[gamescom asia 2024] Evolving the Hunt: Ryozo Tsujimoto Discusses Monster Hunter Wilds’ Immersive World and Gameplay Innovations

We had the opportunity to interview Ryozo Tsujimoto, the producer of Monster Hunter Wilds, during gamescom asia 2024. The highly anticipated next entry in the Monster Hunter franchise promises to bring significant changes and improvements to the beloved series. Here’s what we learned about the upcoming game.

Herds and Hordes: A Technical Challenge

One of the main technical hurdles for Monster Hunter Wilds has been the implementation of herds and hordes of monsters. Tsujimoto explained, “A big concept of the game is the concept of herds and the monsters herding together and the hordes of monsters.” The development team aims to express these large groups of creatures naturally within the game’s environment.

“It’s something that hasn’t really been done before so much as so many monsters at the same time existing in the same screen is something that was actually really challenging for us,” Tsujimoto added. He further elaborated on the process, stating, “There was a lot of QA and gameplay testing that went into the development of that sort of way of expression in terms of the game.”

Creating an Immersive World in Monster Hunter Wilds

A key focus for Monster Hunter Wilds is to create a more immersive world that seamlessly blends monsters, people, and the ecosystem. Tsujimoto expressed pride in this aspect, stating, “One thing that was a goal in Monster Hunter Wilds is to meld together monsters, people, and the ecosystem all together so those three factors. I’m really proud to have created a work that did that really, really well.”

He added, “I feel like in the past games the games have mostly been focused on kind of like Hunter vs. Monsters so what the Hunter’s point of view is really just focused on the monsters, but this time in Wilds, I think you can kind of see, peek into that direction, is that there’s now involving a lot of civilizations and past civilizations and people, and the villagers and whatnot in general.”

Enhancing Player Experience

Monster Hunter Wilds introduces several new features to enhance player experience. The game will feature changing seasons, affecting gameplay and increasing immersion. Tsujimoto explained, “One of the aspects was to kind of express how the environment itself may change as well, because in real life, of course, you’re not just always hunting in one single type of environment.”

The Seikret mount is another new addition, helping players navigate the expansive, seamlessly connected locales. “We felt like users might have some trouble navigating that kind of expansive world. And we then decided to add something like the Seikret, which would really help to smooth that transition,” Tsujimoto said. He further elaborated, “It’s more that the concept of Monster Hunter Wilds was to have these large, expansive locales, and for all the areas and the base camps to be seamlessly connected.”

For the first time in a mainline Monster Hunter game, hunters will be voiced during cutscenes. Tsujimoto assured that this change maintains the series’ established tone: “We still really worked hard to find that balance to make it so that it kind of keeps the same tone as the past Monster Hunter games.” He added, “It’s not the case that the hunter is now going to be speaking all the time, inserting themselves in every single situation.”

New Features in Monster Hunter Wilds

Palico companions will now provide auditory advice to improve gameplay flow. Tsujimoto noted, “If they didn’t have any voice, you would have to constantly go back and look at the text. But we felt like in terms of the Palico, not just the Palico, but Alma as well, your handler, it’s a lot easier to take in that sort of the auditory cues than to take in visual cues.” He also mentioned, “The Palico also has a lot of cute new expressions. They’re a lot more expressive this time.”

Players can now change weapons while riding the Seikret, offering more strategic options during hunts. “It allows them to kind of have more options out on the locale to have a wider range of motion and a wider range of strategy that each player can take,” Tsujimoto explained. He added, “To kind of keep that seamless gameplay and not have to break the player’s actual own gameplay loop, it allows them to kind of have more options out on the locale to have a wider range of motion and a wider range of strategy that each player can take.”

Balancing Monsters and Welcoming Newcomers

Regarding the game’s approach to balancing fan-favorite monsters with new creatures, Tsujimoto emphasized, “We won’t just bring back a monster just for the hell of it. It has to fit within the actual game.” He elaborated on the decision-making process, saying, “Looking at what monsters will fit the type of mechanics that we want to express, or the type of new elements that we want to express in the game, and looking at the fit there, and also, of course, we do take into account the popularity of the monsters themselves.”

For newcomers, Monster Hunter Wilds will offer adjustable tutorial options and an in-game weapon recommendation system. Tsujimoto mentioned, “You are able to kind of choose to your liking how detailed the tutorial for the actual gameplay will be when you’re first going into the game.” He added, “For weapons as well, if you play what’s called the story quest, which is one of the two types of quests that you can play on the floor today, if you do experience the story quest, you’ll encounter the handler, Alma, who actually asks you a bunch of kind of like little quiz questions that will help you kind of choose a type of recommended weapon for your play style.”

The game will also feature NPC hunters that can be summoned to assist players who may not be comfortable with full multiplayer experiences. Tsujimoto explained, “Maybe you want to play offline, but you need a little bit of help, then you can definitely use that SOS flare function and call in NPC hunters to help you. And it’s something that actually you can do from pretty early on in the game.”

Lessons from Previous Games

Tsujimoto mentioned that lessons learned from Monster Hunter World and Rise have influenced Wilds’ development, particularly in improving navigation in large areas and enhancing AI for the Seikret mount. He noted, “To all the World and Iceborne fans out there, there were improvements that were made after having experienced a lot of feedback from World. So I do think that experienced players will be able to see for themselves what those small changes are.”

Specifically addressing navigation issues, he said, “One of the feedback was definitely some kind of difficulty in navigating those large expansive areas. So it kind of comes into play in the Seikret as well as we heard that feedback in World.” As more information about Monster Hunter Wilds is set to be revealed in the coming months, fans can look forward to experiencing these new features and improvements when the game releases.

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