Gravios is a hard-shelled monster that’s been deflecting our attacks since the original Monster Hunter, and it’s back in Monster Hunter Wilds’ Oilwell Basin. A few things about this foreboding, unexpected Flying Wyvern have changed, which you can see for yourself in the exclusive Gravios gameplay videos in this article.
Gravios is the sixth returning monster revealed for Monster Hunter Wilds, after Congalala, Yian Kut-Ku, Gypceros, and the quintessential Rathalos and Rathian. You can read all about how the Monster Hunter developers select monsters for each game in our in-depth interview.
As for Gravios, Monster Hunter Wilds director Yuya Tokuda said: “When we were thinking about a monster that would fit the Oilwell Basin environment and would not overlap in gameplay terms when looking at the overall ecosystem hierarchy, we realized we could reintroduce Gravios in a way that felt fresh to play, so we decided to bring it back this time.”
Historically, Gravios appears in volcanic areas in the Monster Hunter series. The Oilwell Basin fits that trope, especially during the Firespring inclemency, where burning lava can be seen in much of the area. The heat sure doesn’t bother this durable monster.
We last saw Gravios in Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate, which you can see in action in the comparison video above. It’s definitely changed a bit, both visually and mechanically.
“Of course, the details, textures, and other aspects of Gravios’ design have been greatly improved compared with previous titles,” explained Kaname Fujioka, executive director and art director for Monster Hunter Wilds. “While we maintained the hardness of its outer shell, we also had the team work hard on things like the depiction of the impact of Gravios’ laser-like attack when it hits the ground, which has been difficult to do up until now. The monster now feels like it is actually there in that terrain. We were able to express how the actions of the monster have a reaction on the terrain, and we worked very carefully on those elements.”
One of Gravios’ new attacks, where it shoots a laser directly down into the ground, creating an area of burning terrain, perfectly demonstrates the upgrade Fujioka refers to. Gravios has also adapted another “new” move: a poison gas attack, previously exclusive to its juvenile form, Basarios. The Monster Hunter developers did confirm that Basarios will not be joining Gravios in Wilds.
Gravios has other tricks up its sleeve, but we’ll let you discover those on your own. We did experience a potential softer side to Gravios – meaning, it was slightly easier to get through its tough hide, and we deflected less often than in previous versions.
Tokuda explains the technical reasons why this may have felt different to us: “In the past, we could only assign rough data to specify the consistency of the monster’s flesh, so if you didn’t hit the soft spots with weapons such as the Lance, you wouldn’t be able to deal damage. With the Great Sword, the hit detection is also large, so you could hit the hard parts of the flesh and end up bouncing right off. With Gravios in Wilds, attacks against its hard shell will still bounce off, but if you position yourself properly and aim for its backside you can more effectively deal damage. Weapons and monster flesh can now be gradated in a more granular way than in previous games, while Focus Mode makes it easier to aim, so advances in technology have helped us to refine many aspects of the gameplay experience while fighting Gravios.”
He continued: “In the past, there were technical issues that prevented us from assigning different skin hardness or toughness values to many different parts of a monster’s body. Because hit detection models were made using shapes like spheres and cylinders, the shape of the hit box did not always match the actual design of the monster’s body. But modern technology has allowed us to add hit detection in a way that matches the monster’s body. Including the Focus Mode, we felt that we finally had the technology to create a game where you could carefully watch a monster’s movements, find its weak points and then aim for them, so we took on the challenge this time.”
Do you welcome or shun the return of Gravios? Personally, I don’t know if I’ll ever recover from the trauma it inflicted while I tried to deliver Powderstones in the original Monster Hunter, but fighting it in Monster Hunter Wilds sure felt great.
This Gravios reveal is part of this month’s IGN First for Monster Hunter Wilds! Don’t miss our other new, in-depth interview on monster selection and our other exclusive gameplay and interviews:
- Monster Hunter Wilds: Capcom Explains How Cooking Works in the Seamless World
- Exclusive Ajarakan and Rompopolo Gameplay in 4K
- Evolving Monster Hunter: How Capcom’s Belief in the Series Made it a Worldwide Hit – IGN First
Casey DeFreitas is deputy guides editor at IGN and has been hunting monsters since the PS2 era. Catch her on X / Bluesky @ShinyCaseyD. Shuka Yamada is a freelance writer for IGN Japan.
