Gaming 9.5

Monster Hunter Wilds Review – Untamed World, Peak Hunting

Francesco De Meo • Feb 24, 2025 at 10:00 AM EST

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Game Info

Monster Hunter Wilds

February 28th, 2025

Platform

PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S

Publisher

CAPCOM

Developer

CAPCOM

Despite running since 2004, it took the Monster Hunter series multiple installments to reach the level of popularity it enjoys today, and that's largely due to the much-improved accessibility. Much like the first entries in FromSoftware's Souls series, the early Monster Hunter games had some obscure mechanics that weren't properly explained in-game and required some experimentation to properly grasp. Since 2018's Monster Hunter World, however, making the series more accessible has become one of the main focuses, an effort that has paid off immensely, as working on making the franchise more accessible to newcomers also addressed some of the series' archaisms and brought massive gameplay improvements, such as the introduction of seamless maps whose different zones aren't separated by loading screen, streamlined hunting preparation and more.

Following the release of Monster Hunter Rise, which features a very straightforward approach to the series' gameplay experience that puts the action at the forefront, fans of the Monster Hunter World approach have been eagerly anticipating the proper evolution of its gameplay formula, which has finally come with Monster Hunter Wilds, the most accessible entry in the series to date. The increased accessibility, however, takes nothing away from the complexity of the series' formula. On the contrary, it offers Hunters more ways to enjoy the latest evolution of the series' gameplay, which takes full advantage of some open-world mechanics to deliver an amazing experience.

Like Monster Hunter World, Monster Hunter Wilds features a story campaign with actual cutscenes that develop the new area of the series' expensive world, the Forbidden Lands, and several central characters, such as the young boy called Nata, who was found years before the beginning of the game near the border of the uncharted region which the Guild believed to be uninhabited. After hearing from the boy how his village was attacked by a mysterious monster known as the White Wraith, the Guild organizes an expedition into the uncharted region to investigate this mysterious monster and rescue Nata's people, known as the Keepers. Being part of the expedition's Avis unit, the player will get to experience firsthand this uncharted region and its every-changing environments, learn how its inhabitants have learned how to coexist with some fearsome monsters, and eventually come face to face with the White Wraith itself, the game's flagship monster Arkveld.

Right from the start of the campaign, it's clear how the development team wanted to give Monster Hunter Wilds a marked cinematic feel and better involve the player with the story. For the first time ever, the Hunter is fully voiced and interacts with other characters in cutscenes and dialogue sequences, greatly enhancing immersion. While the story takes a while to get going, once things got going, I found the campaign surprisingly interesting, thanks not only to the Hunter now feeling an integral part of the story but also to some pretty impressive, action-packed cutscenes that pump the player up properly before the intense fights against some of the game's strongest monsters. As such, the 18 or so hours that separated me from when the proper Monster Hunter experience begins with High Rank went by smoothly, almost leaving me hungering for a little more.

The more involving campaign isn't the only one of Monster Hunter Wilds that suggests how the game aims to be more welcoming to newcomers. Besides not being particularly challenging for the most part, the campaign feels effectively like an introduction to the series' main mechanics and the new ones introduced in the game, as things like crafting, cooking, Charms, Decorations, and melding are introduced gradually to allow new hunters to come to grips with them. Monster design, in combination with the generally low level of the campaign's Low Rank hunts, also suggests how the experience was created to get as many new players as possible to experience at least the main story. Reading monsters' attacks and learning their patterns is rather easy compared to the past, and the high efficacy of the vast majority of the 14 weapon types makes it so that it is possible to have fun straight away, even before the Hunter is lured into the addictive gameplay loop of the series which effectively begins in High Rank.

In terms of improving the Monster Hunter's formula accessibility, the introduction of a mechanic like Focus Mode is as unsurprising as it gets. This new gameplay mechanic allows the Hunter to properly aim the attacks of any weapon, giving them more control over their techniques and making some weapons easier and way more fun to use, such as the Great Sword, as Focus Mode allows the Hunter to properly aim all charged slashes, including the powerful but very slow True Charged Slash. The Wounds mechanics is yet another mechanic that has been clearly introduced to make the hunting experience a little less obscure, but it also improves the experience for more seasoned Hunters, as it is used to highlight the damage on monsters' parts, directing players to continue attacking those parts to break them and possibly collect rare parts that can be used to craft better weapons and gear.

Focus Strikes, special attacks available only in Focus Mode for all weapons that allow Hunters to immediately destroy a wounded monster part, have also been seamlessly integrated into the game plan of each weapon type, making them even more fun to use. For the Long Sword, for example, destroying a monster part with a Focus Strike increases Spirit level by one, a mechanic that can be used to unleash multiple Level 3 Spirit Helmbreakers in quick succession; for the Great Sword, it is possible to go straight into a True Charged Slash after unleashing a successful Focus Strike. And if a novice Hunter still needs time to understand these mechanics, it is possible to summon support AI-controlled Hunters when real players may not be available that can take the heat off them and give them more breathing room to understand the intricacies of the combat experience.

