'I think it kind of wouldn't make sense anymore': Monster Hunter Wilds is breaking my heart by doing away with its bespoke language voice option, but that doesn't mean it's vanished entirely
Something that I have always deeply adored about the Monster Hunter series is the fact that you can play the entire game in its own made up language, sporting the very unornamented name Monster Hunter Language.
Well, you could, anyway. Much to my dismay, as Monster Hunter Wilds executive director Kaname Fujioka revealed to me that the team is doing away with its in-game language voice option, instead only offering up those pesky real-life human languages.
Even more to my dismay, there's actually a very good and valid reason why. "I've put a lot of focus on the story this time around, and right from the beginning of development, we've had discussions about how the storylines were developed," he told me during Gamescom last year.
"From the perspective of immersing the player into that experience, the actual dialogue is human languages in multiple different localised versions, including—for the first time ever—the Hunter character themself who actually has dialogue voice lines. So you can't have all that changed to Monster Hunter Language, because I think it kind of wouldn't make sense anymore as a storyline. "
Thankfully, it doesn't seem like Fujioka and the team were ready to depart with such a series staple entirely. "That said, it's still present as an element of this world. So you might overhear those slip into conversations or daily greetings being said by characters, so there's still, in that sense, the original language of the Monster Hunter universe."
I mean, ultimately it makes a lot of sense. Monster Hunter Language is little more than a collection of grunts, groans, and vaguely Simlish-sounding phrases. It doesn't exactly offer the scope of emotion Capcom is looking for with a more involved narrative in Wilds. I do think that the game is a far better experience for it as well, and I can't imagine having enjoyed myself nearly half as much this time if I had been playing in anything other than English.
That being said, I can't help but be the tiniest bit sad. I've been playing these games in Monster Hunter Language for as long as I can remember, and losing that felt like saying goodbye to a tiny bit of my connection to the series. I'm just grateful that it isn't gone entirely, and I'll concede that it's actually really cool getting to hear random pockets of Monster Hunter Language conversation across the Forbidden Lands, even if it's not coming from my own mouth.