Monster Hunter Wilds Reveals New Monsters, Confirms Cross-Play at Summer Game Fest

You are small, these things are enormous, and you fight them anyway.
The core appeal of Monster Hunter Wilds, shown in the Summer Game Fest trailer.

At Summer Game Fest 2024, Capcom offered a glimpse into the wilds that await hunters in 2025—two unsettling new creatures and a quiet but meaningful promise: that the walls separating players by platform will finally come down. It is a moment that speaks to something older than gaming itself, the desire to face the unknown not alone, but alongside those we choose.

  • Two new monsters emerge from the unknown—sandworm-like Leviathans that swallow hunters in quicksand, and a faceless, lightning-horned Flying Wyvern that defies easy description.
  • The community's long-standing frustration with platform isolation reaches a turning point as Capcom officially confirms cross-play across Xbox, PlayStation, and PC.
  • A single trailer carries the weight of years of requests, showing hunters charging into chaos together—a visual argument for why cross-play matters.
  • With a 2025 launch window set and the full monster roster still unrevealed, anticipation is building toward something larger than any single announcement.

Capcom arrived at Summer Game Fest 2024 with a Monster Hunter Wilds trailer that delivered on two fronts the community had been watching closely: new monsters and a long-awaited feature.

The first new creatures are the Balahara—Leviathan-type monsters that glide through sand like fish through water, drawing clear inspiration from the sandworms of Dune. They hunt in packs, create quicksand traps, and in the trailer, two hunters are shown fleeing across open desert as the creatures close in. The second monster is stranger still: a faceless Flying Wyvern with massive horns that discharge bolts of lightning. Its design is genuinely unsettling, and the trailer offers just enough to leave a lasting impression.

Beyond the creatures, Capcom confirmed via social media that Monster Hunter Wilds will support cross-play across Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC on Steam. It's a feature players have requested since Monster Hunter World, and its arrival removes one of the series' most persistent barriers—the inability to hunt with friends across different platforms.

The full monster roster remains under wraps, and 2025 is still some distance away. But Capcom has given the community something real to hold onto: new threats on the horizon, and for the first time, the freedom to face them together.

Capcom took the stage at Summer Game Fest 2024 with a new trailer for Monster Hunter Wilds, and the announcement came with two things the community has been waiting for: a look at fresh monsters and, finally, cross-play support.

The trailer introduced two new creatures that hunters will face when the game launches in 2025. The first are the Balahara, Leviathan-type monsters that move through sand the way fish move through water. They're inspired by the sandworms of Dune—massive, terrifying things that can create quicksand pits to trap and consume their prey. In the footage, two hunters are shown being pursued by a pack of them, running for their lives across open desert.

The second monster is harder to pin down. It's a Flying Wyvern with no visible face, equipped with enormous horns that fire bolts of lightning. The trailer doesn't linger long enough to reveal much more, but the design is unsettling enough to stick with you—something genuinely alien in its appearance.

Throughout the footage, the player character shows no hesitation. Armed with a Greatsword and Heavy Bowgun, the hunter charges directly into the chaos to protect their team. It's the kind of moment that sells the fantasy of the series: you are small, these things are enormous, and you fight them anyway.

But the real news came via Capcom's social media accounts. Monster Hunter Wilds will support cross-play across all platforms—Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam. This is a feature players have been asking for since Monster Hunter World. The ability to hunt with friends regardless of which console or PC they own removes one of the series' longest-standing friction points. When the game arrives in 2025, that barrier will be gone.

What the trailer showed is only a fraction of what's coming. Capcom hasn't revealed the full roster of monsters, so there will be plenty more surprises when the game ships. For now, the studio has given hunters enough to be excited about—new threats to overcome, and finally, the ability to face them together.

Cross-play will finally come to Monster Hunter
— Capcom (via announcement at Summer Game Fest 2024)
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Inventor

Why does cross-play matter so much for a game like this?

Model

Monster Hunter is fundamentally about cooperation. You're hunting with friends, coordinating attacks, covering each other's weaknesses. If your friend is on PlayStation and you're on Xbox, you've been locked out of that experience. Cross-play removes that wall.

Inventor

And the monsters themselves—what makes these two interesting?

Model

The Balahara is visceral. It's a predator that uses the environment as a weapon, turning sand into a trap. It's not just about fighting it; it's about understanding how it hunts. The Flying Wyvern is the opposite—pure chaos, lightning everywhere. They're designed to feel different from each other.

Inventor

Is this the first time we've seen these creatures?

Model

Yes. Capcom revealed them specifically at Summer Game Fest. There's clearly more in the game that hasn't been shown yet.

Inventor

What does the 2025 launch window tell us?

Model

It's still a ways off, which means the game is probably still in active development. They're confident enough to show it publicly, but not so close to launch that they're locking down a specific date.

Inventor

Why would fans have been waiting for cross-play specifically?

Model

Because Monster Hunter World came out in 2018 without it. That's six years of players asking for the feature. It became the thing the community wanted most. Now it's finally happening.

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