While the mechanics may be a little difficult to grasp for newcomers, Monster Hunter Wilds does a decent job explaining them with many tutorials as it eases players into its aforementioned gameplay loop, which, on the surface, hasn't changed a whole lot. Like the rest of the series, Monster Hunter Wilds approaches action gameplay in a very peculiar way, doing away with useless mob fights, pitting the player against massive beasts with unique attack patterns and behaviors that require proper preparation and good knowledge of the mechanics and of the monster itself to win. After a monster has been defeated, it is possible to carve its remains to obtain items that can be used to craft better weapons and gear. Both weapons and armor pieces come with a variety of skills that improve the Hunter's performance and are best suited for certain weapon types or playstyles. With these improved tools, it becomes possible to hunt even more powerful monsters, get new items, craft better gear to perfect builds and take on even more powerful monsters. This gameplay loop is as addictive as ever and won't fail to lure in those who like a certain type of action RPG where gameplay and build crafting are always at the forefront.

First impressions, however, can be deceiving. While it is entirely feasible to play Monster Hunter Wilds like previous entries in the series (essentially using the various Base Camps that have replaced villages and towns and Gathering Hubs that are unlocked on all maps during the campaign to prepare for hunts before accepting quests from the Quest Handler Alma as it has always been done in the series), the new entry in the series really wants players to always be out on the maps hunting monsters, returning to Base Camp only to access specific features. Like in past entries in the series, it is possible to unlock additional camps on maps, only this time, you will get access to the vast majority of the Base Camps' features. Cooking, for example, can be done anywhere on the map by using the Portable BBQ Grill, while Alma will follow the Hunter at all times, allowing players to accept quests on the fly.

And if you are into a more organic way of playing the game without wasting time going from one menu to another, you can simply start field surveys right from the map, mount on your Seikret, a giant bird that can be used not only to traverse maps quickly and effectively but that also gives access to a couple unique attacks, and let it take you to your target monsters. And if you're looking to gather items as well, you can use your Slinger to pick up items or interact with Endemic Life, all without getting off the Seikret. As Monster Hunter Wilds turns each of its maps into actual living ecosystems, it is possible, for example, to hunt all monsters on a map and wait for others to appear, which doesn't take a lot of time to happen, although one will have to look out for weather condition changes that have a noticeable impact on all maps. All of this has been clearly designed to further streamline the experience without taking away its complexity, and the fact that taking advantage of these mechanics is essentially optional is a great way to implement them. If one were to play Monster Hunter Wilds in the old way, there's no penalty for it whatsoever.

Much of the popularity of the Monster Hunter series comes not only from monster design but also the very diverse weapon line-up, and in these regards, Monster Hunter Wilds delivers without question. All of the new monsters debuting in the game have clearly been created to ease new players into the experience, but not all of them are complete pushovers, as some of the late-game new monsters sport complex movesets and plenty of variables to make them unpredictable without getting into "randomly throwing out an attack" territory, such as the flagship monster Arkveld and a few others. In addition to these sorts of basic variables, the vast majority of monsters react to the changing weather conditions of the environment, potentially making them even more powerful depending on the situation. As highlighted by those revealed before launch, all of the monsters in Monster Hunter Wilds are also quite diverse, and their unique features are sure to make some of them staples for the series going forward.

As both new and returning monsters get new tools to force Hunters on their carts, so do the Hunters themselves. Focus Mode is only one of the new additions to the combat, as weapons that can guard, like the Great Sword, Sword and Shield, and Charge Blade, can initiate Power Clashes by guarding at the very last second before a monster attack connects. By winning these Clashes, it is possible to topple monsters and create a window of opportunity to deal massive damage and destroy wounds with ease. Offset attacks are also another big addition to the combat system, as certain techniques can interrupt a monster's attack, and open them up for a powerful follow-up attack while negating all damage.

The introduction of these two techniques is as huge as the introduction of Focus Mode, as it gives players new tools to play more reactively and make combat way more fluid. For example, both Power Clashes and Offset attacks are massive game changers for the Great Sword, as they turn the weapon into the proper tank that it was always kind of meant to be, finally sunsetting the old hit-and-run playstyle which is still somewhat viable, especially considering the buff to the charged slashes other than the True Charged Slash, which was slightly nerfed, but it's most definitely not as fun as Perfect Guarding monster's attacks and retaliate quickly as they recover, or meeting a deadly technique with a perfectly timed Offset Rising Slash.

