Monster Hunter Wilds Review

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Monster Hunter Wilds strives to reshape the boundaries of what a Monster Hunter game can achieve, especially considering the global impact that Monster Hunter World made by introducing the series to a truly global audience for the first time. Capcom has always been innovative when it comes to this series, and Monster Hunter Wilds is no exception. At its best, it’s more immersive than ever before – I’m eagerly anticipating seeing how the developers build upon their work in the future. However, even though I appreciate Wilds for what it offers now, my greatest hope lies in what it could transform into when all is said and done.

It’s likely that if you’re reading this, you’ve already got some experience with the Monster Hunter series. This might not have been true when Monster Hunter World was being developed for release seven years ago, but now it’s difficult to find anyone who plays video games and isn’t acquainted with this franchise and its distinctive gameplay style. The core mechanic involves hunting monsters to collect materials, which can then be used to craft better weapons, armor, or even specialized sets that may aid in your future monster-hunting adventures. You might find yourself deviating from your original goal of defeating the monster you initially set out to conquer, to improve your gear first. Since its debut, Monster Hunter’s gameplay loop has remained consistent yet straightforward. However, Monster Hunter Rise aims to shake things up with varying degrees of success.

Monster Hunter Wilds is a game that emphasizes the concept of a dynamic, alive world. Whether you’re interacting with it or not, the world continues to evolve on its own. The weather adapts to the seasons, creatures come and go, and the different villages within the gameworld respond accordingly. The intricacy and scale of these environments surpass those seen before, although the introduction of the new Seikret mount can sometimes overshadow this sense of vastness.

At the fundamental level, players in Wilds have multiple options to decide which creature to chase next. You can consult your map to find out which monsters are presently active in the game’s diverse areas, and to see how these same creatures will shift over the following hour or so. Additionally, you can learn about the current “season” for each map; fearsome Apex predators become more prevalent during the dynamic transition phase between Fallow and Plenty seasons, known as Inclemency. It’s possible that the creature you want to hunt only appears during one of these seasons, or that the resources you seek are more abundant at specific times as well.

In the game, when you spot a monster on the map, you don’t need to chase after it right away. Instead, from the map view, you can select a monster for a future quest or save it as an investigation for later. If you happen to miss a monster appearing, it will be stored in your field survey history temporarily. This means you can spend some Hunter Points to save that monster as an investigation for a later time. Have you found a monster that would have been ideal for hunting with friends but missed the chance? Don’t worry, you can also mark monsters you’ve already hunted retrospectively for a future hunt. At the endgame stage, choosing which monsters to hunt together becomes a relaxed process, allowing you to enjoy the game at your preferred pace.

In Monster Hunter Wilds and also in Monster Hunter World, there seems to be an inconsistency. After completing the story, the game’s design doesn’t match well with how it encourages players to enjoy it. Initially, the narrative is quite linear, pushing you forward until you finish it. This was a common issue with Monster Hunter World, and one of its criticisms was that cooperative story-playing was challenging; to watch the cutscenes together, each friend had to embark on the quest individually, then exit, and only afterward could everyone team up when everyone was ready.

In essence, the narrative of Monster Hunter Wilds has noticeably evolved for the better. The team seems to have made a conscious effort to emulate the success of Monster Hunter 4’s story, as it resonated with players more than subsequent attempts. To a large extent, Monster Hunter Wilds feels like a continuation of Monster Hunter 4. Characters such as Gemma, the Blacksmith, are hinted to be connected to characters from the original story, specifically Little Miss Forge. Furthermore, following Ace Cadet’s reappearance as Aiden in Monster Hunter World, the Ace Lancer also makes a return, now with an officially confirmed name.

In a vacuum, there are numerous appealing aspects to the narrative of Wilds. Compared to Monster Hunter World, it represents a significant improvement in many ways. The cutscenes have been greatly enhanced and smoothly integrate with gameplay, making key moments feel more impactful. As in Monster Hunter 4, you’ll find that your character travels with a full party, often working closely with another hunter named Olivia during certain story-driven quests. Unlike before, the protagonist can now engage in dialogue with other characters as the story unfolds. For those primarily interested in the storyline, it’s worth noting that this time around, it feels more like a cohesive narrative rather than the disjointed presentation that was a common complaint about World. While it may not reach the depth of a game like The Witcher, an effort has been made to make Wilds’ story feel like a full-fledged RPG adventure. Additionally, Arkveld, the main monster in Wilds, plays a consistent role throughout the game’s narrative.

At the heart of the matter lies the challenge that Monster Hunter as a series now faces due to its narrative approach. In earlier installments, singleplayer and multiplayer were distinct parts of the gaming experience; the singleplayer often served as an extended tutorial, which could be criticized somewhat in terms of its storyline, like the tale in Wilds. The predicament is that, similar to World, the ongoing story has impeded a natural, cooperative gameplay experience with friends by being the sole means of progressing through the game’s content.

