Guide: How to play with friends in Monster Hunter Wilds

Monster Hunter games are all about teaming up with friends to take down the world’s biggest monsters, so you’ve no doubt got a group of friends ready to get out there and start hunting. However, in Monster Hunter Wilds, getting a party together is easier said than done, as the menus can make it confusing as to how to set up your party.

We’ll break down the different ways multiplayer works in Monster Hunter Wilds and the steps you need to take to play with your friends.

How to Form a Link Party

While lobbies are a way to play with random people online, a Link Party is what you need to form to play with friends – you don’t need to be in the same lobby to form a Link Party.

To do this, follow these steps:

• Open the menu and navigate to Communication > Invite a Friend
• Here, you can select either someone from your Steam/PS5/Xbox friends list or a hunter that you’ve befriended in-game.
• Once your friends accept you will be part of a Link Party

Once connected in a Link Party, you can play together in a number of different ways. If you’re going out on main quest missions, then other players will be prompted to join when your hunt begins – which is when the big “Begin Quest” marker appears after the introductory cutscenes. It’s important to note, though, that you can’t join the quests of players who are further ahead than you in the main story.

However, if you want to roam the map together and start hunts that way, you’ll instead need an Environment Link.

How to Form an Environment Link

To form an Environment Link, open the menu and navigate to Communication > Link Party > Invite All to Environment Link. Once everyone accepts, you can head out into the world and start hunts as you please by encountering the monsters roaming there. Note that you can’t start any optional hunts from Alma in this mode; that’s exclusive to Link Parties.

How to Form a Squad

Squads are a different way to play together, as it will let everyone in a squad join the same lobby every time they log on.

To create a Squad, speak to Felicita in the Plains camp, and the option to join/make a squad will be there. Once it’s made, share the Squad ID with your friends so they can speak to Felicita in their game and join you – this is also a very easy way to connect and send in-game friend requests.