At PlayStation’s State of Play showcase on May 30, 2024, the first gameplay trailer for Monster Hunter Wilds was finally revealed. The trailer shows beautiful landscapes and a whole host of new monsters that we’ve come to know and love from new entries in the series. It also heavily features the mount system of the fully open world in Monster Hunter Wilds.
One understated detail of the trailer was a new weapon interaction that has never been seen before. Around the two minute mark of the trailer, the player character, known as a hunter, is escaping a monster on foot while wielding a sword. After climbing on top of their feathered mount with a quick whistle, the hunter swaps seamlessly from their sword to a long-range gun. They use this new firearm to shoot at the monster while still riding their mount.
Neither swords nor guns are new to the Monster Hunter franchise, but something in this series of events definitely is. For starters, attacking off the back of a mount was limited to specific items in previous entries, and did not include your own weapon. It is possible that this shows that while riding your mount in Wilds, you’ll have a unique rifle-like gun to continue your assault on the monster while you run. That would be some heavy firepower for running away, though.
The sword used in the sequence has similarities to the series favorite Greatsword weapon type. The gun that is used after it could easily be a light bowgun, a weapon type that has frequently appeared in the series with rifle-like characteristics. This could indicate that hunters are allowed to bring two distinct weapons to the field and swap between them in a brand new feature for modern Monster Hunter. The game has always relied heavily on the preparation aspect of a hunt, and choosing the best weapon for the job is part of that preparation.
Most exciting is the possibility that this is a showcase of a brand new weapon entirely. Monster Hunter has multiple weapons that change between two modes at the user’s will, such as the charge blade and switch axe. To change your weapon between a medium-sized sword and a long-range gun would provide a versatility rarely seen in other weapon types, which tend to be fairly strict in their delineations as melee or ranged. Even the armor sets for the two kinds of weapons were entirely separate sets up until Monster Hunter World nixed the difference as a quality of life update.
The last new weapon type was introduced to the series in 2013 with Monster Hunter 4’s insect glaive, a high-flying, bug-customizing weapon, and the aforementioned mode-swapping charge blade. With the comparably recent change to armor set types, Monster Hunter Wilds would be the perfect time to introduce a mixed-range weapon that can swap between melee and ranged combat to best suit the hunt.
For more Monster Hunter, check out Monster Hunter World – Best weapon for solo play on Pro Game Guides.
