Monster Hunter Wilds Devs Reveal Frosty New Area, Fan Fest Perks, and Epic Live-Action Trailer

Monster Hunter Wilds Devs Reveal Frosty New Area, Fan Fest Perks, and Epic Live-Action Trailer | IGN Fan Fest 2025

Whether you’re talking about its fandom or its stars, Monster Hunter Wilds is one of the biggest games of 2025, and it’s not even had its official release yet. The development team at Capcom aren’t slacking though, and IGN sat down with Producer Ryozo Tsujimoto and Director Yuya Tokuda at IGN Fan Fest to find out what’s next for Monster Hunter Wilds once the game launches on February 28. There’s a new area that will have you wanting to pull on the thermal underwear, a special item pack for Fan Fest viewers, and a live-action trailer that will leave you more excited than a Lala Barina at a floristry convention.

Brand new to the series, Iceshard Cliffs region is described as “a frigid land swept with snowy blizzards.” If you missed the trailer that gave us a sneak peek at it, think gorges constructed of ice and rock, ruins peeking through glaciers, and treacherous looking caves.

“The new locale is called the Iceshard Cliffs, which has [a lot of] cold weather, and during the inclemency, which is the harsh weather in the game, it kind of looks very dark, especially in the trailers that were revealed, but when you’re actually playing it’s very dynamic in the colors, and you can see a different side of the locale as you’re playing,” promises Tokuda.

The scenery might be desktop wallpaper worthy, but what hardened Monster Hunters really care about is the wildlife roaming around those snowy sites, and Monster Hunter Wilds’ Iceshard Cliffs sounds like they won’t be disappointing anyone on that front.

“There are, outside of the returning monsters that have the ice element, there are some other monsters that were also shown in the trailer, such as the flying Leviathan-type monster, Hirabami,” says Tokuda.

“Hirabamis move in herds, and you can see in the trailer, but there’s also a larger monster behind the herd of the Hirabami, which is the apex monster of the Ice Shard Cliffs, and it’s a very large monster and has various attacks, and we hope everybody enjoys it.”

Gaga for Gore Magala

Since the interview, it’s been revealed that the new apex monster is called Jin Dahaad, which looks kind of like if a dragon fell into a silverware drawer and then had a nap in your freezer. Another monster fans might have spotted is our old friend Gore Magala, who appeared in Monster Hunter 4.

“We also had a popularity poll with the monsters, and it was in fifth place, and it’s also very popular in the North American region, and we hope everybody looks forward to fighting this monster,” added Tsujimoto.

Tsujimoto and Tokuda also had some advice for players facing a couple of the tougher monsters in Monster Hunter Wilds – the ‘White Wraith’ Arkveld and Nerscylla – either during the beta or when the game is released in a few days.

“So in Monster Hunter Wilds, we have the flagship monster, Arkveld,” says Tokuda.

“It wasn’t completely tricky, but it sometimes goes on with full-strength attacks. It has, like, a mix of both. The attacks that Arkveld uses, it uses its wings, which can stretch from short to pretty long. And it has a wide range of attacks, so it’s really hard to get used to at first. Hopefully, during the open beta test, too, everybody enjoyed fighting Arkveld. I think that using SOS flares to have other people play with you and help you hunt, enjoying multiplayer, really helps with this monster.

“This also applies for other large monsters, but when the large monsters have big attacks, they tend to be a little bit more vulnerable to focus strikes, which then you can use to deal more damage to it. So it’s a good chance for you to deal more damage when the monsters do a very big attack. And on top of that, you can also carry two weapons in Monster Hunter Wilds, so you can have one weapon as your choice and the secondary weapon to be an element weapon so that you can deal damage according to the monster.”

There was also some advice for the arachnophobes dealing with the Temnoceran Nerscylla, an agile prey with sleep and poison attacks.

“Nerscylla uses many elements that can put players to sleep, and that can be difficult sometimes,” explains Tsujimoto. “So when you face a monster that uses elements, it’s nice if you can use items, but I also think that because we have Seikret introduced in Monster Hunter Wilds, while you’re riding on the Seikret, Seikret can automatically evade monster attacks, some of the monster attacks.”

“So when your health is running low, you can hop on your Seikret and use potions while riding it and also fix your status, so using Seikret to your benefit is also a very strong point when fighting monsters.”

Monster Hunter Wilds is available for pre-order now and will be released on February 28, 2025, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Steam, and there’s already a treasure trove of extra content waiting to keep the adventure going. The first is a spring update that will add water monster Mizutsune to the Forbidden Lands, with Event Quests and unspecified additional updates to follow. Another monster will join the party in summer, and Capcom has some other delights up its armored sleeves, too.

“There are three title updates that have been announced already, and other than that, there are additional contents that we have planned down the line and several other title updates, so we hope people can enjoy it for a very long time,” says Tsujimoto.

“Actual paid DLC contents would include mainly cosmetic content, such as gestures and face paint and stamp stickers, so we do have those also planned down the line, so we hope everybody who is interested in it also looks forward to it.”

We Have the Meats

And because you’ve checked out IGN during the Fan Fest celebrations, Capcom has a special pack just for you. You’ll be able to claim the Hunter Helper: Strength Pack from an in-game NPC. Codes are available starting February 24 through IGN Rewards while supplies last and are redeemable beginning February 28, 2025. See terms and conditions here.

Inside the Hunter Health: Strength Pack

Raw Meat x 10
Well-Done Steak x 10
Energy Drink x 10
Dash Juice x 3
Ancient Potion x 1

“Inside the item pack, we have well-done steaks, which if you eat it, you can maximize your health and not only replenish it, but also increase the maximum amount of health you have,” explains Tokuda.

“And you also have the ingredient of the well-done steak, which is the raw meat, so you can cook it when you run out of your well-done meat. We also have the dash juice, which are items that are a little bit harder to obtain, so when you have them on hand, they will probably be very useful to you. Also, in the ice shard cliffs, there is Nursilla, and Nursilla uses the sleep elements to make the hunters fall asleep. Before you completely fall asleep, if you take the energy drink, you can avoid falling asleep and continue hunting so maybe with this item pack, you can keep it and save it until you fight Nursilla and make use of it.”

Check out our final hands-on preview with Monster Hunter Wilds while you wait for the full release on February 28, and don’t forget to tune into more IGN Fan Fest between February 24 – 28, 2025 with streams every day featuring a new ID@Xbox showcase, Daredevil: Born Again, Mickey 17, Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, and much more.