Wild beasts may be the player’s greatest foe in Capcom’s Monster Hunter franchise, but gender has remained the true enemy for many years – until now, that is. After more than 20 games and 20 years, armour designs will no longer be locked between male and female characters in Monster Hunter Wilds, the next mainline entry due out in 2025.
Speaking during a presentation at Gamescom 2024, game director Yuya Tokuda confirmed the addition of the long-requested feature, allowing any character to wear any equipment.
“In previous Monster Hunter games, male and female armour were separate,” he said. “I’m happy to confirm that in Monster Hunter Wilds, there’s no more male and female armour. All characters can wear any gear.”
Following the announcement, fans took to Reddit to share their excitement, of which there’s certainly plenty to go around. A post titled “WE DEFEATED GENDER” currently sits on the top on the series’ subreddit page, with 11,000 upvotes and counting. “We did it. Gender is no more more. Or would our gender now be ‘Hunter’?”, reads one comment, prompting the following tongue-in-cheek response: “Ah yes, the two genders: Monster and Hunter”.
The popular franchise has long distinguished between female and male armour with vastly different physical designs, despite sharing the same stats. The former, unsurprisingly, tends to show more skin, while the latter generally sports a bulkier, broader cut. While Monster Hunter Rise would later remove “male” and “female” from the equipment, the body “type 1” and “type 2” descriptors were retained.
Free of these constraints, Monster Hunter Wilds presents the perfect opportunity for players to go wild on their hunting fashion. The game was first announced in December 2023, and is currently slated for a 2025 release with cross-platform support.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Kevin Low
