Monster Hunter Wilds Unveils Cooking Mechanics

Summary

• Monster Hunter Wilds aims to make in-game food look irresistibly appetizing through exaggerated realism.
• Players can enjoy meals anywhere in the game, fostering a camping grill atmosphere rather than a restaurant setting.
• The game will offer a diverse menu, including a secret "extravagant" meat dish, to enhance the food-related bliss.

Monster Hunter Wilds is set to elevate the visual appeal of in-game food to new heights, as confirmed by key members of its development team. The game will showcase a wide variety of dishes, from meats and fish to vegetables, with developers going the extra mile to make them look as delicious as possible, even surpassing realism.

Since its inception in 2004, the Monster Hunter series has included cooking as a core mechanic, allowing players to consume large portions of meat from defeated monsters. Over the years, this feature has evolved, with the list of meals and their benefits growing more significant. The focus on food intensified with Monster Hunter World in 2018, where the developers strived to create realistic and appetizing dining experiences.

With Monster Hunter Wilds set to launch on February 28, 2025, executive director/art director Kaname Fujioka and director Yuya Tokuda are pushing the boundaries even further. They believe that few games successfully depict food that looks truly appetizing. "Making it look realistic isn't enough to make it look good," Fujioka explained in a recent IGN video interview. "You really have to think about what makes something look delicious." This involves blending realism with exaggeration, drawing inspiration from anime and food commercials, including special lighting effects and enhanced food models.

Monster Hunter Wild Devs Use Exaggerated Realism in Cooking Scenes

In Monster Hunter Wilds, players will have the freedom to dine anywhere, embracing a camping grill ambiance rather than a traditional restaurant setting. A preview in December featured an enticing cheese pull, capturing fans' attention. Even simpler dishes like roasted cabbage, which posed a challenge for Fujioka, can be made appealing through effects like the cabbage puffing up as the lid is lifted, as shown in an accompanying video with a roasted egg topping.

On the other end of the spectrum, Tokuda, with his passion for meat both in-game and in real life, hinted at the introduction of a secret "extravagant" meat dish, though he kept the details under wraps. The game aims to offer a wide range of dishes and capture the expressions of diners around a cooking fire, delivering an exaggerated yet realistic sense of food-related bliss in its cooking cutscenes.