Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance Unveils New Monsters, Floating Islands, and a Storm Dragon at Sony State of Play

A new gameplay trailer for Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance debuted at Sony's State of Play on September 3, 2026, giving players their first extended look at the major expansion Capcom has lined up for 2027. The expansion — a large paid add-on that builds on the base game Monster Hunter Wilds — is headed to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, as Capcom confirmed in a June 2026 investor notice Capcom.

The trailer wastes no time. It opens with an elder dragon — the series' term for its most powerful and destructive creatures — crashing through a large building. The impact clears mist from the surrounding area and opens up a new hunting region for players to explore, as detailed in Eurogamer's breakdown.

That new region includes floating islands, freshly discovered and unlike anything in the base game. Nata, a central character from Monster Hunter Wilds, returns — older, redesigned, and visibly grown since players last saw her. She travels with the player to these airborne landmasses, suggesting the expansion's story picks up after the events of the main game rather than running parallel to them.

The monsters on display range from familiar to brand new. Fan-favourite elder dragons from earlier entries in the series make a return, while the trailer also introduces flying birds that dive-bomb the player and oily creatures that erupt from the bodies of dead monsters — a detail that implies scavenging or parasitic behaviour the series has not heavily explored before. New skills for multiple weapon types flash across the screen too, hinting at fresh combat options for returning hunters.

The trailer closes with a teaser for a new dragon that appears to weaponise storms, attacking enemies with weather itself. No name was given. Whether this creature serves as the expansion's flagship monster — the headline threat that defines its story, as is traditional for the series — was not confirmed.

For context, Monster Hunter Wilds casts players as professional hunters who protect the balance of their ecosystem by tracking and defeating large creatures, then crafting gear from the resources those hunts provide — a gameplay loop the series has refined across more than two decades. Ascendance, as a "massive expansion," is expected to add substantial new content on top of that foundation: new regions, new monsters, and new story threads, rather than a separate standalone game.

Capcom had already teased that September would bring a steady drip of Monster Hunter Wilds content leading up to the first hands-on opportunities for press and creators, according to the series' official Facebook account. The State of Play trailer is the most substantial piece of that campaign so far.

The expansion is scheduled for release in 2027, with Capcom not yet narrowing the window to a specific month or date.