Monster Hunter Wilds confirms crossplay for all platforms in a series first, and quietly reveals what might be its most important monster

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That sure looks like a flagship monster to me

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A new gameplay trailer for Monster Hunter Wilds was released during tonight's Summer Game Fest Live showcase, and as series producer Ryozo Tsujimoto mentioned on-stage, it slipped in what might be the game's flagship monster. More importantly, Capcom confirmed that Wilds will support cross-play across PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC - a three-platform first for the series. 

The immediate response from fans, who were hoping for just such an announcement after Monster Hunter Rise tacitly acknowledged the demand for crossplay, has been unsurprisingly positive. The only catch to Monster Hunter Wilds crossplay is that there won't be cross-save support, meaning game progress and purchased content will be tied to individual platforms and "it will not be possible to share save data across the different platforms." 

Back to the trailer, two new large monsters were revealed today: the black, worm-like leviathan Balahara (according to the game's Japanese Twitter account) which our featured hunter battles directly, and a mysterious lightning-charged flying wyvern briefly shown at the end of the trailer. The latter gives me Shagaru Magala and Seregios vibes and may or may not be an Elder Dragon, but it seems more likely to be a flagship flying wyvern encountered in the Wilds campaign. Whatever the case, it certainly sounds like it's something special.

"I want everyone to be on the lookout for a very mysterious large monster near the end of the trailer, which is an important monster within the game," Tsujimoto teased. 

Thus far, Wilds has exclusively shown new large monsters in its trailers, which bodes well for the variety coming in the full roster. It also squeezes in another series-first through clever application of its new mounts: two weapon slots. 

11 years later, Monster Hunter Wilds sleuths are convinced the action RPG is a follow-up to both Monster Hunter World and Monster Hunter 4.

Austin Wood
Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.