Hunter Rank 111, 75 hours, all side quests done, event quests knocked-out and some arena quests attempted. I’ve been through pretty much everything on offer for Monster Hunter Wilds and it’s been a trip.
Even grinding for weapons and armour sets. Hell, I’ve even swapped my main weapon for the first time in the series because I wanted to get more and more from the game. Monster Hunter Wilds has kept on giving and whilst I’m comfortable I can take a break now. It’s never been a chore, I’ve never felt like I haven’t got things to do or fun to have.
Monster Hunter Wilds is my favourite in the series, and current top-contender for the ninjarefinery.com game of the year.
I’m literally waiting for the next updates so I can go back for more.
The good
Ok, Monster Hunter Wilds, for my money is the culmination of all the games before it. For the most part, in the best way.
I’d talked about the improvements that came with Monster Hunter Rise and loved that game. My second proper crack at the series after Monster Hunter World. The mobility improvements, the pace change. It’s all here in Monster Hunter Wilds, but better.
Moreover, the freedom and more open world mean you can just stay out on a hunting binge and literally clear out an entire environment. Cook a meal on your BBQ, pop into one of your well-place tents to stock-up on items. Then carry on.
You don’t need to go back to a hub between hunts. Your meals and effects will last for a period of time, not just per-hunt.
Monster Hunter Wilds is just more efficient at keeping you in the action and engaged with the core of the game, hunting monsters. And it works for me. It’s kept me engaged every day since launch.
The bad
Monster Hunter Wilds brings new flaws, and it also carries older ones over with it, bizarrely….
Graphically, it feels like it’s beautiful, but hampered by issues from graphical drivers and not performing as well as it should. I’ve tweaked and changed and found a balance that works, but I always feel like it’s not quite there. Moreso, I’m annoyed that the performance means I can’t reliably stream the game, either because the GPU isn’t handling it optimally.
Granted, I could upgrade components, but an RTX 4060, 32GB DDR4 RAM, M.2 SSD and a Ryzen 7 5700X3D should be able to sustain the game well enough. There’s work to be done here and Capcom seem remarkably quiet on this front post-release.
Multiplayer and co-op awkwardness persists. In 2025 it’s incredible to me that Capcom haven’t been able to just setup a quick and easy way to play with friends. This isn’t new to the industry at this stage. Now, I love playing with random strangers and helping in SOS flares, which works really nicely. But finding friends is more steps than it needs to be.
Quick-access wheel……what on earth did they do to you? I’ve mapped all my must-have items to the radial menu, much like in Rise and World. But it feels like it only works about 70% of the time and I have to go over the motions again to trigger item use. Sure, it’s minor, but in the heat of a hunt when you need to quickly heal before getting a big slap, it’s a problem.
There’s been a lot of discourse around the difficulty. Even with Arch Tempered Ray Dau out now. Common online chat was that it’s too easy, and the easiest yet. And whilst the story was largely a straight-forward affair, I don’t think it’s any easier than the story of Rise. And despite enough time learning weapons, monsters and environments, there’s plenty of times I’m still getting a beating.
The rest
Monster Hunter Wilds did the one thing I always wanted it to do. It delivered a decent, consistent story with characters you get to know. Sure the story beats aren’t new, but the delivery, the focus on people and not just monsters, really helped.
Add to that, the locales, the monsters and the new wound system. Monster Hunter Wilds is new and different enough to feel like you’re not playing the same game again. Which is an absolute credit to Capcom. Monster Hunter is an old series and the core conceit is the same. Now fleshed-out, more efficient and with better world and storytelling.
I knew I would enjoy Wilds. I think that was a given. What I didn’t expect was that it would hold me in its grasp for as long as it did. Know I generally roll credits, check end game stuff and then finish a review. I gave it so much more time than I thought.
That’s testament to the way Wilds has presented itself. Even now, I’m not burned-out or bored. I’m just content.
I’ve got 10 achievements left to get. Some will be a grind and rely on RNG. Some will come soon, naturally. It’s great to be in such a happy spot with a game that is consistently fun, challenging and interesting.
Crafting weapons, Artian weapons and loads of armour sets is still a core part of the fun, too. And I’ve been farming materials just for fun. That’s not usually my bag, so Monster Hunter Wilds is somehow scratching all the right itches for me at a subliminal level.
Overall
Monster Hunter Wilds is very much a Monster Hunter game. Still dense with menus and systems, and no doubt onboarding to new players is still tricky. It’s something that makes it hard to get friends along for the ride, and something I hate, because I know people who would love the series.
But it’s slicker, more efficient and more engaging than ever before. It carries some legacy issues and new issues, but these can be resolved, and frankly, haven’t detracted from my overall enjoyment of the game.
Knowing that Capcom are drip-feeding content here and there, and then waiting for new title updates and eventually an expansion. I’m really excited about the future of the game and the series.
Monster Hunter Wilds is another step upwards and forwards, and a very, very easy “exceptional” from Ninja Refinery.