The Monster Hunter Wilds Showcase for March 2025 aired earlier this morning, detailing information concerning the upcoming Title Replace 1 and teasing a bit of what is in retailer for Title Replace 2. In that small sliver of footage, followers noticed indicators that the much-sought-after return of Lagiacrus might be occurring.
Proper on the finish of the Monster Hunter Wilds Showcase, over the Title Replace 2 textual content, we hear some aquatic sounds, adopted by a telltale clawed foot and scales. The indicators really feel pretty apparent that that is going to be Lagiacrus, a monster that hunters have been wanting to combat once more for fairly a while.
Launched in Monster Hunter 3, a.okay.a. Monster Hunter Tri, Lagi was the “flagship monster” for the sport, which meant it appeared on the field artwork. Alongside being the posterboy for Tri, the monster was pretty distinctive for one key purpose: it integrated underwater preventing. Submerged bouts had been a massive factor for Monster Hunter Tri, and Lagi was the prime instance of that. Later variations in Monster Hunter Generations moved the combat again onto land, and the monster has been largely unseen since.
At one level, Capcom confirmed it had prototyped a new Lagiacrus fight for Monster Hunter: World, even displaying some visual confirmation of it throughout a GDC 2018 panel. It was finally pulled, although a few of its tech was integrated in one other monster, Jyuratodus.
Nonetheless, the time spent aside has not dulled gamers’ love for Lagiacrus. For some, Monster Hunter Tri was a massive entrance into the sequence. And this combat, with its pretty distinctive look and mechanics, the chances for a Lagiacrus combat are merely thrilling. As one user pointed out a number of years in the past in a thread asking why persons are so excited for Lagi, “Individuals who want for Lagiacrus to return usually imply for underwater fight to return additionally, it is type of a package deal deal.”
Distinctive mechanics apart, Lagiacrus has remained in style in its personal proper. The leviathan got here in third in a popularity poll for Monster Hunter’s 20th anniversary, crushed out solely by No. 2 Nergigante and No. 1 Zinogre. One among its variants, Abyssal Lagiacrus, additionally got here in twelfth, beating out Monter Hunter Wilds’ Title Replace 1 addition Mizutsune at 14th.
In 2022, talking to IGN, Monster Hunter producer defined why Lagiacrus would not see a return within the present sport on the time, Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak. Although the producer acknowledged the “need is unquestionably there,” the technical implementation is troublesome.
“Sadly Lagiacrus is simply a very technological…troublesome monster to implement. It’s extremely snake-like, its elements are all type of touching the bottom at totally different moments,” Tsujimoto defined on the time. “So it’s extremely like a writhing type of ground-based monster.”
But now, Capcom has elected to deliver the writhing monster again. Whether or not that is a solely land affair, a new variant, or we see some type of implementation of water mechanics all stays to be seen. Fans, nevertheless, are actually enthused. Refrains of Lagiacrus being “peak” and affected person followers celebrating their apparently successful manifestations litter the feedback sections.
We’ll get extra particulars as we transfer previous Title Replace 1 and on in direction of the summer season window for Title Replace 2. However sure, it appears to be like like Lagiacrus goes to steer the summer season festivities in Monster Hunter Wilds, and that is some very thrilling information for hunters new and outdated.
Eric is a freelance author for IGN.