Monster Hunter Wilds Dev Making Huge Improvements Based on Beta Feedback | Push Square

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A fresh batch of Monster Hunter Wilds previews have dropped, and impressions continue to be positive with regards to Capcom's upcoming action RPG.

However, it's various developer comments — from the preview events themselves — that are making headlines. For example, Games Radar spoke with director Yuya Tokuda, who revealed that the team is actually working on a number of overhauls based on beta feedback.

Tokuda says that «substantial» changes are being made to the Lance and Switch Axe — two weapon types that could feel very different in the aforementioned beta, compared to their incarnations in previous games (especially Monster Hunter World).

Apparently, Sword and Shield, as well as the much-adjusted Insect Glaive, will also be altered.

Said beta was open to everyone on PS5 just over a month ago, and it sounds like Capcom got a lot of feedback — particularly from players already familiar with the series.

Indeed, one of the most widespread criticisms stemmed from Wilds' lack of hitstop — an animation technique that can add a considerable amount of weight to the player's attacks. For whatever reason, hitstop was massively dialed down in the beta, and veteran hunters noticed the difference almost immediately.

The good news is that hitstop is making a comeback; this latest build of Wilds is already flaunting it, and according to Tokuda, it may be even more prevalent in the finished release. Hurrah!

Hitstop right there

And then there's the game's performance, which has been questioned since day one off the back of the poorly optimised Dragon's Dogma 2. Again, it's good news: reportedly, this preview build runs much more smoothly than the beta did, and the visuals have been polished up as well.

Tokuda also confirms that Wilds will feature two graphics modes at launch: a 30 frames-per-second fidelity mode, and a 60fps performance mode. That's fairly standard practice, of course, but here's hoping that Capcom continues to improve things, because the beta was rough on PS5.