Monster Hunter Wilds Review

You could not believe how excited I am to tell you all about Monster Hunter Wilds. A game that needs little introduction, I’ve been eagerly waiting for its release and… well, I got the miraculous chance to play it early. And after completing the main campaign, I can safely say this is an incredible experience that fans of the franchise will love. So… let’s get this quest started!

Percussit Illud, Donec Moriatur

The story takes place in a new region called the Forbidden Lands, an Eastern area of the world that the Hunter's Guild has never even set foot in, filled with strange monsters and unique environments. It is also the home of Nata, a young boy who managed to survive the destruction of his village caused by a monster named the “White Wraith”. Now, as a hunter of the Guild sent on this expedition, it's your unit's job to find the Keepers, hunt down the White Wraith, and solve the mysteries of the Forbidden Lands.

I think the story is actually fairly well done, and that's a serious shock. I’m not saying it’s an absolute masterpiece, and I'm always a sucker for learning about monster ecology, but I never expected to be invested in the actual narrative of the game. I loved the characters and how they help out and grow, all while delivering a ton of great fights and cinematic moments. It actually has an Aesop other than “Nature is awesome and we should protect it with everything we have.” I won’t say anything more (spoilers, sorry), but when it’s usually so formulaic with its plot, it’s refreshing to see something with substance; It’s great. That being said, a ton of the main quests take control away from you and just have you autopilot to the next area. It is a prime opportunity to do some gathering and capture endemic life, but I do feel myself paying so much less attention to the game when that happens, even setting my controller down to get something to drink.

Your hunter actually has agency. That's really cool.

As for the graphics, it’s really pushing what the RE Engine can do. I don't have the best computer, but I'd say that the game on High settings looks just as good as Monster Hunter: World, which still holds up graphically today. The characters and monsters are nicely done, but the real star of the show is the Forbidden Lands. The locales featured can be awe-inspiring. Each map has three states: Fallow where it's lifeless, Inclemency where the environment is actively hostile and dangerous, and Plenty where life blooms. All states feature different endemic life, gathering spots, and monsters so be prepared for surprises when the weather changes. It can turn from a wasteland to a flourishing ecosystem in a snap, and it’s exciting to see and provides some twists to your quests.

Character creation is also freakishly detailed with many more options to choose from. Like, you can edit your teeth and how nasty your dental hygiene can be. Everything about your face can be adjusted so you can create your ideal self… or a horrific monster that makes you wonder why hunters aren’t going after them. And thanks to the elimination of gendered armour sets, you can look however you want to. Female hunters can now wear helmets and hide their thighs and guys can go out in their underwear and show off their chests. It is truly the best change.

Once you’re done with the initial character creation, however, you are very limited in what you can change afterwards (hair, voice, and make-up). If you want to physically change your character, you need Character Edit Vouchers, which I hate with a passion. It is a holdover from Monster Hunter Rise and it is extra frustrating here now that my hunter actually talks in cutscenes. I wanted to change the voice after hearing them talk for the first time, but all you can do without a voucher is change the pitch. If you don't have any, you're outta luck.

If you have World and Iceborne save data, you get bonus Palico armour. It's not layered armour, though...

You can get one free voucher for both Hunter and Palico via DLC, but you'll need to shell out real money for extras. I'll happily pay for layered armour but not for editing my character, which is free in other games. By the way, if you care about this, pronouns are tied to your voice type (which only comes up in two cutscenes). What’s worse is that you can save your appearances in a baffling amount of slots you might never use. I love the character creation, but it still irks me that this is still a thing.

But enough about my ramblings on terrible microtransactions, let’s get hunting! If you’ve played Monster Hunter World, you should find yourself in familiar territory, with intuitive weapon controls and a Slinger to pelt rocks and dung at monsters or set off environmental traps with its new Hook function. All the weapons have some new moves and combos to learn, as well as new opportunities to hit ‘em where it hurts through Focus Mode and targeting their wounds with Focus Strikes, counter monsters using Offset Attacks and engage them in Power Clashes, or even get a leg up on your prey with Sneak Attacks. Not every weapon has access to these moves, but that’s why you have a Seikret, a bird-like mount that, not only is it transportation to objectives and waypoints, it also acts as your item box as it can deliver supply items and even a second weapon for you to switch to in the middle of a hunt. Although I am a Great Sword main, I decided to give Dual Blades a shot and I loved it. One for damage, the other for element and status ailments. There aren't any restrictions on the weapons you bring, and weapons now have skills, so go nuts with your builds.

