Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance Has “Lore Reasons” For Kushala Darora’s Return

Monster Hunter Wilds Team Reveals Reason For Kushala Daora’s Latest Return Published Sep 20, 2026, 9:15 AM EDT Sam Woods is TheGamer’s Senior Reporter. He’s been in games journalism since 2020 and has undertaken a variety of roles in that time. These have included roles such as SEO Editor, Managing Editor at DualShockers, and Global Head of Gaming, and he's also been seen on the BBC. He was promoted to the Senior Reporter position in 2025 following a series of high-quality reports and exclusives for TheGamer. Since 2020, Sam has written over 2,500 articles and specializes in telling the stories of the people behind the games. He’s interviewed the biggest game directors, some of the industry’s top talents, told the stories of how indie games came to be, and spoken to players about what really makes them tick. He’s also interviewed some of the world’s biggest musical artists to find out how the medium has inspired their work, and TV and Film actors about their roles in video game adaptations. He even hosted a PAX panel in 2021 and made a documentary in 2024 surrounding the creation of a Disney game. Alongside this, Sam focuses on breaking news. He got the scoop on Perfect Dark’s cancellation, got context around some AI drama, and revealed how Lady Dimitrescu’s actress would love to step back into the character’s giant shoes. These articles have been picked up by the biggest gaming sites, including IGN, GameSpot, and PC Gamer. He also loves to dive into the numbers behind the games. Sam’s journey in games journalism has taken him all over the world. He’s covered Gamescom in Germany, Summer Game Fest in Los Angeles, and Tokyo Game Show in Japan, each on more than one occasion. He’s been learning Japanese since 2024 with the intention of identifying and translating Japanese-language news and bringing it to English-language audiences first, something he’s done countless times. Sam’s first review was 2020’s Battletoads reboot, and he’s since reviewed games in The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario, and Pokemon franchises. Sign in to your TheGamer account The Rathalos and Rathian are the undisputed kings and queens of Monster Hunter. They provide perfect skill checks during certain points of the games and are synonymous with the franchise as a whole. A second monster almost ties that iconic pair for appearances, though. The Kushala Daora, which will be making its comeback in Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance, has only been absent from a couple of games, and it has a reputation for being a menace. Its reveal for the DLC epitomised this, with fans feeling underwhelmed that it is returning yet again. Having seen the reaction online, we asked series producer Ryozo Tsujimoto why it was coming back at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, and he had a very good reason. Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance Has A Very Good Reason For Kushala Daora’s Return Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance will be focused less on the story of its main characters, and more on expanding and exploring the lore of the Forbidden Lands, according to Tsujimoto in our chat. He felt that, while the base game had a strong story, it didn’t delve into the wider lore of the setting enough, and the team would be rectifying this with the DLC. It’s because of this that Kushala Daora is returning. “We didn’t get to explore Elder Dragons and Wyverians in the story’s base game, so we figured Elder Dragons were a good direction to go in,” he tells me. “Since its appearance in Monster Hunter 2, when we introduced Elder Dragons, Kushala Daora has become a byword for them, and it represents the entire concept. It’s the original one. It seemed like an obvious choice for the themes we were going with in Ascendance.” Kushala Daora’s latest return was met with a muted reaction from Monster Hunter fans. Having appeared so regularly, Daora fatigue set in, and it was clear fans yearned for something fresh. Hopefully, given Tsujimoto’s explanation for its reappearance, frustrations will begin to temper. You’ll be able to read our full chat with the Monster Hunter Wilds team from Tokyo Game Show on TheGamer soon. You’ll also be able to find other snippets of the interview live on the site now, including how the team doesn’t regret releasing the game in its early buggy state, and why World probably won’t get a Nintendo Switch 2 port.