The Official Capcom UK YouTube channel has uploaded a new gameplay trailer of the next chapter in the Monster Hunter series, Monster Hunter World. Judging by the name and the trailer we saw during Sony’s E3 conference, Monster Hunter World will focus on a bigger scale. The Ancient Forest Hunt gameplay video shows off new mechanics that reinforce the idea of a, well, world!
Long-time hunters will immediately be a little startled by The Handler’s voice. That’s right – for the first time in the series, Monster Hunter World will feature full-on voice acting. If you’re a purist, don’t worry. Capcom has confirmed that you can disable the voice acting and instead have the characters make their traditional short “hmphs” and “ehs” and “ois”. It’s hard for me to describe the sounds, but if you’ve played the older Monster Hunter games you know what I’m talking about.
After some introductions, you’re quickly introduced to the Scoutflies mechanic. Each hunter will carry a jar full of these magical fireflies. The Scoutflies can scan the surrounding environment for clues. We get to see this in action when the Scoutflies scan the footprints in the ground. Every time you can scan something that pertains to your target monster, your Scoutflies will get one step closer to tracking it.
The second thing fans of the series will recognize at this point are the fact that there are no more “airlock” loading screens. In the previous games the zones will cut up into individual areas, and whenever you traveled between them you had to go through a short loading screen. Monster Hunter World seems to have done away with as the Ancient Forest zone seems to be one big connected area.
Eventually the hunter finds his target, the t-rex like Anjanath. From here the trailer goes on to demonstrate the new environmental shifts. Certain parts of the world can be manipulated in your favor, just like the hunter does with the rock pillar covered in vines. After he goads the Anjanath to smash into the pillar, the pillar shatters and the vines fall on the Anjanath, restricting its movement.
Afterwards we get to see the awesome new grappling hook in action. Mounting monsters from Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate and Monster Hunter Generations makes a return here, and you can utilize the grappling hook to get yourself into high places. What’s even cooler is that if a monster flings you off its back, you can grapple right back on!
Monster Hunter World is shaping up to be a nice mix of familiar and new. The classic Monster Hunter precision combat is still here, but with a greater emphasis on tracking and creating a living, organic world, we’re seeing this game truly shape up to be unique and exciting entry into the legendary Monster Hunter franchise.
Monster Hunter World will release on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One early 2018, with a PC release planned for a later date.