Besides introducing the new universal mechanics above, Monster Hunter Wilds also makes some big changes for every weapon type beyond those seen in the open beta tests held before launch. Going over all of the changes would take a long time, but speaking about the weapons I am most familiar with - Long Sword, Great Sword, and Insect Glaive - I have found the changes to make the weapons even more enjoyable to use. For the Long Sword, for example, unlocking new techniques while Spirit Gauge is red adds a whole new dimension to the weapon, giving the Hunter some good reasons to hold onto the powerful Spirit Helmbreaker until the very last second; for the Insect Glaive, being able to get Extracts by using regular attacks in Focus Mode is a massive change that makes the weapon way less stiff than before, although the introduction of charged attacks and a few other changes may force the player to use a claw grip for any controller without back buttons or paddles, which can be uncomfortable. Over the closed beta, the Insect Glaive also got back its aerial capabilities, making it even more varied but also slightly more complex, though not by much if you have used the weapon in Monster Hunter World or Rise and constantly took the fight to the sky.

While Monster Hunter Wilds doesn't add any new weapon type, it still does, in a certain way: the environment. Besides featuring some natural traps that can be activated by interacting with them or using the Slinger from afar, it is possible to use monster's tendencies against them to make them, for example, crash against rock formations or walls, position them right under some hanging elements like boulders that can be brought down as needed and so on. I expect proper environment usage will be a big part of the best future speedruns, as the open beta tests already highlighted. The environment now playing a big part in combat has also elevated map design to new heights, as the maps are no longer just a fancy background for hunts but an integral part of the entire experience that can be used to make hunts easier. Following in the footsteps of World and, in some ways, Rise, the maps feature complex layouts and a prominent verticality that makes them believable as locations in an unexplored, and mostly untamed, land.

Being the next main chapter of the series, Monster Hunter Wilds attempts and succeeds at upgrading pretty much every one of the franchise's core features, and, as such, even the multiplayer features got a massive glow-up with the introduction of lobbies with visible players. While the limited online population in the early access period didn't allow me to properly test out how this changes interactions with other Hunters, the little I was able to experience made me feel like the series has moved one step closer to an MMO-like experience, doing away with the aforementioned Gathering Hub and introducing online lobbies that make it easier than ever to team up with other Hunters and complete quests together. For mostly solo players like myself, it is also possible to play the game in single-player lobbies but still enjoy some of the multiplayer features, which include joining Squads, asking for help with SOS Flares, and responding to help calls via the Quests menu.

All of the features outlined above shine even more in Monster Hunter Wilds endgame content, where the hunter can experience an even more intense experience on all the maps, which feel more alive than ever with unpredictable environmental changes, which also include the frequent appearance of monsters, of both the regular and the stronger Tempered variant. By taking down these monsters during the High Rank postgame, hunters can also get a variety of additional rewards that are randomly determined, including Decorations sporting two different skills and special parts that can be used to craft Artian Weapons. These weapons are rather peculiar compared to regular weapons, as the player can determine their properties depending on the parts that are used during crafting, and they usually come with three Decoration slots at the cost of innate skills. And, if you are lucky enough to get a monster that comes with some high rarity bonus rewards, you can save this hunt as an Investigation at the cost of a few points and replay it multiple times as if it were a regular quest to farm these rewards. Considering how Monster Hunter Rise essentially did not have much postgame content before the release of the Sunbreak expansion, the engaging postgame of Monster Hunter Wilds is a major step forward that has a lot to offer for those who want to push their builds to the current possible limit.

If there's an area where Monster Hunter Wilds disappoints slightly, it's visuals and performance. While the RE Engine handles the changing weather conditions extremely well from a visual standpoint, delivering these changes in a very believable way, the visuals sometimes lack the vibrancy of past entries in the series, feeling a little too drab even in the Springlike season of Plenty. That is not to say that the game looks bad, however, as some environments look stunning under the right conditions, and character and monster models look great, with amazing detail and animations, so it's mostly a matter of getting used to different aesthetic choices from the past. What most players are never going to get used to is performance, at least on PC. Just as the system requirements and the benchmark tool suggested, performance is really all over the place, reaching an acceptable level of smoothness only with Frame Generation.

In an early game Ajarakan hunt set in the Oilwell Basin map, with a lot of fancy fire effects going off, at 4K resolution with DLSS Quality and Frame Generation, and a mix of high and ultra graphics settings, the game ran at an average of 86 FPS, 45 FPS 1% Low on a system (i7-13700F, RTX 4080, 32 GB RAM) that runs the vast majority of recent games well. In the heat of the hunt, I did not notice the frame rate drops too often, but watching the recording, in reality, it was very choppy instead. So, if you don't have a top-of-the-line machine, you may have to drop most settings and resolution to hit 60 FPS, which is the bare minimum for a game like this. Following the game and Dragon's Dogma 2, it's quite clear how the RE Engine may not have all it takes to handle open-world experiences properly.

Despite a generally low challenge level and performance issues on PC, Monster Hunter Wilds is undoubtedly a new peak for the series. The increased accessibility, which is sure to expand the series' reach beyond its current fanbase, didn't water down what makes Monster Hunter the unique series it is, while the open-world mechanics have been seamlessly integrated with the classic formula to provide new and better ways to enjoy these hunts solo or with others while further streamlining the experience.

PC version tested. Review code provided by the publisher.

9.5

WCCFTECH RATING