Monster Hunter Wilds Developers Detail May 28 Ver. 1.011 Update

Monster Hunter Wilds director Yuya Tokuda has revealed what’s coming up in the May 28 Ver. 1.011 update, including “an abundance of new features and changes to the game including a collaboration with Street Fighter 6.”

In his latest Director’s Letter, Tokuda said the team wanted “to provide more great content for you to enjoy as well as make various adjustments to make Monster Hunter Wilds even more fun to play,” including new challenger, Street Fighter’s Akuma. You’ll get a full Arkuma armor set as well as layered armor, and whenever you have either set equipped, three items will be added to your item bar — assisted combo Akuma, Drive Impact, and Gou Hadoken (you can find out more about them on the official Monster Hunter website).

We’re also getting eight-star “challenging” monsters in Ver. 1.011 — Gore Magala, Rey Dau, Uth Duna, Nu Udra, and Jin Dahaad will become available to hunt at HR 41 and higher; this will give players options for hunting eight-star tempered monsters other than Arkveld — although they will still be available to hunt at seven-star difficulty. The eight-star versions, however, will be more resilient, with increased health, wound resistance, and “tweaks to multiplayer scaling.” Tokuda warns that Tempered Gore Magala is a “particularly tough challenge to even the best of hunters.” You can expect higher-difficulty quests and quests with multiple monsters to pop up more often, too, as your HR increases.

A slew of “player-centric balance adjustments” are also on the way in both Ver. 1.011 and Title Update 2. The Hammer, Hunting Horn, Gunlance, Light Bowgun, and Heavy Bowgun all had various adjustments made, and “certain aspects” for Gunlance Artian weapons have been increased.

“While some weapons have had certain parameters adjusted downward, other parameters have been adjusted upwards, and viewed in totality I think you will find that all weapon types have had their possibilities expanded, so I encourage you to give them a try for yourself once the update is out,” Tokuda said, adding that the Hammer and Dual Blades are additionally receiving “various improvements.”

As part of other QoL tweaks, Hunters will be able to rest in the Grand Hub and Suja, Peaks of Accord. Resting restores all destroyed Pop-up Camps, a confirmation window will no longer appear after obtaining an item when your item pouch is full (the obtained item will automatically be sent to your item box), and the visibility of the remaining time of meal effects is improved — the countdown will display 10 minutes before expiration. In fact, all notifications have been adjusted, with their frequency in locales lowered so only higher-priority targets will be displayed in the environment overview. They will also no longer block the input for opening the map.

“As mentioned in the previous director’s letter, you will be able to view individual endemic life you captured,” Tokuda added. “In the Windward Plains, select Check Endemic Life in Ecological Research to view your creatures and their names, as well as the size and weight of fish you caught. You can also favorite creatures so that they’ll be kept even if you go over the maximum storage capacity! Individual creatures can have different patterns or other unique elements, so if you find one you particularly like, be sure to use this feature to keep it around!”

You can also expect stability improvements — particularly on Steam — and with the addition of eight-star monsters, the rewards for eight-star investigations and field surveys have also been increased. Guild Point rewards for fishing have also been “rebalanced,” although how has yet to be explained.

Monster Hunter Wilds is the latest mainline installment in Capcom’s longrunning Monster Hunter series, boasting dynamic, ever-changing environments, and a story of monsters and humans in a world with two faces: one in which the lands are harsh and unforgiving, where monsters fight for scant resources and another in which the lands are vibrant and brimming with life. We gave Monster Hunters Wilds an 8 in our review, writing: “Monster Hunter Wilds continues to smooth off the rougher corners of the series in smart ways, making for some extremely fun fights but also lacking any real challenge.”

Did you see that Monster Hunter Wilds players have discovered an unconventional method of dodge attacks by using their emotes?

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.