Monster Hunter Wilds is reducing VRAM usage while introducing even fiercer monsters.
Monster Hunter Wilds is optimizing VRAM demands and ramping up monster challenges.
Monster Hunter Wilds is streamlining VRAM consumption and enhancing monster difficulty.
Monster Hunter Wilds is cutting back on VRAM strain while making monsters even tougher.
Monster Hunter Wilds is lowering VRAM requirements and intensifying monster battles.

Ahead of this Friday’s big content update for Monster Hunter Wilds, Capcom have put out a new blog from director Yuya Tokuda, detailing more scaly, slimy, and shiny additions. The main theme here is “harder fights”, with arch-tempered variants of monsters besides the announced Ray Dau. But there’s plenty of other planned smaller tweaks and goodies, including a reduction in VRAM usage coming “very soon”.

Friday’s update includes long n’ purple Mizutsune, plus repeatable fights with Zoh Shia, previously a one-off story monster. There’s also a new gathering hub, which I’m especially happy about – I miss what I once referred to as “Astera’s gung-ho trumpetbastardry”. I want to see people and I want to see lights, and I also want to see virtuosic cat chefs.

That’s all ancient soup though, so what’s new? First, there’s seasonal event Festival of Accord: Blossomdance starting April 22nd. These are limited events that offer new cosmetic gear, gestures, and decorations, with the titular blossoms being a theme this go around. April 30th brings a limited time arch-tempered Ray Dau event, with a permanent free hunt from May 7th. At least, this is what the text says, the image above seems to contradict that. Either way, arch-tempered Raymond is on the way.

Then, at the end of May, there’s a ‘Capcom collaboration’, plus additional features. Monster Hunter World featured a Dante (from the Devil May Cry series) set, so I’m assuming it’s something similar. I’ll avoid any easy wanking jokes about Capcom ‘collaborating’ with itself, obviously. Finally, there’s another big update due sometime in Summer, fonted as such to suggest a similar sized offering to Friday’s monst drop.

Tokuda then goes into details about future plans. First up: more 8 Star Tempered Monst in the vein of Tempered Arkveld, with Tempered Mizutsune being the first. “In addition, the update at the end of May will add the Tempered Monsters (★8) Gore Magala and the apex predators of each locale: Rey Dau, Uth Duna, Nu Udra, and Jin Dahaad,” say Capcom.

Next, there’s balance adjustments across the board, with hammer buffs and corruption mantle nerfs mentioned specifically. There’s some quality of life bits mentioned, specifically “the ease of restocking items, checking skill information, participating in multiplayer quests and using the Seikret; and camera behaviour during hunts”. A bit later on, there’s also the mention of layered weapons, endemic life previews, and “a wider look at overall gameplay flow, which encompasses a range of things, such as the in-game economy, balance and other areas”.

In terms of PC performance, Capcom say the following:

The team is continuing to identify stability issues and make improvements where possible, especially on the Steam version. This will be an ongoing process, where we’ll aim to make continual steps forward in this area and respond to critical issues.

Improvements coming very soon include a reduction in VRAM usage and an upgrade to the DirectStorage version of the Steam version in Free Title Update 1. These should result in an overall improvement in stability for our PC players.

Jubilant news indeed. If you’re still having issues with performance and/or general ugliness, I found that the REFramework and Disable Lens Distortion mods work wonders, although official improvements are obviously welcome. Now give me an Arch Tempered Greater Jagras. He deserves revenge.