The annual Gamescom 2024 convention is underway and brings with it a smorgasbord of announcements and trailers for a variety of games. One such game getting a new trailer during Gamecom's Opening Night Live ceremony is Monster Hunter Wilds, the next mainline entry in Capcom's Monster Hunter franchise.
The trailer begins by showing us a glimpse of the game's story. In Monster Hunter Wilds, a band of hunters are traversing a treacherous realm known as the Forbidden Lands in search of a hunting expedition that went missing there.
During our heroes' journey in this trailer, they encounter two terrifying monsters that have never been seen before in a Monster Hunter game. The first of these creatures is the Lala Barina, a giant spider monster that resides in the Scarlet Forest and attacks its prey using paralyzing poison and deadly stingers.
The second is a monster that we've only seen brief glimpses of in Monster Hunter Wilds' Summer Game Fest trailer, but now we know what is it - the Rey Dau. This gigantic beast of a Flying Wyvern is the apex predator of the Windward Plains and attacks its prey whenever the region's sandstorms occur by zapping its opponents with lightning bolts shot from its head.
In addition to these beasts being added to Monster Hunter Wilds' list of monsters, this trailer reveals that this game will include NPC Support Hunters. This was a mechanic that debuted in Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak that allowed solo players to bring NPC hunters along with them during hunts and now it's coming back for Monster Hunter Wilds.
On top of that, the Turf Wars mechanic introduced in Monster Hunter World will be returning for Monster Hunter Wilds also. Turf Wars are when two certain monsters make eye contact in the same area and initiate a cinematic battle where they deal massive damage to one another. Players can take advantage of this mechanic by luring monsters together so they can beat each other up, and weakening them so the player will be able to finish them off quickly.
These new monsters coming to Monster Hunter Wilds look absolutely amazing. With Lala Barina, I'm happy to see a new large insect monster being added to the roster as giant monsters in most Monster Hunter games tend to have some most character designs and the weapons you get for killing them look stunning and offer useful status effects that can cripple monsters.
As for the Rey Dau, I am both awe-stricken over how cool it looks and terrified at how brutal its lightning attacks are. I have a feeling that this monstrosity is going to be the first major test of the player's skill and mastery of the Monster Hunter Wilds list of weapons and whether they have it takes to progress through the story.
However new players to the series won't have to worry too much about tackling these beasts as the NPC Support Hunters will be there to help them should they need it. The NPC Support Hunters were very competent and useful in Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak, so I have no doubt they will just be as helpful in Monster Hunter Wilds.
Either way, I'm extremely looking forward to challenging these monsters whether I'm fighting them solo, with NPCs, or with fellow players in online co-op when Monster Hunter Wilds launches next year for consoles and PC.
Monster Hunter Wilds, the next-gen successor to one of Capcom's best Xbox games and best PC games, Monster Hunter World, is scheduled to launch in 2025 for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam.
