Capcom's been no stranger to marketing the upcoming Monster Hunter: World in recent months. While any initial details on the game were kept under lock and key away from the franchise's many ravenous fans, details have slowly begun to leak out. An early release in late July unveiled all fourteen of the game's available weapon types, while a trailer later in August would show off the setting of Wildfire Wastes. Today, Capcom added a new release to the mix in the form of a new trailer showcasing Monster Hunter: World's story. Check it out:
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The trailer, which initially appeared during the PlayStation Tokyo Game Show conference from last night, definitely fulfills its purpose of hyping up the game's many unique monster encounters. There's at least a couple of new creatures that we've yet to see, each with its own special designs and animations, as well as a handful of familiar faces from earlier installments. As for the story - well, it's hard to gauge the quality from the few short lines included in the trailer, though the voice work is certainly better than we had any right to expect.
A simultaneous post on the PlayStation Blog by Capcom community manager Yuri Araujo described the setting as "a rich and intricate set of living, breathing ecosystems," that requires the player to operate from their own base of operations, Astera. As "the beating heart of the Research Comission," Astera includes every commodity and tool your average monster hunter would need access to:
Guild representatives: these are your points of contact for every quest in the game. They'll give you all the details on every quest, including any special instructions and potential hazards.
Blacksmiths: as you take down foe after foe, you can bring raw materials, such as scales, claws, bones and minerals, to the blacksmiths and they'll forge new weapons and armor to prepare you for the next hunt.
Shopkeepers: in addition to picking the right weapon and armor set for the job, you'll also need healing potions, traps and ammo. Talk to these folks on your way out to the field to replenish your toolset.
Cantina: this is arguably the most important spot in Astera. As every good hunter knows, you should never hunt on an empty stomach, so head on over to the cantina and get a delicious meal before every quest to boost your stats!
Research team: we wouldn't be a "Research Commission" without one, and these fellows play a key role in Monster Hunter: World. As you saw in our latest trailer above, you have a pretty important job ahead of you, and you'll be working alongside Astera researchers to get it done.
It sounds like Astera will be fulfilling the role of the "hub world" from most of the series' earlier installments. Whether or not it will be a permanent fixture in the game or the player will eventually migrate to greener pastures is up in the air, as are the final details of the story.
Capcom did reveal a launch date, however. Monster Hunter: World is set to release on January 26, 2018 for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. A concrete PC release date has yet to be announced, with only a vague promise that it will follow "at a later date."
