Will your PC actually be able to run Monster Hunter Wilds? Watch some crisp 4K footage of Ajarakan and Rompopolo fights as you ponder that 5080 upgrade

We are a little over one month away from the highly-anticipated release of Monster Hunter Wilds. As is the case with most games when they near their release date, we’re starting to see more new things to get us excited about Wilds.

The biggest draw for a Monster Hunter game is, of course, the monsters. Thanks to IGN, January is going to bring us fresh looks at so many of the handsome (and fearsome) buggers we’ll be taking on in the full game.

The January cover story kicks off with two crispy 4K videos showing fights against Ajarakan, and Rompopolo. The two of them dwell in the Oilwell Basin area of the game, which is a zone we’ve not seen in earlier footage.

It’s not clear whether gameplay was captured on PC or PS5/Pro, but the performance does appear smoother than last year’s beta. Still, considering how rough the beta ran, and the newly-announced GPUs from Nvidia and AMD, upgrading your PC for Wilds doesn’t seem like the worst idea in the world.

Ajarakan is the fire-loving, monkey bar enjoyer you may have seen in some of Wilds’ trailers. This video offers a deeper look at its nest, and some of the antics it gets up to when really challenged. The hunter here has a Sword and Shield.

Ajarakan starts the fight covered in scales, and gradually sheds them to reveal his fiery nature. This is when things get more interesting, as its physical attacks get imbued with molten lava, and they become more aggressive.

One of the arenas you can lure the monster into has a trap you can activate that, if you manage to time it right, it could deal some significant damage; sort of like a punch to the face. The hunter switches to the Bow partway through the fight, which actually comes in handy as the monster starts relying on projectiles more.

The second video has the hunter going after Rompopolo, the wyvern with distinct pustules on its body. Rompopolo relies more on making the environment around you dangerous, as it appears to lack the power of the more physical monsters. Poison is clearly the prime element here.

Expect to be moving around a lot as you wait for an opening, even if it’s a monster that looks squishy to trick you into thinking it’ll be an easy hunt. We start off with Sword and Shield again for this one, before switching to a Bowgun later into it.

Since the two of them share the same environment, Ajarakan shows its face to duke it out with the Rompopolo, which is always fun to witness. The latter can’t contend with the sheer power of the former, of course, so it decides to book it.

In case you missed it, the Monster Hunter Wilds open beta will be returning for two more rounds in February. This next beta will contain all the content from the previous one, as well as at least one new monster. Unfortunately, the performance improvements and gameplay/animation tweaks made based on the first beta’s feedback will not be present in next month’s beta.

Monster Hunter Wilds releases February 28 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.