Ben Veress is a Contributing Features Writer at DualShockers based in Melbourne, Australia. He has been covering games professionally since 2021, with experience writing features, lists, reviews, and news across gaming, tech, culture, and entertainment.
Before joining DualShockers, Ben wrote for Kotaku AU, Gizmodo AU, Vice AU, Pedestrian.TV, Quest Daily, Blunt Magazine, Impulse Gamer, and Inkl. At Pedestrian.TV, he served as the publication’s sole tech and gaming writer, leading coverage of major gaming releases and events for one of Australia’s major youth publications. He holds a Bachelor of Communications in Media from RMIT University and was nominated for Best Branded Content Journalist at the Australian Samsung IT Awards in 2025.
Monster Hunter Wilds is set to receive its first major DLC, Ascendance, sometime in 2027. Thankfully, that doesn't seem that far away, especially since I had the chance to play some of it at this year's Tokyo Game Show.
While we didn't get to free roam around too much, this preview did let us test two new hunts and try out the new changes to weapons thanks to the new Boost mode. The first hunt was the airborne Alpha Araketa, and the second was a new variant of the Teostra.
Now I'll be honest, I'm far from a serious Monster Hunter player. I'll grind the game on release with friends, dabble in some of the end-game hunts, but fall off before getting into the true meat of the endgame. Which is a short way of saying that I am a long sword spammer who occasionally gets carried through the toughest fights.
I say this now because this demo kicked my butt, but I had a great time while it happened. Is there a correlation between masochism and being a Monster Hunter fan? I'll let my therapist make that claim. In the meantime, let's chat about what I saw in the demo and how this bodes for Monster Hunter Wilds as a whole.
Monster Hunter Wilds shares a similar story to Dragon's Dogma 2. Both games earned a cult-classic status among gamers, generating immense word of mouth over the years. Then, when their sequels finally released, both would have a breakout financial success, smashing sales records beyond expectations. Still, fans would return to the previous game, admitting that their newest outing was either not as difficult or that its endgame wasn't as satisfying as before.
Dragon's Dogma 2 is set to receive its own expansion next month addressing these complaints, while Monster Hunter Wilds is expected to see theirs sometime in 2027.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.dualshockers.com/tgs-2026-monster-hunter-wilds-ascendance-kicked-my-butt/
