I’m not saying Monster Hunter Wilds will be GOTY, but your custom character hits the legendary anime Akira slide on a giant bird and I don’t see any other games doing that

Monster Hunter Wilds lets you drift your Seikret, and man is it cool

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Far be it from me to make Game of the Year predictions for 2025 when we haven’t even wrapped up 2024 – here comes the big but looming over that statement –butI don’t see other games letting you drift giant birds like the Akira motorcycle, soMonster Hunter Wildsat least has a head start by my count.

GameSpotshared a few minutes of new campaign and hunt gameplay from Monster Hunter Wilds this week, and the best detail is right at the front, asReddit user Qtip_Factory spotted. The demo’s custom-made hunter, a greatsword-wielding woman with hair that stays luscious even in sweltering desert sands, rides her Seikret mount alongside the guild’s sand-ship, yanks her greatsword out of the ground afterbeloved smithy Gemmahurls it overboard, then immediately slams the handbrake on that Seikret for a picture-perfect Akira slide while staring down the camera. Absolute cinema.

This section of the intro has come up in multiple Monster Hunter Wilds trailers. Just today,Capcomreleased an extended beginner’s guide which shows the same sequence – but, tragically, cuts out the most important part: the Akira slide. Beginners need to know this is in the game, Capcom. It is vital information.

The Akira slide, as you may have deduced, comes from the 1988 classic animated cyberpunk film Akira. It’s appeared in countless anime, games, cartoons, and live-action films and TV shows over the decades, featuring everything from motorcycles and bicycles to giant bugs and animals. It’s not about the vehicle; it’s about the spirit, the camera angle, the telling trail of dust. There’sa great YouTube videocollecting dozens of examples. I probably should’ve expected this from Monster Hunter Wilds after Monster Hunter Rise built an entire game around giant dogs that you can also drift, but the Seikret slide is even better than I could’ve imagined.

Monster Hunter Wilds PC system requirements are frankly terrifying – we might be in for a repeat of Monster Hunter World’s GPU-melting launch.

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Austin freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree, and he’s been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They’ve yet to realize that his position as a senior writer is just a cover up for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he’s kept the ruse going with a focus on news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.

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