Monster Hunter Wilds Director Says Ascendance Needed a Time Skip to Show How the Forbidden Lands Changed

Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance will not immediately continue the story from where the base game ended. Instead, Capcom has introduced a significant time skip, allowing the expansion to explore how the Forbidden Lands and its people have changed after the events of Monster Hunter Wilds.

Kaname Fujioka, executive director and art director of Ascendance, explained the decision during an interview with Video Games Chronicle. He said the team wanted to show the long-term effects of the hunter’s arrival on the people living in the Forbidden Lands.

“By adding a time skip, I think it lets us see the characters we knew, such as Nata, who were children or teenagers whenever we met them in the first game.”

According to Fujioka, the original game showed hunters arriving as outsiders and gradually working alongside the people of the Forbidden Lands. However, the developers felt that immediately continuing the story would not give them enough room to demonstrate how those events affected the region’s culture and lifestyles over a longer period.

Nata and the Forbidden Lands Have Had Time to Change

The time skip also allows familiar characters to grow considerably. Nata, who was still a child or teenager during Monster Hunter Wilds, will now be seen as an older character with a more developed personality.

Fujioka explained that the change could not have been convincingly achieved with only a short gap between the two games. The passage of several years instead gives Capcom an opportunity to explore how the characters and society have developed following the events of the base game.

The story will also expand on mysteries surrounding the Forbidden Lands. Capcom has confirmed that the sudden appearance of Elder Dragons will be an important part of Ascendance’s story, while the expansion will explore the background of the eastern region and the forbidden ruins.

The time skip is only one part of Capcom’s attempt to make Ascendance feel like a genuine continuation of Wilds. The expansion introduces the Skybound Eyrie, a highly vertical new region designed around the Seikret’s aerial mobility, alongside Master Rank quests and new gameplay systems.

Capcom has also said that player feedback from Wilds has influenced the expansion, with improvements being made to areas such as the UI, gameplay systems and combat.

Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance is scheduled to launch in 2027.