Biggest Changes Coming in Monster Hunter Wilds

There’s so much new stuff coming in Monster Hunter Wilds, and this is especially true when comparing it to the original Monster Hunter World back in 2018. It’s clear with this game that the developers wanted to build upon and improve the foundation set by Monster Hunter World while also trying a bunch of new ambitious features that may or may not work in the long run.

Many of the game’s core systems have even been heavily adjusted or changed in some capacity. So, with all that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the biggest changes coming in Monster Hunter Wilds compared to Monster Hunter World or even Monster Hunter Rise.

8 Focus Mode

As Well As the Wounding System​​​​​

First and foremost, the first feature talked about has to be Focus Mode. Focus Mode is a new system in Monster Hunter Wilds that works hand-in-hand with the new Wound system. Essentially, this system allows players to more accurately aim both their attacks and guards so they can negate damage or target the monster’s wounds and/or weak points.

In fact while in Focus Mode, the monster’s weak point and any wounds it has gained over the course of the fight will be highlighted, making it even easier to really pile on the pain.

7 Backup Weapon

Keeping a Backup On Your Seikret

Next up is a pretty revolutionary addition, the ability to have a backup weapon on your Seikret mount that you can swap between while hunting. This additional weapon can be any of the weapon options in Monster Hunter Wilds, but it’s very likely that most players are going to use this feature to have both a ranged and melee option accessible to them at all times.

Overall, this new feature, while it could make the core gameplay easier, has the potential to add a lot of new depth to the game, such as swapping between weapons for specific phases of the fight, swapping weapons when encountering groups of monsters, or swapping weapons to deal with a monster’s Enraged state a bit more easily.

6 Armor No Longer Gender-Locked

Hunters of All Genders Can Wear Whatever They Want

Moving on to probably one of the most revolutionary changes coming to Monster Hunter Wilds, the change to gendered armor. In Monster Hunter Wilds, players will be able to wear any variant of any armor set, regardless of the gender of their character.

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This feature is something that fans have basically been begging to get for years now, and it’s exciting to see it finally be added to the franchise with Wilds. It’s basically a purely positive change, as this way, Capcom can still have gender variants of armor with unique and beloved designs, but access to these sets will no longer be restricted from players in such an obtuse way.

5 Slinger Updates

All Sorts of New Pods & Slinger Mechanics

The Slinger and Slinger Pods aren’t new in Monster Hunter Wilds, they were around in Monster Hunter World, but now that it is returning in Wilds, the Slinger does seem to have some new functions and features. There are a whole host of new Slinger Pods that have been seen in the game so far, from Large AoE Dung Pods to Luring Pods for grabbing monster aggro and even Bleeding Pods that make it easier to inflict wounds on monsters.

A lot of these new Pods have been added to the game as a sort of reaction to the more open-world format of Wilds where players will encounter groups of monsters more often and will have longer hunting sessions in general.

4 Breaking Parts Quality-Of-Life Change

Cut Tails & Broken Parts Auto Loot Now

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This next feature is relatively small, but it has a massive impact in terms of overall convenience. In previous Monster Hunter games, when players either broke a specific part of a monster or cut their tail off, they could then immediately interact with the broken part or tail on the ground to carve it and get some materials.

This system still exists in Wilds, but it seems to be a bit less intrusive now, automatically giving the materials to the player as soon as the part is broken or the tail is cut. This might not seem like much, but anyone who has played a lot of online multiplayer in the MH games knows that people tend to immediately stop fighting and go to carve the part, which can, in the worst-case scenario, lead to a player or multiple players getting ‘carted’.

3 Online SOS Flares

Calling in AI NPC Helpers

Now let’s talk about a feature that’s incredibly convenient for players who enjoy gaming offline or solo, as it allows them to get help in their hunting quests without having to actually rely on other players. Essentially this system, when offline, makes it so that when hunters use the SOS Flare that would typically summon another player, they’ll instead summon some CPU NPC Hunters.

Anyone who has fought some of the more difficult monsters (AKA Elder Dragons) in the series can verify that being the only target of a monster’s aggression can make a hunt so much more difficult. So, being able to summon other hunters to divert the monster’s attention, even just a little bit, makes a huge difference.

2 End Of Hunter Timer Option

Can Skip That Bit of Awkward Downtime

This is another very tiny change, but one that’ll have a pretty noticeable effect over the course of someone’s playthrough. Essentially, in previous Monster Hunter games, at the end of every hunt, there’s a timer.

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The timer is there so that players can get all their carves from the monster, grab a couple more nearby materials, or even mess around by launching/staggering their fellow hunters. However, the time it gives the players is pretty long, and for most hunts, they’re not going the need nearly that much time and will end up just standing there waiting for the results screen to pop up. But now, in Monster Hunter Wilds, players have the option at the end of a hunt to ‘skip’ the timer, going immediately to the results and their obtained materials.

1 3D Map

So Much Harder to Get Lost Now

And lastly, let’s look at one of the most revolutionary new systems Wilds introduces that is pretty much just an improvement over the old system in every way, the map. The map in Monster Hunter Wilds is now 3D, giving players the ability to rotate it and take a look at it from every angle to understand the topology of the terrain around them.

There’s a lot of verticality in the Monster Hunter games, and this is especially true in Monster Hunter Rise and in some Monster Hunter Worlds maps such as Ancient Forest. And because of this verticality, having a 2D map, even with intuitive icons on the map that denote the height of certain areas, can make things pretty confusing sometimes. But, with the new 3D map, it’s almost impossible to get lost entirely.

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Released

February 28, 2025

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