Summary
- Monster Hunter Wilds prioritizes visually appealing in-game food, employing exaggerated realism.
- Dining is flexible, offering a campfire cooking experience rather than a formal restaurant setting.
- The game boasts a diverse culinary selection, including a secret, extravagant meat dish, enhancing the overall enjoyment of food-focused gameplay.
Monster Hunter Wilds aims to redefine the visual appeal of in-game food, according to key developers Kaname Fujioka and Yuya Tokuda. The game features a wide variety of meat, fish, and vegetable dishes, meticulously crafted to appear incredibly appetizing, even exceeding realistic representation.
Food has been a consistent element in the Monster Hunter franchise since 2004, initially featuring simple monster meat. This mechanic evolved, gaining importance and expanding its menu and ingredients. Starting with Monster Hunter World (2018), the focus shifted towards realistic dining experiences, creating meals players would genuinely want to eat.
This trend continues and intensifies in Monster Hunter Wilds (launching February 28, 2025), according to Fujioka and Tokuda. They note a scarcity of games with truly appetizing-looking food. Fujioka explains in an IGN interview, "Making it look realistic isn't enough to make it look good. You really have to think about what makes something look delicious." This requires a blend of realism and stylized exaggeration, drawing inspiration from anime and food commercials, utilizing special lighting and enhanced food models.
Monster Hunter Wilds Devs Employ Exaggerated Realism in Cooking Scenes
Unlike previous installments, Monster Hunter Wilds allows players to dine anywhere, emphasizing a casual campfire cooking experience instead of a restaurant setting. A December preview showcased an impressive cheese pull, already exciting fans. Other menu highlights include seemingly simple dishes elevated through visual detail. Fujioka describes the challenge of making roasted cabbage appealing, achieving this through realistic puffing as the lid is removed, enhanced by a roasted egg topping (as seen in accompanying video).
Tokuda, a self-proclaimed meat enthusiast, hints at a secret "extravagant" meat dish, though he remains tight-lipped about its details. Overall, the game focuses on a diverse menu and expressive character animations during meals, creating an exaggerated yet realistic sense of culinary bliss within its cooking scenes.
