Monster Hunter Wilds has seen huge success since it launched at the end of February, which series producer Ryozo Tsujimoto has put down to the emphasis on story.
Speaking to The Nikkei (via Automaton), Tsujimoto discussed the launch of Capcom’s latest in the hit series and what elements have contributed to its success.
The producer cited the emphasis on story, the heightened immersion due to full voice acting, and the inclusion of crossplay as key elements.
Crossplay allows players across PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S to play together in multiplayer and hunt with friends no matter which platform they play on. Last month, Tsujimoto acknowledged the importance of the PC platform in particular: “Yeah, there are more players than ever playing on PC, including in Japan,” he said, “so we definitely see room for the series to capture new players who haven’t tried it before if that’s their chosen platform.”
However, the story emphasis is curious considering this is one area of the game that has been criticised in reviews.
Monster Hunter Wilds, as with previous games in the series, includes a set story that acts as training for later High Rank hunts after the credits. It’s certainly more cinematic than previous entries, but it also lacks challenge.
“The main story campaign is essentially a 20-hour tutorial designed to gently walk players through the fundamentals, but it’s so tortuously belaboured, and covers so little meaningful ground… it feels approximately 20 times longer than it needs to be,” wrote Matt Wales in Eurogamer’s Monster Hunter Wilds review. “It’s also essentially mandatory given so many of Wilds’ features – from side quests to Palico support skills, and even the game’s flagship seasonal dynamism – don’t unlock till the credits roll and High Rank begins.
He continued: “To be clear, the story campaign isn’t an entirely terrible way to spend 20 hours, thanks to sky-high production values, infectiously silly detours, and a genuinely endearing cast. But it takes the series’ relatively recent infatuation with cinematic storytelling to fairly exhausting extremes – suffocating its handsomely staged fights between so much endless cutscene jib-jabber and on-rails traversal that even the most receptive of newcomers (let alone old-hands who’ve done this dance countless times before) will likely be screaming for Capcom to shut up and get on with it.”
If you are after more difficult hunts, though, Capcom has promised a “new level of challenge” in the game’s first content update due next month.
Monster Hunter Wilds sold over 8m copies at launch to become Capcom’s fastest-selling game ever. I’m sure a large part of that success is the game’s more streamlined approach compared with previous entries, not to mention the ongoing success of the series since 2018’s Monster Hunter: World.