German gaming website Mein-MMO recently had a chance to interview the developers of Monster Hunter: World, who confirmed details, such as the average amount of game time the developers expect players to take to finish the story, and what several of the fields are inspired by. [Thanks, Hachima Kikou]

According to producer Ryozo Tsujimoto, the story will take around 40-50 hours to complete. Of course, a Monster Hunter game does not end at the story credits, and Hunters can continue to upgrade their weapons and armor.

Art director Kaname Fujioka mentioned that event quests will come out on a weekly basis.

The Coral Highlands have areas that are above or below other areas, but this comes from the developers directly building off the knowledge gained in making vertical areas from Monster Hunter Tri all the way to Monster Hunter 4.

In creating the maps, the developers focused on features that could provide gameplay variety, so that every hunt would be different.

The design crew visited many areas of Australia, which heavily inspired the Ancient Forest and Wildspire Waste.

Monster Hunter: World will release on January 26, 2018 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. A PC version will arrive later.