The announcement of Monster Hunter World, slated for release in early 2018 on Xbox One, PS4 and Windows PCs in all territories, was one of the biggest pieces of news from this year's E3 show. This will be the first time in a long time that a Monster Hunter game would be released on mainstream consoles and released at the same time as the Japanese debut, where the games normally make their first appearance.
But the game does look a little different to Monster Hunters of the past. It has a new stalking/tracking mechanic, environmental traps, drop-in-drop-out multiplayer and what seems to be the ability for monsters to fight amongst themselves. That gave fans pause, as they assumed that this Monster Hunter wouldn't play like the others, but series producers have now made a point of stating that although evolved, the gameplay would feel familiar to those who had played previous entries in the series.
While there are "brand new gameplay systems in place," we're told, but community manager at Capcom, Yuri Araujo said on Twitter that "we're making it real pretty, but not sacrificing gameplay at all."
We're also going to be seeing a return of all previous weapon times: that's 14 in total. There will be switch axes, long swords, dual swords, great swords, bow guns, lances, hunting horns and all of the others you remember.
One aspect of the game that PCGN does point out as unlikely to return are hunter arts. Although not confirmed, suggestions by production staff hint at it and there has been no mention of them specifically so far.
If you're excited to learn more about Monster Hunter World, you'll need to wait until Gamescom in August later this year before we get another look at it. So try not to binge the latest trailer too hard, it's all we'll have to go on for a while.
