Back in the Monster Hunter Wilds open beta, something felt off. No, I don't mean the inconsistent framerates or the outbreak of polygonal origami monsters. I mean the baffling decrease in hitstop—an animation technique that intentionally pauses combat animations at the frame where an attack makes contact to add an additional sense of impact. Luckily, Capcom's already been readjusting the amount of hitstop for Wilds's launch in February, according to game director Yuya Tokuda.
For many people with cool, good opinions, Monster Hunter's liberal use of hitstop over the years has been a key ingredient in its combat formula, providing delightful jolts of dopamine to punctuate the moment in the lizard-battling ballet where you find an opening to land an attack. In the Wilds beta, however, hitstop had been noticeably reduced for attacks across Monster Hunter's 14 weapon types, substantially altering the visual feedback of moment-to-moment combat.
