Monster Hunter Wilds’ new monster Lala Barina is designed to encourage players to vary their roles in multiplayer 

Last month, the Monster Hunter Wilds’ beta attracted millions of players eager to try Capcom’s latest entry in the action RPG series before its full release next February. At a recent Monster Hunter Wilds preview event, the developers showcased an improved version and held a detailed joint-media interview in which they discussed many aspects of the game. One of these was the elegant yet eerie new monster Lala Barina.  

Monster Hunter Wilds’ executive director and art director Kaname Fujioka and director Yuya Tokuda delved into the inspiration for the new monster’s contrasting design and how its movements will encourage players to work together. 

Lala Barina is a brand-new monster who will debut in Monster Hunter Wilds’ Scarlet Forest area – a mysterious and dense woodland characterized by its red foliage and blood-colored water.  

Fujioka reveals that Lala Barina was created by combining separate monster design ideas into one. “It was originally going to be a monster with long, thin arms and legs, conceived from the image of being surrounded by white feathers like a ballerina,” he explains. “To make it more voluminous, we added the rose motif and ended up with a design in which you can strongly feel the duality of the monster as a character.” Indeed, with the red fluff blooming out of Lala Barina’s thorax, the monster seems rather like a beautiful, elegant rose. This is contrasted sharply by the long, spiky, spider-like legs. Both the appearance of the monster and its nest match well with its Scarlet Forest habitat. 

But what will it be like fighting this strange creature? According to Fujioka, Lala Barina will have a distinctive attack in which it scatters red fluff from its roses. This doesn’t sound too unpleasant, except this red fluff can paralyze your Hunter and allies if they get too close. Talking about this timed attack, Fujioka says “We hope that it will lead to new ways of playing the game.” He goes on to explain that this immobilizing red fluff can be shot down with ranged weapons, encouraging players to take on different roles in multiplayer – a kind of ‘you shoot down the fluff with your bow, while I attack’-type strategy could work well when battling Lala Barina. 

Tokuda mentions that players will need to be aware of their surroundings with Lala Barina as it will weave its way around them and has the potential to root players to a particular spot with its paralysis attack. 

During the beta, Monster Hunter Wilds’ accessibility features like the Arachnophobia Assistance mode caught players’ attention. This turns insect and spider-like monsters into blobs of goo (…accidentally triggering some slime fetishes). Tokuda explains that these accessibility options were implemented to enable as many people as possible to comfortably play Monster Hunter Wilds. “With the monsters becoming more realistic, we had testers who said that the presence of monsters with multiple insect-like limbs would be an obstacle to them buying the game.”  

Despite this, Tokuda explains that “The Arachnophobia Assistance mode only changes the appearance of insect-like small monsters and endemic life, it does not apply to large monsters like Lala Barina as it would negatively affect the hitbox and other aspects.” However, even without a mode to reduce Lala Barina’s spiny insectoid legs, it seems the devs are hoping that the monster’s unusual design will trump players’ fears. “We wanted to create designs that properly reflect the appeal of the monsters as characters, so for Lala Barina, we incorporated the rose-like motif,” Fujioka explains. “I hope players will be able to get a sense of the monster’s character from its entire body, including the fantastical elements.” 

At the same preview event, Monster Hunter Wilds’ developers acknowledged issues that some players had with the game’s graphics and framerate during the beta test, confirming that appearance and performance will be much better in the final product. 

Monster Hunter Wilds is scheduled to be released on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC (Steam) on February 28.