Check out the first Monster Hunter Wilds gameplay trailer

Including new monster sightings

Capcom

Capcom debuted the first Monster Hunter Wilds gameplay trailer during the 2024 PlayStation State of Play, showing off the action game’s new monsters and more. We’re still no closer to a release date, though, as Capcom still just has a vague 2025 time frame so far.

Monster Hunter Wilds takes place in a region called The Forbidden Lands, but they are, apparently, not that forbidden. The player character and their friends sail in and set about exploring every inch in the hopes of finding a trace of their friends. The giant sandy region we see is just the first location, Capcom said in a PlayStation Blog post, so there’s more visual variety in the Forbidden Lands than just sand, and to get around the dunes and everywhere else, you have a handy mount at your disposal, the colorful Seikret.

When you run up on a big monster, whether it’s on foot or atop your Seikret, you can start a hunt quest immediately – no hub visits or unskippable cutscenes like in previous games. Monsters large and small roam the plains in packs, and each of them acts independently of the other. Capcom says their goal was to create a “believable ecosystem” where monsters demonstrate unique behaviors, and it affects your hunt as well. The trailer shows a group of hunters figuring out how to lure a giant beast away from the herd so they can deal with it more easily elsewhere.

That giant beast was a fresh face for the series, a Doshaguma. It’s a bear-faced monster with a lion’s mane and teeth you probably should stay well away from. There’s also the Chatacabra, an amphibian-class monster that looks like what you might get if you stuck a cartoon crocodile on top of frog legs that someone carved from a mountain. Its tongue is its most dangerous feature, and it even uses saliva to stick things to itself. 

Capcom also briefly previewed a couple of new hunting mechanics. One is focus mode, which shows you a monster’s weak points so you can aim for them with less friction. It also helps you determine your distance from a monster so you can plan your movements. Then there’s the Hook Slinger, an upgrade for the older slinger that lets you grab items from afar and interact with other objects in as-yet unspecified ways.

The new Monster Hunter Wilds trailer might’ve shown up at Sony’s State of Play, but Capcom is bringing the game to Xbox Series X|S and PC via Steam as well.