Interview: Preparing Monster Hunter Wilds Monsters and Environments

When it comes to Monster Hunter Wilds, we will experience an entry with more dynamic environments with changing weather and dangerous new and old monsters. When Siliconera got the chance to preview the latest Monster Hunter game, we also got to speak briefly to Series Producer Ryozo Tsujimoto, Executive and Art Director Kaname Fujioka, and Director Yuya Tokuda about the title. As a result, we ended up learning more about what to expect from places like the Scarlet Forest and monsters like newcomer Lala Barina. 

Which environmental element was the most challenging to perfect and implement in Monster Hunter Wilds? 

Kaname Fujioka: So each locale is obviously very, very difficult because we have the environment changing. Not only does the environment change, but because it changes, the color also has to change. And it’s also in real time as well.

So, for example, when we have the Sand Tide coming during Inclemency, the Sand Tide actually needs to come for it to fully change. And when we have the Plenty, we obviously need to have a lot more green in the lush, lush plantations and vegetations. But during the Fallow, all of those plantations will need to disperse. A little bit thin out. Illustrating this in real time was a very difficult process.

And one locale that was also difficult was the Scarlet Forest, because it has a lot of variations in the vegetations and plants. And not only that, but the water also changes from having a very clear blue, gradually changing it to the red during the weather changes. Controlling that in real-time was a very big challenge. 

How did past Monster Hunter games affect the development of new weapon actions in Monster Hunter Wilds? Like were are there new actions you wanted to implement in the past, but only could now?

Yuya Tokuda: So for Monster Hunter Wilds, we have 14 different weapon types and each weapon has a concept itself. Having 14 types of weapons, yhe concept itself has not made a big change. But for Monster Hunter Wilds specifically, to fit the game’s style of Monster Hunter Wilds, we added new actions more move sets, and some actions that couldn’t be connected to each other are now more smoothly connected. So that it allows a much more brushed-up action for each of the weapons. 

Monster Hunter monsters are often rooted in reality, how did your research on animals and insects affect Monster Hunter Wilds? For example, can you talk about how a certain species inspired a creature we will see? Like which spiders influenced Lala Barina’s behavior?

Fujioka: Taking Lala Barina as an example, we didn’t really focus on making it related to an actual spider. But we wanted to make it a spider-like monster that was very unique in a way. So during the planning stages of the monster, we wanted to incorporate moves that were  moving very quickly side-to-side and made it really confusing and have some elemental attacks like paralyzing attacks. 

The designer also wanted to add some tricky movements. So kind of like a ballerina, it kind of has like a twirl. It twirls around. And [we] also added like white birds into the design, but it also has very thin legs. So the silhouette really does resemble a ballerina, but just that itself wasn’t a strong enough idea. 

So we also had a different, separate idea of having a monster that resembled a rose. So we combined those two together. Usually, Lala Barina doesn’t show that rose-like abdomen. But when it does the elemental attacks, it unleashes it and reveals a rose-like abdomen. And that made it a very interesting character design. 

Speaking of Lala Barina in Monster Hunter Wilds, why do the spider-inspired monsters in Monster Hunter games always result in the prettiest and most elegant equipment?

Fujioka: There’s like a big gap. The spider is a little bit icky, but the armor is very pretty. The difference, the contrast between those two.

Will we ever see God’s nastiest little boy the Lagiacrus in any future Monster Hunter games?

Tokuda: So, Lagiacrus… Fujioka-san worked on Monster Hunter Tri as a director and [I] was the planner. So it’s a very memorable monster for both of us.

Everybody likes it. And we want to have Lagiacrus make an appearance in the games at the best time when it feels it fits.

Ryozo Tsujimoto: We know that it’s a very popular monster, especially overseas. So we don’t want to like put Lagiacrus out there randomly.

Tokuda: We want to be very, very careful about it, because everybody likes it and we are very aware of that.

Monster Hunter Wilds will come to the PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC on February 28, 2025. People who pre-order get the Guild Knight Set layered armor and Hope Charm.