Highlight weak points for new special moves.
Good news, fans of repurposing dragons into your next pair of pants: Capcom has dropped a trio of short gameplay overviews for Monster Hunter Wilds, the follow-up to Monster Hunter: World which is due out in 2025. One video highlights the slow-moving, heavy-hitting Greatsword weapon type, while the second covers some basics of Monster Hunter gameplay, touching on the new Seikret mounts and improved arm-mounted Slinger. The third, meanwhile, has some real meat for Monster Hunter sickos, revealing Focus Mode: a new mechanic for precision-targeting attacks, highlighting monster weak points, and enabling new special moves.
Focus Mode, Capcom says, "allows you to carefully aim your attacks or guards." In practice, it looks like an aiming mode you can seamlessly transition into while your weapon's drawn, similar to the aiming modes previously enabled for Monster Hunter's ranged weapons. In Focus Mode, you'll gain a shooter-style aiming reticle even if you're using a melee weapon, providing more precise control for aiming your attacks and blocks.
Generally, melee weapon attacks have been based entirely on which way the player character is facing, which can produce some near-misses if your spacing's a little off; the ability to fine-tune the aiming on weapon attacks is a welcome one. Focus Mode gets even better, though. It'll also place a glowing, red highlight on a monster's wounded areas and weak points. It's a great addition that'll help with spotting those battle-damaged monster parts that aren't as obvious as a severed tail, ensuring you can point that newfound precision where it'll matter most.
Best of all, Focus Mode will also enable Focus Strikes—new special attacks deployable in Focus Mode that deal extra damage if they make contact with a wound or weak point. That new greatsword move from early Wilds previews where the hunter follows a slash by dragging the greatsword across the length of the monster's flank? That's a Focus Strike, triggered by landing that initial attack on a vulnerable spot. Expect each weapon type to have its own Focus Strike options—the video showed some quick glimpses of longsword and gunlance moves, as well as a charged bowgun shot that sent the attacking monster reeling.
Focus Mode looks like it's a successor to the Tenderizing mechanic in Iceborne, which enabled hunters to create temporary "tenderized" weak points after grappling onto a monster. Tenderizing was arguably too useful, with some damage-hungry players essentially seeing it as mandatory, and it was pretty clunky to deploy. Focus Mode could be a great middle ground for aiding players in targeting weak spots without disrupting the natural flow of a hunt.
When you've played enough Monster Hunter, you undergo certain fundamental changes to your psychology as you gradually shift into a machine purpose-built for sword fighting with dinosaurs. For example, I'm now in a place where a minute-long MonHun mechanic reveal video feels like a public holiday. I'm going to be ruminating on the potential of Focus Mode for days, and my personal brainworms are eager to pore over any additional Focus Strike reveals from Capcom in the months to come.
