Monster Hunter Wilds players use the beta character creator to recreate their hunters from Monster Hunter World, aged for good measure, and also their real cats

The Monster Hunter Wilds beta is unavailable at the time of writing due to the gap between the PS5 early access release and the full multiplatform beta launch later today, October 31, so after writing up my altogether positive first impressions I’m whiling away the hours by checking out the real fruit of this beta: fantastic custom characters.

Weapons and myriad systems are sure to be retouched by the time Monster Hunter Wilds actually launches, but you can bring your beta custom character directly into the full game, so now’s a great time to obsess over sliders and lighting. One of the cooler trends among players mirrors the evolution of the Monster Hunter franchise by aging up custom characters from previous games – often Monster Hunter World, which Wilds is pretty directly iterating on, but also several older entries.

Evolution of my character from r/MonsterHunter

Brought back my vets from World, but with more experience from r/MonsterHunter

Other players have turned to the Palico creator, then turned to their real-life pet cats, and then turned back to the Palico creator with a creative flame burning within them. It’s a Monster Hunter tradition at this point: bringing your real cat along for the ride so they can save you in-game too, not through invaluable companionship, but by healing you or knocking you away right before a monster knocks you flat.

Thank you capcom. from r/MonsterHunter

Other eye-catching creations include Pikachu, the One Piece cast, Jack Sparrow, and Lucy from Cyberpunk Edgerunners. If you’re looking for inspiration or, like me, a solid base to build on because you suck with character creation sliders, I’d point you to the inventive MHSliders Reddit community. From wild cosplays to beautiful and believable people, Monster Hunter Wilds is already churning out some of the best custom characters of any recent action RPG, and it’s not even out until February 28, 2025.

Pro tip: look at your character in-game, not just in the editor, because you might be surprised or horrified by what a difference the lighting makes. Also, try not to worry about the sour grimace your character apparently puts on whenever you put up a shield.