I’ll be honest: I don’t like this.

Monster Hunter has always had an aesthetic. An aesthetic which was established in the first game, and followed all the way up to World and Rise. The monsters are natural, animals with evolved adaptations rather than movie villains manufactured to be horrifying.

Xu Wu breaks this aesthetic. (And so do Balahara and Rompopolo.)

I dislike it for the same reasons I dislike Magnamalo or Vaal Hazak: it doesn’t look like something that has naturally evolved. If it were a Guardian like Zoh Shia that would make sense, but it isn’t. It’s just a normal monster, but it’s designed like a Lovecraftian horror from deep space.

If you showed Xu Wu to people with no knowledge of Wilds, and asked them which Capcom game it comes from, I’m positive that every one of them would answer “Resident Evil”. Rant over.

Monster Hunter has always had an aesthetic. An aesthetic which was established in the first game, and followed all the way up to World and Rise. The monsters are natural, animals with evolved adaptations rather than movie villains manufactured to be horrifying.

Xu Wu breaks this aesthetic. (And so do Balahara and Rompopolo.)

I dislike it for the same reasons I dislike Magnamalo or Vaal Hazak: it doesn’t look like something that has naturally evolved. If it were a Guardian like Zoh Shia that would make sense, but it isn’t. It’s just a normal monster, but it’s designed like a Lovecraftian horror from deep space.

If you showed Xu Wu to people with no knowledge of Wilds, and asked them which Capcom game it comes from, I’m positive that every one of them would answer “Resident Evil”. Rant over.