Monster Hunter has been around since the early 2000s, and since then the game has evolved immensely. But with that history can easily come a trepidation for new players getting into the series. I felt that myself in the early games. Sure, they intrigued me… I just struggled to stay immersed with often clunky mechanics.
Fast forward to the last few games in the series — namely Monster Hunter 4: Ultimate, Monster Hunter World and Monster Hunter Rise — and I’ve been diving deeper into the series than a Jyuratodus in a mud-pool.
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However, despite the mainstream success of Monster Hunter World, there will undoubtedly be new players donning their first pair of Monster Hunting pants (made from real free-range monster) in the upcoming Monster Hunter Wilds.
Last week, I got the chance to sit down with series producer Ryozo Tsujimoto at a press event in Sydney. For the sake of new players in the series, I had to ask about the new player experience — and it’s clear the team have done a lot to help new hunters get up to speed.
Learning the Ropes, Blades and Hammers
Starting with players who had an initial experience like mine with the older titles, Ryozo Tsujimoto spoke to how the team at Capcom spent time analysing players who started playing and bounced off the game.
“What we did was that instead of thinking about ‘what do we need for new players?’ we actually did a lot of research about quitting players and when and why they stopped playing.”
“It turns out that a lot of those who quit didn’t reach the best part of Monster Hunter, which is fighting the big monsters,” Tsujimoto said.
The most recent Monster Hunter games have had a bit of a trend, where they introduce you to a few smaller monsters first, let you get to know the maps and fight a few big angry Volkswagen-sized monsters before taking on big flying monster trucks with teeth.
Exploring and Tracking
As the hardware has evolved and newer games have included bigger maps, finding your way around has been more complicated. Monster Hunter World made it easier to track the monster you’re hunting, but Wilds is looking to make this even easier.
“We found that players were quitting because they couldn’t find the target monster, so we created new ways to automate that process, such as adding the Seikret,” said Tsujimoto, speaking further to the benefits of Seikrets and how hunters can ride to track and identify monsters. They make traversing the much larger environments easier.
“The aim of the Seikret is to reduce the stress of moving around these very large maps,” he said.
Your Seikret also gives you mechanical benefits like being able to use items while riding as well as swapping between two different weapons.
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Travelling around the maps on your Seikret is semi-automated, where they’ll move towards the monster you’re coming, while still allowing you to do actions like collecting items, sharpening your weapon or preparing for your next fight.
Weapons
Another example that players may have encountered in the Open Beta is the new introductory system that suggests weapons to you. Tsujimoto said it’s all about finding the right play style for the player.
“Because there are 14 types of weapons, we implemented this system that asks the player ‘Do you like this playstyle? Well then maybe try this weapon’,” he said.
“This was designed to help new players ease into the different weapons types”.
It’s Dangerous To Go Alone, Take This
Support Hunters are a huge addition to the game that will make solo hunting much more approachable than it was in previous games. Ryozo Tsujimoto spoke to these Support Hunters and how they impact the new player experience.
“We knew that there were solo hunters, but when we broke down the player data there was far more than we expected initially,” he said.
“We wanted the mechanic of Support Hunters to help new players learn the game, but also experienced players who want to play solo.”
Support Hunters aren’t going to replace the experience of playing with your friends, however.
“If you want to shorten or make hunting more efficient, have more firepower then playing with humans will be a lot better,” Tsujimoto said.
The Support Hunters are a big addition that fills in blank slots when you call for additional players to join your hunt, and if players do join then they’ll take precedence over the Support Hunters.
“We don’t want people to think the Support Hunters are bad; we just emphasise the ‘Support’ aspect. Meaning those hunters will place traps to help you in your hunt, and they’ll actually remember that trap is there and guide monsters to fall into it,” he said.
Monster Hunter Wilds is looking to be a great new entry point for players looking to jump into the series. Having the Seikret to help you get around the map, Support Hunters to help you take out monsters and a host of new accessible features to get players on board are all great additions.
Keep an eye out for more as we draw closer to the release of Monster Hunter Wilds in February 2025.