You are never alone.

However, tackling monsters won’t be easy without enough preparation and planning, and the keyword of the game here is “seamless”. A lot of the usual systems, such as eating and gathering, have been streamlined so you can focus on getting your latest pair of pants. Meals (which look so tasty) don't last only for one quest, but are set on a timer. That means you can go on multiple quests with the same buffs if you're fast enough, and you don’t really have to head back to base after every hunt. Not only can you activate quests just by damaging a monster enough while out on the field, you can eat anywhere, accept quests anywhere, create Pop-up Camps, and just go in and out of hunting and crafting. The only reasons to head back to Base Camp is to get new gear, do side quests, or use the various services. With all the mechanics at play, this is one of the smoothest, most highly customisable Monster Hunter games to date: And that’s before you unlock the rest of the game. Of course, as is tradition with Monster Hunter, your journey isn’t over when the story is complete. There is High Rank to conquer, which will offer new challenges and surprises that will cost you several hundred hours of your life. The endgame will be similar to World just with some additions, with various new monsters, equipment, and even new stories to discover.

I can't really judge difficulty accurately due to… well, actually having too much experience thanks to World and Rise. Low Rank isn't meant to be hard, but it isn’t too easy either. If you’re trying to blow through the story, you might find yourself struggling in the later fights. The real challenge comes in at High Rank, and the challenges there can seriously test your skills, but will be greatly rewarded in return. Tempered monsters, Investigations, Artian weapons, and so much more.

Sooooo tasty~!

Multiplayer is similar to World, where you can join lobbies and fire off SOS Flares to get help from other hunters. That being said, even if you don’t have access to online multiplayer, you will still get support from AI hunters who are fairly competent in their own right. They’ll mount monsters and set down bombs if you want them to, and their actions can be adjusted in the options menu. Speaking of options, I really appreciate how many settings you can adjust before you start the game, such as your button layout and colour blindness. Also, yes, there is an arachnophobia mode that adjusts the appearance of select monsters. There's still a lot more if you go into the options menu yourself, so I recommend thoroughly going through the menus after you complete the introduction.

Now onto the dreaded part of the review: performance. I did the Monster Hunter Wilds benchmark for my PC, and while it may have looked like origami a couple of times, it gave me a Good rating on High settings, but it wasn't accurate to the actual game as I encountered enough stutters to set it to Medium. Also, I currently do not have an SSD, so my load times aren't as good as they should be. While I did see origami people when the game loads in, it goes away soon after. Otherwise, the game runs smoothly for the most part at a consistent FPS even during the more intense fights, the load times aren’t too bad, and I didn't encounter anything more than graphical glitches which might be resolved by the time the game is in your hands.

God, I love this world.

As for some other issues I had… Well, it’s mostly just from unlocking stuff. It takes an aggravating amount of time to unlock some features, which feels a little like padding in some cases. And I don’t mean it might take until towards the end of Low Rank (15–20 hours), I mean you’ll need to be in the endgame to earn them, which could be dozens of more hours. Even as someone used to grinding, it’s a little insane that something as simple as item farms will take a good chunk of time to obtain, but with upcoming title updates, there will be plenty to do while you raise your Hunter Rank into the triple digits. Also, finding NPCs can be a chore; Sometimes they disappear by the time you arrive, at other times they just won’t interact even though they are willing to provide a free meal.

I am so sad I can't show more right now.

I know I’m likely to be really biassed here, but I think Monster Hunter Wilds is just really damn good. It improves on a lot of aspects of the series and creates an incredible time that will make anyone sink hundreds of hours into it. With a story that actually has substance, a seamless gameplay loop, and an impressive world to explore and fight in, I highly recommend anyone interested to get it. It’s Monster Hunter at its finest. Just make sure you have the specs to run it properly and gather as much as you can.

Finally, shoutout to Dark sponge boxer! Managed to catch their name in the credits.