Boost Drivers are a major new feature of this expansion.The new monsters present challenging battles, just as I’d wanted.Ascendance could be the endgame I’ve been wishing for after Wilds’s endgame was a bit too easy.
I liked Monster Hunter Wilds quite a bit at launch.
The big open areas, the great visuals on the newest generation of consoles, and the cast of characters all made for an engaging adventure in the Forbidden Lands.
But, like Tom so perfectly captured in his review, I felt let down by the challenge.
The engaging loop of fighting tougher monsters to get better gear to fight tougher monsters, and so on, was missing that aspirational push that comes from difficult hunters demanding practice and gearing up, and it left me feeling a bit unsatisfied.
At Tokyo Game Show 2026 I went hands-on with Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance, the upcoming expansion, and holy smokes, what a difference two years makes.
I took on a pair of monsters in some absolutely brutal fights, the sort that already have the build-crafting gears in my head turning.
With the addition of new monsters, new areas, Master Rank hunts, and a dramatic expansion to the moveset of every weapon, this seems every bit the Monster Hunter World: Iceborne-style expansion I’d been hoping for.
My demo starts with no razzle-dazzle.
I’m in the Grand Hub, with two missions to select.
I start with the easier of the two, a hulking, winged Alpha Arakata.
This fight takes place in the new Eyrie part of The Forbidden Lands, an area with strange flora reminiscent of Coral Highlands from Monster Hunter World.
Floating layers of rock and interconnecting root systems forming bridges spiraling upwards add substantial vertically to the zone.
As my trusty Seikret guides me to the monster, I take advantage of a series of updrafts to quickly climb to the upper layer, and I flock to Arakata, the noticeably larger and more dangerous looking alpha at the center.
For this hunt I’ve selected the Dual Blades, my personal weapon of choice most of the time.
I leap from the back of my mount, and catch the target monster with a slash that sends me spinning along the length of its spine like a beyblade.
I get off to a fast start, hacking at it after a nearby paratoad gets struck, and temporarily paralyzes the monster in retaliation.
Once it regains control, the Arakata flaps its wings to get briefly aloft, then dives straight toward me like a missile, but I have a new trick up my sleeve...
One of the major new additions coming in Ascendance is Boost Drivers.
On your hunts you now have a Boost Gauge that charges over time and while you attack, accumulate up to three charges of Boost.
If you have at least one charge, you can activate Boost, which enhances the actions and attacks of your weapons.
The effect is different for every weapon, in the case of my Dual Blades it give me new, ultra-rapid attacks, turns every dodge into damage-dealing acrobatics and, to the chagrin of this dive bombing Arakata, gives Dual Blades their first offset, attacks that counter and stagger incoming attacks, fully neutralizing damage and opening up yet more space for dealing damage.
The Alpa Arakata is no pushover, however.
This is an all-new monster in the series, which means I’m learning on the fly.
On the ground, it’s aggressive about slamming its wings and head, each covered in thick bone, forward towards me.
But it’s at its most dangerous when it takes flight.
It circles out of range of my short blades, then with little warning launches headfirst towards me at remarkable speed.
