Ok, stage 2 of our review of Monster Hunter Wilds is well-under way. We’ve seen the story through, engaged with all of the environments in all of their states.
We’ve met and worked with all of our companions and we’ve been doing side-quests, tempered monsters and responding to SOS flares. Sitting at 45 hours and HR 61, I’m comfortable that we’ve seen most of what the game has to offer and can talk about it with confidence.
Here’s the tl;dr for Monster Hunter Wilds from us:
This is wicked. Once it gets a few title updates and likely an expansion, we’ll be able to compare it like for like to World/Iceborne Rise/Sunbreak. And I’m confident we’ll be talking about it as being a cut above the rest.
Story
You don’t necessarily come to Monster Hunter for the story, if we’re being honest.
New environments, some kind of strange behaviour of local monsters, find an apex of the food chain, hunt it. Invariably that doesn’t fix the issue because there’s something even bigger to discover.
Reducing it to that is unfair, but there’s a Monster Hunter cadence, for sure. Monster Hunter Wilds is no different.
But…..Monster Hunter Wilds, for the first time, delivers a story with compelling characters that stick with you. That have their own motivations and that exist in the world in a much more “real” way.
Post-credits, I’m still talking to them, still working with them. They have names! Not “Serious Hunter 5” or “Handler”.
This is the first time there’s a genuine connection to the characters and the world. It’s Capcom’s finest Monster Hunter story in that respect.
You genuinely feel like a top-of-your game hunter, and you get a sense of how you’re a cut-above the rest, which is why you were chosen for the quest.
Nata, the kind of catalyst for a lot of the action in the story, is slightly annoying, but a child grasping with the concept that the world is bigger than all he’s been taught and shown. It’s heavier than you would expect.
Monster Hunter Wilds excels in an area that most people will just blitz through to get to the end game. I hope more people appreciate it.
Accessible to new hunters
Monster Hunter fans are incredibly vocal about games being too easy. Not enough content. Too much change etc etc.
It’s like any gaming community on Reddit, to be honest. But remove the noise, and sometimes there’s valid commentary in there.
Is Monster Hunter Wilds too easy? Well, that depends on how much you’ve played the series on the past, and how much time you can spend on a single session.
The story hunts were largely straightforward, that’s fair. But unless you understand great, weapons, decorations and everything you need to be better, I think you might initially struggle in the latter half of the game.
Wilds takes learning from Rise and World and makes navigation of the world smoother than ever thanks to your Seikret (see Palamute in Rise). Glowflies to show you the way, a useful Palico to assist and even decent AI allies to support on hunts.
It might not be an easy game per se, but it’s definitely easier to get on-board. Which is historically very tough.
Monster Hunter is a series of dense menus and systems. Wilds is streamlined and more efficient to help people get stuck in. I think it’s important to the life of the series and it does a great job.
Monster Hunter Wilds is for sure the most accessible in the series and that should only be praised.
End-game/post-campaign
Tempered Monsters, Artian weapons and armour, event quests.
There’s plenty to do here with some narrative continuation after the credits roll, too. Exploring the environments and the impact you’ve had on them from the story.
For us, it’s been perfect. We can’t no-life it and stick hundreds of hours into week one. But there’s plenty to go at every time we log in and it feels fantastic.
Artian weapons are new, with new parts to collect and the opportunity to build these specialist pieces of gear. Parts only drop from tempered monsters, which are harder, more aggressive variants of their normal counterparts.
We like the pace, the quantity and the challenge that’s available but appreciate that some hardcore fans with more time on their hands might feel like there isn’t enough.
Title Update 1 has just come out too, and with added monsters and difficulties in the world, we’re seeing some proper challenge now and the community feels heard, too.
Hunts and the more open world
The differentiator with Monster Hunter Wilds was the introduction of a more open-world, something I was hopeful, but skeptical about.
Now, if we put performance issues aside (we’ll re-address this in the final part of the review). Monster Hunter Wilds is a lovely looking game, and the environments are a a joy to explore. Furthermore, just popping out to explore is never not a joy.
Stopping to swim, to fish, to farm resources is the best its ever been. Hitting the Scarlet Forest during the plenty is a thing of genuine joy. I’ve spent more time there just taking it in, than anywhere else.
All the areas can be travelled to on-foot or on-Seikret if you want to explore and not bother with fast-travel.
The hunts in the open world start more organically than if you go through Alma and the traditional quest board. I love this organic quest creation, and it really makes you feel like you’re a proper hunter out in the wilds.
Of course, Capcom seem to hate people playing together, or at least with ease. The opportunity to make matchmaking more straightforward wasn’t taken this time around. Lobbies, friends, squads. It’s all there and opaque as hell.
You can hunt with friends, of course, but it’s a ballache to get it going. Much like it’s always been.
Next up
The final part of this review is going to rate and summarise all of our findings. Suffice it to say, I think it’s pretty obvious how much we’re into Monster Hunter Wilds. But nothing is without flaw, and we need to discuss those, too.