In simpler terms, the essence of the situation remains unchanged, yet it could be challenging to explain due to the variety of ways to interact in a simple multiplayer game. For instance, you might wonder what exactly a Link Party, an Environmental Link, and a Lobby are when discussing Monster Hunter Worlds. While crossplay makes things easier when inviting friends on the same system, there’s still a fundamental challenge in the multiplayer experience that becomes more complex with the introduction of the game’s storyline.

It would be ideal if the developers could separate the single-player narrative and multiplayer progression in future Monster Hunter games. The combination in World and Wilds hasn’t worked as well as when they were separate, as seen in Monster Hunter Rise, where players had the choice to advance quickly through single-player to reach higher multiplayer difficulties. While I appreciated the story in Monster Hunter Wilds, it seems that designing the story to directly affect the multiplayer experience isn’t beneficial and detracts from the core essence of what has made Monster Hunter popular since its early days.

In essence, Monster Hunter Wilds, despite one notable issue, remains a robust and exciting evolution of the Monster Hunter series. However, the changes introduced aren’t without their idiosyncrasies. For instance, when you mark a monster for hunting with your Seikret, it will guide you directly to its location, making the hunt easier but reducing exploration time. Moreover, due to an increased number of monsters in each area and the dynamic weather that affects village NPCs and the map itself, the game’s performance requirements are quite high.

Essentially, Monster Hunter Worlds was already quite demanding when it first released, and the same holds true for Monster Hunter Wilds. To achieve a stable 60 FPS on PC, you’ll need a high-end AMD processor like the Ryzen 7 9800x3D as a minimum. Interestingly, the CPU performance seems to scale better with consoles in this game. While a powerful setup can run Wilds smoothly at max settings in 4K60, lower-end hardware might require frame smoothing techniques to ensure a smoother experience. Whether these requirements are a dealbreaker for you depends on your personal preference.

From what I gather, these two aspects often go together: The Seikret’s direct control might be essential due to the abundance of monsters that could appear simultaneously on the screen. Even though you can disable the auto-movement in settings, it seems reasonable under the circumstances that it was enabled by default. Likewise, it’s not unexpected that the game’s speed would be primarily influenced by the CPU in numerous system configurations, given how much the game is constantly monitoring behind the scenes at any given moment.

As I previously mentioned, the extent of this change affects each player individually based on personal taste. However, it’s the enhancements to the combat system and the upgraded weapons that consistently receive positive feedback. My favorite weapon, the Gunlance, is in an exceptional state for a Monster Hunter game launch, perhaps even better than ever before. This favorable condition can be largely attributed to the Focus system, which appears to be an evolution of the concepts behind the Tenderize mechanic from Monster Hunter World: Iceborne. In simple terms, as you hit a monster, you’ll cause injuries on its body parts. Attacking these injuries will result in increased damage, and by pressing and holding down the left trigger, you can precisely aim your attacks at these injuries for even greater impact.

In contrast to Tenderize, wounds on monsters occur naturally during a hunt. Regardless of whether you choose to utilize a new weapon move specifically tied to Focus Mode, it harmoniously blends with the hunt’s rhythm instead of disrupting it. Although some players might argue that certain Focus Strikes are excessively powerful and could potentially simplify certain weapon mechanics – particularly those of Longsword or Insect Glaive – this issue seems more like a consequence of the fact that, as of now, there aren’t many challenges that would test even veteran players accustomed to Master Rank hunts in Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak and Monster Hunter World: Iceborne.

Regarding the final stages of gameplay, we have some restrictions on what we can discuss. This is similar to Monster Hunter World where the endgame primarily involves hunting Tempered Monsters, although with the return of Gore Magala and the addition of Frenzied Monsters to the roster. Higher difficulty Tempered Monsters offer rarer and more valuable decorations, as well as materials for crafting advanced Artian Weapons which can be enhanced to fit your preferred playstyle. Although the initial number of monsters in Wilds may not match that of World, the variety is significantly improved, featuring almost every type of monster from the series’ past. It’s difficult to compare directly, but the endgame loop seems more engaging than it was for Monster Hunter World at its launch.

In essence, Monster Hunter Wilds represents an advancement for the series, but its progress isn’t entirely smooth; there’s room for improvement before it can rival the best in the series. When I’m immersed in the game, collecting scarce items for meals, trading in towns, and taking on multi-monster hunts for a plethora of decorations, I can see myself investing as much time as I did in World. However, it’s not quite there yet to guarantee that level of engagement. The world feels alive, even with some missing creatures given the current roster, the absence of showcasing captured endemic life, and other minor issues. It seems like Wilds is preparing for its expansion to fully realize itself, a feeling that no other Monster Hunter has evoked so far.

It’s possible that Monster Hunter Rise could become the top game in the series when everything is considered, and I truly hope it does. At this point, however, Monster Hunter Rise is a strong addition to the series that has the potential to improve even more over time. The extent of its growth is uncertain, but I wouldn’t dare underestimate Capcom’s ability to develop the game further.

8

Versions tested: PC

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2025-02-24 18:26