For a game mostly about bashing monster skulls and making cool armor out of them, Monster Hunter Wilds also sports the most cohesive and engaging narrative the series has ever seen.
Part of crafting that story has seen Capcom pulling a reverse Ursula, giving my once-mute Hunter a voice after two decades. It's a decision that I was, admittedly, a little hesitant about embracing. It's not something that's always gone down necessarily well in other games: Fallout 4's nattering vault dweller wasn't exactly a winner for Bethesda, and the Dead Space Remake ended up regurgitating mixed opinions on Isaac Clarke's departure from the silent.
I feared I'd be frantically looking for the mute button every time my Hunter opened her goddamn mouth, but instead I found myself more enamoured with her than I'd ever been in any Monster Hunter prior, and I firmly believe going down the voices protagonist route is one of the best decisions Capcom has made.
Speak now
I gotta be honest with you all: I've honestly never felt overly attached to my Hunter, personality-wise. Not that I'm totally against the silent protagonist, mind. I've played thousands of hours of Final Fantasy 14 and my Warrior of Light who has never spoken a word in over 10 years, yet I would absolutely die for them, but I never afforded those same feelings to the number of Monster Hunter protagonists I've slain Rathalos as over the years.
I've always enjoyed making her look pretty, chucking the coolest armor sets on her and sending her on her way, but when it came to actually caring about her and her relationships with fellow characters, I could take it or leave it.
Yet from the moment my Wilds Hunter started to speak, her slightly gravelly voice with a lower pitch similar to my own, I was totally hooked. It definitely helps that Capcom has done away with the generic "rookie adventurer starting from the bottom" shtick, instead opting to make me a seasoned, well-respected Hunter who's been at it for a hot sec. It's significantly less tabula rasa than Monster Hunters of yore, and it's a fantastic change.
That authority, and giving my Hunter the vocal chords to convey that level of experience, elevates almost every single cutscene she's present in. Trying to tell people you're a hotshot adventurer is a lot harder when all you have at your disposal is giving a thumbs up, folding your arms and looking serious, or simply having everyone else speak for you because you're some kind of dumb dumb who can slay an Elder Dragon but can't speak a lick of English.
The verbal flavour went a shockingly long way to grounding me to my character, the main ensemble of NPCs, and the world I was traversing. Discussing strategies with Alma, imparting my wisdom on a village facing monster trouble, and even having the time to throw in a humorous quip here and there fixed the disconnect I didn't even realise I'd spent so long feeling.
From the moment my Wilds Hunter started to speak, her slightly gravelly voice with a lower pitch similar to my own, I was totally hooked.
No story spoilers here, of course, but one particular cutscene towards the end of Low Rank completely and utterly cemented my love for a voiced protagonist. It's a scene that's dripping in badassery, one that wouldn't have had nearly half the impact on me it did if all I had were grunts and facial expressions to get by. I was sitting at my desk, goosebumps running up my arms as I found myself quietly hollering at how cool the whole thing was, and how bloody good it was to have a Hunter who was completely present, their own person, yet not so much that I didn't feel like I couldn't self-insert at least a little bit.
I really hope people take to a voiced Hunter as much as I have, and that Capcom decides to make it a staple feature of its future games. We may have had to wave goodbye to Monster Hunter Language thanks to changes like this, but with every sentence spoken by my character I can't help but be convinced that it was a change for the better.
