Well, we finally made it! I’ve genuinely been looking forward to Monster Hunter Wilds, and now I’ve finally started playing it. Wanted to share my first impressions. Maybe some of you are playing too (or planning to)? Let’s discuss!
The design really impressed me! The world is wild — in a good way. The landscapes are stunning: from deserts and jungles to volcanoes. The atmosphere pulls you in right away. The weather effects are incredibly well done — storms or sand veils can kick in during a hunt, adding a ton of immersion.
Combat feels even deeper and more refined. There are new mechanics, like a wound system that affects monster behavior — a very cool addition.
But yeah, there are some downsides. Performance… oof. Even with solid PC specs, I’ve experienced stuttering, FPS drops, and occasional crashes. From what I’ve seen on the forums, I’m definitely not alone. Some mechanics also seem a bit simplified — World veterans might feel a bit let down.
Reddit is buzzing: some are slamming the bugs, others are loving the lore and gameplay. Fingers crossed Capcom rolls out some patches soon.
Genuinely couldn’t stand how on-rails it is. Why advertise this wide open world and then constantly restrict and limit my options to interact with it?
There’s lots of positive things to say about it. The combat is, yes, perhaps more satisfying than ever. They really nailed the Monster/weapons/armor designs this time around. I feel like there’s value in gathering again, something that recent titles have lost.
But it’s all stained by the low-rank experience. Spending 10-12 hours behing hand-held through a series of walk and talks where I am constantly prompted to stare at the beautiful landscape piece, or the way small monsters interact, as though the game is afraid I’ll miss it if I am left to my own devices, was both boring and insulting. There was a lot of decisions made to put cinematography ahead of gameplay experience here, and these decisions have genuinely made Wilds my least favorite release Monster Hunter title to date.
The way I see there was a 15 hour long free game that came with my purchase of Monster Hunter. It wasn’t much good but I’m glad to play Monster Hunter after that.
Performance-wise, the game is bottlenecked not just by CPU and GPU but also by asset streaming. Put it on your fastest NVME drive and make sure you have enough GPU headroom for DirectStorage to do its work.
Oh I don’t have any performance issues. My 3070ti has no issue holding 120 fps (with frame Gen on, mind you). Game plays perfectly.
And I’d be more forgiving of the “15 hour long free game,” but it ate a part of the game I enjoy, made playing that part of the game with friends challenging to the point of feeling not worth it, and it’s required before I am allowed to enjoy the game I actually paid for. Those 15 hours - well, 12 for me - were more valuable to me than the price I paid for the game. 15 hours of work is well into the several hundreds of dollars space. But I already paid over $100 CAD once taxes were in. Why do I also have to give it my time?
Again, great game, but worst on-boot Monster Hunter to date. And that’s saying something, considering World doesn’t let you hold a weapon for the first hour.