".That includes translating games into various languages so they can be released simultaneously in different countries, and being mindful of growing your audience."We're always careful to design the experience so new players can get into the game," he adds. Japan does face some of the same challenges as other developers habits are changing, with PC gaming increasing in popularity, and as technology becomes more advanced making games becomes more Tsujimoto says generational leaps "push the industry forward", bringing "new opportunities and new complexities". "I don't think it's necessarily the most difficult it's ever been but there are always new challenges whenever technology leaps forward."The games industry is also more competitive than ever - more video games are being released, and players are tending to stick with the same ones for longer leaves publishers of new releases fighting over a much smaller share of players' free time and 2025 has already been packed with big new Tsujimoto insists they haven't paid too much attention to that while working on Monster Hunter Wilds."It looks like a big year for everyone but we're really all just working in our own lanes," he says."We happened to have this launch window that's on the verge of some other big releases but we don't have access to that information before the general public."For an established series that suddenly explodes in popularity, Mr Tokuda says a big challenge is pleasing old and new fans."You always have in your mind that there's people waiting for your next creation and they're the players you want to satisfy," he says."But you also have your own creative idea and want to follow that through." Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.
