Monster Hunter Wilds Review

Monster Hunter Wilds is arguably one of the most anticipated titles of the year, and many believe it could be the one true contender to the juggernaut known as Grand Theft Auto VI. After years of hunting on portable devices, the series took the literal world by storm with the release of Monster Hunter World in 2018, an installment that opened up the franchise to a broader audience and received critical acclaim for maintaining its signature gameplay while also making it more accessible to new players.

Years later, following a relatively lukewarm reception to the once Nintendo Switch-exclusive Monster Hunter Rise, the stage is set for what is arguably the biggest and most confident the series has been in a long while.

Monster Hunter Wilds is a stunning achievement from Capcom. It takes the best parts of past installments and wraps them in a package that culminates years of learning and lessons, making it the most approachable, accessible, and mechanically polished entry yet. World set the stage, and now, Wilds is ready for the takeover.

Come One, Come All

The Monster Hunter series has long been celebrated for its consistent improvement and evolution rather than radical changes to its core formula. Thanks to numerous tweaks and adjustments built up over the years, this approach results in a familiar yet refreshingly engaging experience. Monster Hunter Wilds continues this tradition, providing an established and addictive gameplay loop that players can expect to enjoy for countless hours.

In Monster Hunter Wilds, players assume the role of their customized hunter and join a special research team composed of Guild-handler Alma, the skilled smithy Gemma, and their reliable Palico partner as they set out to uncover the mysteries of the Forbidden Lands. During their investigation, they encounter a mysterious boy named Nata, who reveals his encounter with the enigmatic White Wraith. The team now embarks on a quest to find this legendary monster and rescue Nata’s people.

One of the most noticeable aspects of Monster Hunter Wilds is its emphasis on storytelling. Though not its strongest suit, the well-directed cutscenes are visually stunning and immerse players in the epic battles between humans and monsters, setting the stage for the grand adventure ahead. Each character is fully voiced and possesses personality, while the exceptional lighting further enhances the visual experience, emphasizing the dynamic weather effects that add depth to the thrilling hunts.

Like World before it, Monster Hunter Wilds eases players into the game by making it aimed at newcomers but also welcoming returning veterans. The onboarding experience is well-paced and spread out, teaching new elements and features throughout the first few hours to make it feel like you’re always learning something new with every hunt. Veteran players may scoff at the amount of handholding, but the tutorial is really well done, as it explains just enough of the many mechanics without fully spoon-feeding everything.

Another thing that stands out is the degree of difficulty Monster Hunter Wilds places upon players in the early hours. Throughout the campaign, it seemed that monsters did not pose a significant challenge. In comparison, Anjanath in Monster Hunter World was a clear skill check early on, a gate that isn’t as evident in the early stages of Wilds. While the later monsters may challenge players and exhaust their resources, carting was relatively uncommon in my experience. This could be a good or bad thing, depending on how you see things, but veterans of the series will know that rolling credits is simply the beginning.

As with all Monster Hunter games, everything changes in High Rank, marking the end of the campaign as merely the start of hundreds of hours of farming materials and exhilarating gameplay. Monster Hunter Wilds transforms into a whole new beast at this point, presenting players with some challenges through enhanced versions of monsters that will test their skills and provide the best rewards. Series veterans may rue the fact that the challenge levels are not as high as they would expect, but we can expect Capcom to improve on this sooner or later.

In the Heat of Battle

Monster Hunter Wilds retains the series’ signature gameplay loop of hunting and crafting, now enhanced by numerous tweaks and updates from its predecessor. This latest installment takes what worked best from Rise and World, creating a fantastic blend of accessibility and depth with the addition of new mechanics.

This is most evident in combat, characterized by increased pace and mobility. Combat encounters, and even traversal, feel faster thanks to the Seikret and its essential role. Moving from point to point is a breeze, and hopping on your Seikret allows you to soak in the views and collect resources using your Hook Slinger as it automatically tracks to your chosen location if you’re not using fast travel.

In combat, the Seikret serves a crucial role, providing a way to recover and easily escape from battle while gathering oneself for a quick breather. It also stores your second weapon, making it valuable beyond just being a mount. The ability to carry a second weapon without returning to camp is a game-changer that opens up several combo possibilities.

Combat in Monster Hunter Wilds is visually impressive and satisfying, thanks to its crunchy hits and impactful strikes. With 14 weapon types like the Bow, Lance, Greatsword, Hammer, and more, players can choose based on their distinct playstyles. Each weapon has a unique feel and depth that requires study to master. While the basics can be easily tested, mastering each weapon takes dozens of hours, with the potential for new techniques and uses even after hundreds of hours.

Hunters have new techniques at their disposal, such as the Power Clash and Offset Attacks. Weapons like the Great Sword and Charge Blade can perform Power Clashes, counter maneuvers that, when executed with a perfectly timed Perfect Guard, can knock down monsters for extra hits. Conversely, Offset Attacks can be used by weapons like the Hunting Horn and Hammer, parrying incoming attacks and interrupting the offensive, leaving monsters vulnerable to further attacks.

A notable new feature in Monster Hunter Wilds is Focus Mode, which enables players to zero in on monster wounds and weak points, highlighted by bright red marks that can be destroyed by performing Focus Strikes that can stun the monster. Additionally, players can aim while in Focus Mode, reducing the penalties associated with other attacks that fully commit them to a direction.

