After watching a short 30-minute gameplay demo of Beast Tracker Wilds at Summer Game Fest, I know one thing for sure: I’ll be buying this game on day one. It looks fantastic.
Of course, keep all that in mind as I discuss what I saw: I know some of what’s new, but I don’t have the knowledge of a veteran to dive into the specific details or comparisons. With that, let’s dive in!
We started in the headquarters, with NPCs and a blacksmith’s shop abound. We didn’t get to spend much time here, but one thing that sticks out about the space along with everything else we saw: there’s just so much detail. You can tell a lot of care has gone into the space, including the characters. NPCs like Gemma the blacksmith with her huge, messy hair are already a big hit, and the camp is also full of adorable Palicoes working away and looking busy.
That level of care became even more apparent when our presenter opened up the world map and showed off the Windward Fields, one area we can explore in Beast Tracker Wilds. Apparently, the map is going to be roughly twice the size of anything we’ve seen before in the series, and there are a ton of verticality and environmental objects to interact with. We also get a mount to quickly explore the fields from the beginning because of the size and the team wanting us to be able to get around more quickly.
Before we got to explore that vast space, we made a quick stop at Konafa Town, a bustling city with a very specific specialty: cheese. They raise their own animals to make the cheese, and the merchants there seem to trade in it almost exclusively. At first, this seemed like an odd thing to show off—especially as someone who isn’t overly fond of cheese. But then I realized this is yet another example of the kind of detailed precision they’re going for, where locations feel lived in and unique. I’m curious to see what else they have in store throughout the fields.
Finally, it was time for the hunt! The presenter showed off the map again, where I noticed just how much information was laid out, including which monsters appear in a given space and even showing what time of day they appear.
After that, we prepped a quick (delicious-looking) meal and were off on the hunt. We didn’t have to accept a quest and simply found it in the field. It impressed me that as we left the town, we seamlessly transitioned into the field, and this will be true throughout the game: no loading screens and no getting pushed back to the camp after a hunt is over. Free and smooth exploration is the order of the day here.
Our hunt mark was the Alpha Doshaguma, and we slowly approached it using a cloak to avoid aggroing the rest of the herd. Then, the player started attacking the Doshaguma with their great sword. This is actually when the “quest” to attack the monster appeared — no need to pick it up beforehand. I know this is a new feature, and I’m sure this will create a more dynamic feel to the exploration in Beast Tracker Wilds.
It all seemed pretty normal to me at this point, but that’s when the environmental factors the developers have been promising came into play. When we drew the attention of the rest of the herd, we hopped on our mount to create some distance. In the process, the rest of the herd got trapped in a pit of quicksand created by another monster we’ll eventually hunt. Apparently, these environmental traps are scattered throughout the space and can pop up at any moment. The Alpha was powerful enough to escape the trap, though, and it kept pursuing us as we pulled out our ranged weapon to draw it into a more favorable space.
That’s when what the developers are calling a “dynamic weather event” hit, and not only did the world turn dark with lightning striking all around us, but an “apex” monster that only appears during these events emerged to attack. Luckily, the apex monster started attacking the Doshaguma instead of us, dishing out massive damage. While the hunt was distracted, they took the opportunity to hop on top of it to chip away with a hunting knife, but it eventually led to the opportunity to do a special attack, dealing huge damage. We then hopped off and tried to lead it into additional traps — rocks to drop on it, fires on the ground from lightning strikes, and some traps we could set ourselves to keep our prey in place.
The number of environments we can use to our advantage (or that might harm us) is simply absurd in Beast Tracker Wilds, promising to build on what previous games have done, but a lot more. Of course, I know that the video we watched is highly curated and played by an expert, but if they deliver on even half of what we saw during the demo, it’ll be a blast.
Later in the fight, the player took the opportunity to fast travel a short distance to a camp and adjust equipment before returning to Doshaguma. The monster had run back to its lair, so we had to hunt it down again, but it wasn’t a long walk. I know I’m new to the series, but I love the idea of the fight being dynamic enough for us to walk away so we can retool before heading back out on the hunt. It feels realistic and like a nice way to take a break, especially with the fast travel always available.
After we caught back up with our mark, the phase of the day changed again, this time to the “phase of plenty” — a time with environmental factors more focused on healing us and less on damaging the quarry. That’s when they showed the “focus” system — a way to attack wounds on the monster and deal massive damage.
And with that, after almost 20 minutes of varied, intense combat, our hunt was over, and of course we needed to grab our loot off the Doshaguma to craft new weapons and strengthen the ones we already have.
To put it simply, I think Beast Tracker Wilds is going to pull even more people into the fold of the series by fully embracing the openness they’ve introduced with the last two Beast Tracker titles. The extraordinary dynamism of the combat and our interactions with the environment were simply jaw-dropping and took me from someone who is pretty interested in the series to someone who can’t wait to get home and fire up Beast Tracker Rise to get ready for Wilds.
By Andrej Kovacevic
Updated on 12th June 2024