Now that the bloom is off the Monster Hunter Wilds’ rose (or Lala Barina floret, if you will) I have to talk about my biggest worry for the game’s future. While I can appreciate Capcom’s more inviting and approachable vision for Wilds – and the player count data can’t lie – I’m worried that building Wilds to appeal to a broader audience may have hurt the game’s long-term appeal. I love that so many new players have jumped in and enjoyed their time with Wilds, but once all of those people move on to the next big thing, what will be left for us hardcore grinders?
Wilds’ endgame isn’t exactly fleshed out right now, and it’s going to take a few updates before we can really tell how long its tail is going to be. Unfortunately, what we were told about Title Update 1 leading up to this week’s full reveal didn’t inspire much confidence. A new (returning) monster, a harder version of another, and a gathering hub that should have been in the game from the start? That’s not enough to keep everyone playing until the next update comes.
Luckily, that isn’t everything Title Update 1 has to offer. As we just saw in the March 2025 showcase, there’s a new type of Arena Quest that has the potential to give Monster Hunter Wilds the longevity it so desperately needs right now.
Arena Quests Bring Time Trials To Wilds
Arena Quests are essentially time trials that require you to fight a specific monster using a predetermined build. It’s not the most original or interesting idea, but it’s the competitive aspect of it that makes this such a compelling new game mode for Monster Hunter.
These time trials are tied to a global leaderboard where players check their rank against every other Wilds player, and if they choose, try to climb the ladder by repeating the fight until they’ve shaved off enough precious seconds to truly master it. There has always been a niche cluster of speedrunners within the Monster Hunter community, but now that speedrun systems are baked directly into the game, I expect to see this group get a lot bigger, and a lot more competitive.
Capcom has wisely tied cosmetic rewards into this game mode. There are participation weapon pendants that can be earned by simply completing the quest, but if you want the special pendants with the cool animations, you’ll have to achieve a specific time or ranking on the leaderboard. This is an awesome way to show off your unique achievements when hunting online, and a clever way to keep players engaged with Wilds without having to create expensive and timely new content.
Some specific details around Arena Quests are still unknown. We don’t know how many quests there will be, or how often they will change. Ideally there would be a new time trial to compete in every week, if not every day, so that players will continue to log in and grind on this new progression path that’s completely disconnected from the main gear and decoration grind.
Squeezing All The Juice Out Of Monster Hunter Wilds
It’s no secret that Wilds is a pared down product compared to Monster Hunter: World, at least at launch. While moving the series to RE Engine provided Wilds with a lot of new opportunities under the hood, it also meant starting from scratch in a lot of ways. Wilds has fewer monsters at launch than both World and Rise, and right now feels a bit content light overall. Adding one new monster every three months isn’t going to fix the problem, but adding new game modes and progression tracks – which can be done cheaper and quicker than building new new monsters – could be the key to keeping Wilds alive.
There’s a reason roguelikes have become so popular in the indie space: you get a lot more mileage out of a lot less content. I could see a roguelike mode working in Wilds the way it did in The Last of Us 2 Remastered, Remnant: From The Ashes, and Hitman 3.
Starting with a simple bone weapon and Low Rank armor, you’d start by hunting weaker monsters in random locations. With each kill, you’d get to choose an upgrade to either your weapon, armor, or skills, allowing you to slowly create a unique build as you take on bigger and badder monsters. Carting is perma-death, of course, but that just means you get to start a fresh run.
Again, this wouldn’t be particularly original, but game modes like this and the upcoming Arena Quests could breathe a lot of new life into Wilds and give those who want to stay in the Forbidden Lands something to do. All you need is a bit of variety and a good incentive to keep people interested, and that’s exactly what Arena Battles offer.
I’m excited to see how the community embraces Arena Battles, and I’m even more excited to see my name on the leaderboard. There’s never been a good reason to min-max a fight until now, and I think it’s going to change the way we approach hunting in Wilds for the better.
- Released
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February 28, 2025
- ESRB
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T For Teen // Violence, Blood, Crude Humor