Summary
- Monster Hunter Wilds re-introduces the Charge Blade, offering versatile combat styles for players to master.
- The Charge Blade seamlessly shifts between forms, providing different advantages in battle for more strategic gameplay.
Monster Hunter Wilds will be bringing back a familiar weapon type, the Charge Blade, when it releases in 2025, and it will provide players with multiple ways to approach combat. While Monster Hunter Wilds is sure to include several combat styles for players to adapt to, this weapon will shift between different forms, each with its own purpose.
Capcom's follow-up to 2023's mobile augmented reality game Monster Hunter Now, Monster Hunter Wilds was revealed at The Game Awards 2023 with a trailer that showed off some of its fantastical creatures and a desert wasteland-like biome. Planned as the seventh mainline release in the series following 2021's Monster Hunter Rise, the action RPG series dates back to 2004 and tasks players with taking down a wide variety of monsters using a mix of different weapon styles.
One New Monster Hunter Wilds Creature Could be the Game's Khezu
Most of the creature designs revealed for Monster Hunter Wilds fall under conventional standards, but one monster evokes the series' scarier past.
As revealed in a recent trailer, the latest addition to the collection of Monster Hunter weapons will be the Charge Blade, which morphs between a sword and shield combo and a combined version of the two that resembles a massive war axe. In its base sword-and-shield form, the Charge Blade provides quickness, accuracy, and maneuverability, but its true strength seems to rely on Axe Mode, which can be reached by charging up phials in Sword Mode. Not only will Axe Mode allow players to deal more damage to monsters, but players will be able to use charged phials to provide boosts to the weapon's different aspects.
The Charge Blade May Be Monster Hunter Wilds' Most Versatile Weapon
In addition to this returning weapon, Monster Hunter Wilds will feature some brand-new gameplay mechanics. One of these mechanics, Focus Mode, will allow players to go into a special targeting view to pinpoint strikes on monsters' weak points and provide different Focus Strikes for each weapon. According to the newest trailer, Focus Mode will also be compatible with the Charge Blade. Additionally, the Seikret mount allows for on-the-go healing and weapon sharpening services and quicker speed of travel, in addition to automatically guiding players to their target monster.
Even with the wide variety of returning weapons, it's not yet clear how easy they'll all be to pick up and use. For example, developers have already stated that the Hunting Horn in Monster Hunter Wilds will function similarly to the way it did in Monster Hunter World, doubling as a bludgeoning weapon and a buffing musical instrument, but featuring a lot more hard-to-remember melodies than the version in Monster Hunter Rise.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 89 /100 Critics Rec: 95%
WHERE TO PLAY
The unbridled force of nature runs wild and relentless, with environments transforming drastically from one moment to the next. This is a story of monsters and humans and their struggles to live in harmony in a world of duality.
Fulfill your duty as a Hunter by tracking and defeating powerful monsters and forging strong new weapons and armor from the materials you harvest from your hunt as you uncover the connection between the people of the Forbidden Lands and the locales they inhabit.
The ultimate hunting experience awaits you in Monster Hunter Wilds.
- Engine
- RE Engine
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
- Franchise
- Monster Hunter
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
