Beautiful and extremely deadly - Monster Hunter: Wilds impresses at Gamescom

Most complex games immediately overwhelm you with a myriad of complicated menus, advanced controls and a minimum amount of help. In other words, you've been warned. But there are also those games that seem simple and innocent at first, only to later show their true colours. The Monster Hunter series belongs to the latter category, which I recently learnt the hard way.

As a complete newbie, with no experience of the series other than the spin-off title Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin, I was initially at a disadvantage when I sat down to play Monster Hunter: Wilds at Gamescom in Cologne. However, the opening gave me false hope. Few modern AAA games, or Hollywood blockbusters for that matter, open as spectacularly as the latest chapter in Capcom's 20-year-old series.

At the game's opening, our customisable character finds themselves aboard an old-fashioned wooden ship of sorts that can travel over sand. In no time at all, we're introduced to so many characters that it's hard to keep track of them all. However, they still make an impression thanks to a beautiful character design that perfectly blends anime-inspired design with realism, and the facial animations are particularly impressive. Capcom's RE Engine has never before delivered such beautiful results, which is further illustrated when we briefly leave the ship and jump onto a bird-like mount.

What follows is a dramatic ride through the sand as we try to save a little girl being chased by a gigantic Dune-like sandworm. The ride through the spraying sand is nothing short of spectacular, and we get to fully utilise our mount's jumping power and wings before finally rescuing the poor girl. Along the way, we're also introduced to what will undoubtedly be an extremely important tool throughout the game - a kind of hookgun. The hook seems to have many functions. It can be used as to collect items and resources, or it can (perhaps more excitingly) be used in combat or to make spectacular jumps off ledges.

Before I'm sent out on my first real monster hunt, I have some time to properly meet the other characters. Alma, a young archaeologist, gives me my first mission, while the energetic blacksmith Gemma helps me choose one of the game's many weapon types such as Sword and Shield, Gunlance and Hammer. I choose Dual Blades and with the help of the obligatory mascot, a little Palico cat, I quickly manage to track down my prey in an underground cave.

Only now do I realise that Monster Hunter: Wilds isn't quite as straightforward as I first thought. Even though I'm combining punches, dodges and combos, I'm only doing minimal damage. Monster Hunter is all about choosing the right weapon and tools for the specific monster, analysing its weaknesses and attacking the relevant body parts. All of this takes time to learn, and since time is in short supply at a convention like Gamescom, I have to resort to another trick. I activate a flare and immediately three hardened monster hunters appear to help me take down my prey. They're CPU-controlled, but in the full game, it could also be real players coming to the rescue.

Multiplayer is what's on the menu in the second part of this preview. If the opening was like a frantic rollercoaster ride, this is more like a rollercoaster ride without a harness, and it doesn't take long before two giant mammoth-like creatures have made me their prey. A friendly PR representative helps me prepare some kind of stink bomb that separates the creatures, and soon I manage to weaken the monster enough for it to retreat, leaving me to chase it on the back of my oversized chicken.

Several times I make the monster writhe in pain, but even in multiplayer, I can't manage it by myself - in fact, despite the help of the CPU monster hunters, I fail to take down my prey before time runs out. In short, Monster Hunter: Wilds is still all about preparation, equipment, upgrades and the many other deep systems that have made the series popular, although the presentation is reminiscent of a mechanically simpler action game. My only consolation is that I still have a bit of time to prepare, as the full game releases on February 28, 2025.