Up to four hunters can take on a quest. Story cutscenes are watched solo, then your friends join through Link Member Quest. Form a Link Party for automatic invites, fire an SOS Flare to let anyone join, or call in NPC Support Hunters when you're alone. Crossplay works across PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.
Monster Hunter is better with friends, and Wilds gives you plenty of ways to team up. It also has a few quirks, especially in the story. Here’s how all of it works.
Playing the story together
Story cutscenes are always watched alone. Once the quest itself starts, one player loads in and the others are sent to camp, where they join through the Link Member Quest option at Alma or the tent. Clearing it together counts as story progress for everyone.
- The first player to finish the cutscene sends the invites automatically.
- Joining players ride their Seikret on auto-move to reach the monster.
Link Party: your regular hunting group
A Link Party holds up to four players, even players from different lobbies. Members get automatic quest invites and a private text and voice chat, and the party stays together between quests. Set one up from the Start Menu: Communication, then Link Party.
Link Party members can also bring each other into their world through Environment Link, to explore together while no quest is running.
Lobbies
- An online lobby holds up to 100 players, with up to 16 shown at a time in a camp.
- A private lobby is joined with a Lobby ID and an optional passcode, and holds up to 16 players.
- You can change lobby through Alma, and since Title Update 2 from the tent at base camps and pop-up camps too.
No matter the lobby, a quest takes at most four hunters.
Squads
A squad is like a small guild, with its own lobby and saved chat. It holds up to 50 members, and you can be in up to eight squads.
Title Update 1 moved the Squad Information Counter from the Windward Plains base camp to the Grand Hub, a social area you unlock through a tutorial mission from HR 16.
SOS Flares and joining mid-hunt
- Start a quest and fire an SOS Flare, or turn on Automatic SOS Flare.
- At the Quest Counter you choose how many members can join and whether players, Support Hunters or both can answer.
- Anyone can then join through the SOS list, mid-hunt. They don’t need to be your friend or in your lobby.
Title Update 4 lets SOS quests include Arch-Tempered monsters.
Support Hunters
Support Hunters are NPC hunters who answer your SOS when you play solo or offline, or when no players join. They raise the monster’s health the same way real players do.
Title Update 2 let you choose which Support Hunters join from the Quest Counter, and added Mina (Sword and Shield) after “A Hunter’s Pride”. Title Update 4 added Griffin (Great Sword) and Nightmist (Light Bowgun).
Crossplay and Hunter IDs
- Crossplay covers PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC (Steam). It’s on by default, and you can turn it off or limit matchmaking to your own platform under Options, Game Settings.
- There’s no cross-save or cross-progression. Each platform keeps its own save.
- Every player has a Hunter ID, shown in the Hunter Profile and on the save screen. Search for it in the Member List to add Hunter Friends, even across platforms.
- On console, online play needs PS Plus or Xbox Game Pass Core.
Title Update 2 lets you copy your Lobby ID and Hunter ID from the Start Menu, and accept and depart straight from an invite notification.