Take note, fellow developers: this is how it’s done. Capcom has removed gender-restricted armor sets from Monster Hunter in its upcoming PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC title, Monster Hunter Wilds.
As shown in developer log streams which were streamed live from Gamescom 2024 today (and confirmed in a hands-on demo by me), Capcom has decided to ditch the binary armor choices for female and male hunters. Now, no matter what character you decide to create when creating your in-game avatar, you’ll be able to equip all armor variants without any restrictions.
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Typically, Monster Hunter games lock you into one of two versions based on your character build, but in the upcoming title, each player will be able to equip either version A or B of each gear set. I even experimented with mixing and matching; it was possible to utilize a “male” version of Chatucabra’s head and a “female” version of Chatucabra’s body in the same set. Ergo; you can mix and match.
The implications of this are purely cosmetic; the abilities and bonuses granted by the set will be the same regardless of the build you choose, but the aesthetic impact is quite significant. Monster Hunter players have long considered the “Hunter Fashion” to be a major part of the game’s appeal, and essentially doubling the amount of armor each character can wear will have a huge impact.
You want skimpy, skin-baring upper armor and massively oversized and frankly comical greaves to go with it? Go for it! You want a full-face helmet but an exotic dancer’s waist? You’re welcome. A cursory glance at the community meeting centers (read: Reddit or Twitter) shows that most people are content about it. After all, why should your body type prevent you from wearing whatever clothes you want? In real life, or virtually, for that matter.
“Big W Capcom; now I can make my manly guy look more feminine,” says one observer. “Can’t wait to make the most promiscuous femboy imaginable in this game,” says another. “This was the best news for fashion hunters since transmogrification,” says one Reddit user. But perhaps my favorite assessment of the situation is, “oh yes, two genders: Monster and Hunter.”
What I really like about this is that Capcom still put the effort into making both sets of armor and giving all avatars the ability to wear them. It would have been much easier to just make one set and have it be “the” armor set for every monster or resource. It shows the effort and detail the developers are going to put into it, and really fits in with what Monster Hunter has always been about: giving players the choice to truly play the game the way they want.
The content offered in the demo was fairly featherlight, so it’s unclear whether we’ll see the return of the Alpha and Beta armor sets. But a hunter can dream, a hunter can dream.
Monster Hunter Wilds is set to release on Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC in 2025. Check out the latest trailer here.