Ammunition and coatings have also undergone significant changes in Monster Hunter Wilds. Bowgun users will appreciate the fact that basic ammunition, such as pierce and spread, is now unlimited. For bow users, coatings are now treated differently, utilizing a resource called the Trick Arrow gauge to provide bonuses to the next few shots.

These changes reflect Capcom’s intention to encourage players to engage monsters directly and more aggressively, utilizing the various offensive strategies provided. While offensive playstyles are incentivized, defensive tactics are equally rewarded, allowing players to open up opportunities for powerful strikes.

Welcome to the Jungle

Monster Hunter titles are defined by their monster rosters, and Monster Hunter Wilds offers a robust mix of returning favorites and new threats to challenge players. Favorites like Gore Magala, Nerscylla, Congalala, and Mizutsune make a return, while new monsters such as Rey Dau, Uth Duna, Jin Dahaad, and the flagship Arkveld aim to establish their dominance.

Battles with these monsters are fierce and intense, presenting a challenge that remains fair. Learning the intricacies of each monster’s tells and behaviors is crucial, and when players feel they’ve mastered them, High Rank introduces new monster types and variants that elevate the endgame difficulty to heights that veteran players will remember fondly (or not).

Monster Hunter Wilds leans heavily into its “Wilds” theme, which is evident in both its fauna and environment. While traditional wyvern types are present, the game offers a diverse mix of unusual and intimidating creatures. Lala Barina, resembling a creepy spider, can eject paralyzing blooms, while the leviathan Uth Duna uses moisture to form a protective armor to make it look like a gigantic flying catfish.

The game’s biomes are equally diverse and visually stunning, with weather effects that significantly impact the battlefield in more ways than one. From grasslands to deserts with thunderstorms and even a forest shrouded in rainfall, each environment is breathtaking and offers many ways to take on monsters.

Weather plays a big role in the game, adding a strategic layer players must consider when hunting and forming strategies. Monster behavior and appearances shift just as the weather does, and even the resources you can gather in these areas change. This cycle isn’t just for show, and it does create for some epic backdrops when faced with turf wars and hunts.

Most impressive is the lack of loading times when transitioning from one region to another. Save from the first time you boot the game to some transitions in-between, there are virtually no loading times in Monster Hunter Wilds, offering seamless gameplay that gets players into the action at a blistering pace.

This ease of access is also reflected in how lobbies are formed, with Monster Hunter Wilds simplifying the process and avoiding the complications present in previous titles. In addition to joining and searching for lobbies, players can create private lobbies for a more tailored experience with friends. Most everything feels fast and seamless, and the pains of going through certain steps from before are virtually gone.

Thanks to its seamless world, multiplayer sessions in Monster Hunter Wilds do not require returning to settlements to start a new hunt. Instead, the game revamps the system, allowing players to choose their next target directly from the map and engage the monster a few times to initiate a quest automatically. This change alone brings players into the action more quickly, resulting in a smoother experience with more time spent actively hunting. Should you happen to hunt alone, the game will send over surprisingly compentent AI companions to share the burden with.

Monster Hunter Wilds PC and Steam Deck Performance

Here’s what we used to play Monster Hunter Wilds:

• Ryzen 5 5600x, 16 GB DDR4 3600 RAM, NVIDIA 4070 Super, 1TB NVMe SSD
• Steam Deck OLED

The performance bump of the final build compared to the betas is night and day. On high settings with DLSS set to balanced and frame generation on, we maintained a reasonably solid 90fps. In towns and settlements, the frame rate would fluctuate between 100-120fps, even reaching upwards of 120fps. During combat, frame rates would average around 90fps but may fluctuate wildly, especially when weather is a factor, which is not bad, considering the state of the game during the beta. Further optimizing the settings, like turning down shadows and ray tracing, will improve performance, so don’t be afraid to test out how toggling the various settings will help you play the best way for your system.

While the game does run on the Steam Deck OLED, we can hardly call it playable. Even at its lowest settings, the frame rates fluctuate like crazy, hardly locking itself to 30fps. It’s not a pleasant experience by any means, and we would advise against playing on the Steam Deck until more optimizations happen. Using FSR 3 and even with frame generation on set to ultra performance, the sacrifice in visual quality is too high, making textures look like pixel art, and it really ruins the whole experience at the cost of frames that can’t even hold 30fps.

Verdict: Buy it!

As if it were any question, Monster Hunter Wilds, simply put, is peak Monster Hunter and also its most accessible and confident entry yet. Capcom has hit a home run here, and the game is easily a rather strong Game of the Year contender this early into 2025.

Monster hunts are exhilarating, further enhanced by the new techniques like Power Clash added to the game. Both offensive and defensive playstyles are rewarded, and weapons have new intricacies that add depth to an already deep game. That said, newcomers should not be intimidated because Monster Hunter Wilds has an excellent onboarding system that offers a smooth and gradual difficulty curve until it throws you off the edge come High Rank. Sort of.

While this is the case, only time will tell how well Capcom will respond to player requests and feedback while updating the game with enough content to keep it fresh. Additionally, we can only pray for better optimization for handhelds like the Steam Deck to bring back the glory days of portable play with Monster Hunter Wilds.

*Monster Hunter Wilds was reviewed on a PC and Steam deck with a review code provided by the publisher.