Capcom dashes our hopes of seeing the mighty leviathan in MHW.
One of the Monster Hunter series’ flagship monsters, the leviathan Lagiacrus, will not be making an appearance in Monster Hunter World‘s future content updates.
During a postmortem at GDC, Game Director Yuya Tokuda confirmed that that the formidable Lord of the Sea isn’t planned to rear its head in the title, although it was present in the game’s prototype.
The prototype gameplay footage, worked on for a year and a half, was used to demonstrate the new environmental systems, proving that a hunter could survive confrontations without drawing their weapon, and relying on environmental features alone.
It followed a hunter tracking an Anjanath through what looked like the Ancient Forest area from the finished game, and being pursued up a cliff. The confrontation ended with the pair being swept off the cliff in a cascading waterfall, with the Lagiacrus emerging from the water to finish off the Anjanath.
The aim of the encounter was for the hunter to use the Anjanath to lure out the sea-dwelling behemoth, who provided many a player with tense fights-to-the-death, both on-land and beneath the surface of the water.
The game received a big update this week that added another classic monster, Deviljho. Other changes included a reduction in load times, and the ability to return to the Gathering Hall multiplayer area after a quest. All 14 weapons also got a re-balance, and players can no longer be hit by other player attacks when carving.
Additionally, some hunters will be thrilled to learn that they can now change their character’s appearance. The first time is on the house, but subsequent tweaks will fall under microtransactions.
If you’ve yet to join the hunt but have seen the glowing reviews for the title, including the 9.5 we gave it, grab yourself a copy and check out these 17 things Monster Hunter World doesn’t tell you to get you started.
Shabana is a freelance writer who enjoys JRPGs, wine, and not finishing games. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.