"To experience Wilds in its whole": Monster Hunter Wilds Art Director Kaname Fujioka on storytelling and monster hunting (Exclusive)

Our Monster Hunter Wilds Preview touched on the fact that the devs have chosen this time around to focus more on the story and the NPCs that we encounter. This can come as a surprise change to veteran hunters who may want to just jump into the game and beeline to the nearest monster that poses a challenge.

So how do the developers address this fine balance that is required? That's what I asked Monster Hunter Wilds Art Director Kaname Fujioka earlier in January 2025.

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Monster Hunter Wilds Art Director Kaname Fujioka discusses upcoming game's story focus and monster hunting

"With an emphasis on world-building, lore, and NPCs in Monster Hunter Wilds, how have the developers tried to strike a balance for those who directly want to jump to quests and fight monsters and those who want to engage in dialogs and cutscenes? Would you say doing the former (skipping and jumping to fights) will take away from the whole experience of Monster Hunter Wilds?"

I must admit that was a hefty question but then I was eager to learn what the developers had to say on this matter. By that time, I had played the Monster Hunter Wilds Preview (running till the repelling of Uth Duna in the mainline story) and met quite a few colorful NPCs with unique personalities.

Kaname Fujioka (R) at Monster Hunter Wilds Preview (Image via Angshuman Dutta/Sportskeeda Gaming)

Kaname Fujioka mentioned (through a translator):

"For sure, because one of the biggest themes of this game is to tell the story that the devs wanted to tell in terms of the world building. So if a player just wants to skip everything, don't talk to anybody optionally, or just skip all the cutscenes, there’s definitely going to be a lack of understanding what the story that the devs wanted to tell through the narration of the game."

That's indeed a fair take if the story plays a pivotal role in how we experience Monster Hunter Wilds. But does this mean that you can't just skip and focus on your hunts of all MH Wilds monsters? Fujioka contended:

"However, if a player did want to focus just on the action, just play a monster hunter with going from quest to quest, that is also totally possible to do. That’s the player’s prerogative to do as well. It’s certainly possible to play the game in that way and there will be no difficulty to do so for the players. But it is definitely the wishes of the devs for the players to experience Wilds in its whole."

Lala Barina, one of the new MH Wilds monsters (Image via Capcom)

He also explained that the story is weaved seamlessly with the gameplay, mentioning:

"Because the story design portion of the game is weaved seamlessly into the gameplay, as you progress in the story as you normally would, you will be able to (as long as you are not skipping every single thing) experience the storytelling in its natural form anyway. So you do definitely have that freedom as a player to just play the quest that you want to play. There’s a lot of freedom and custom ability for a player to play in the style they are most comfortable with."

While we can never be sure how the focus on the story, the NPCs and the worldbuilding will go down with the community till Monster Hunter Wilds launches on February 28, 2025. I did like that aspect in the preview I played. It didn't seem to take any focus away from the core gameplay of monster hunting and felt properly integrated into the gameplay.