Monster Hunter Wilds Review (PS5) – The release of a new Monster Hunter game always feels like a landmark moment in Capcom’s catalogue. It’s a new era and a new start for the series that has been running for over 20 years, and with one monolith of a legacy behind its name.
Being the first “mainline” release in the franchise since Monster Hunter World in 2018, it’s been a minute since hunters on current platforms have had something meaty to dig into. And I’m incredibly pleased to report that Monster Hunter Wilds delivers not only on ambitious new ideas, but on the quality that people have come to expect out of the series as a whole.
Monster Hunter Wilds is a titanic release that will no doubt usher in a brand new crowd of players, as well as draw veterans back for some of the most engaging and impressive gameplay the series has ever seen, with meaningful improvements in almost every way.
Monster Hunter Wilds Review (PS5) – Into A New Generation And New Horizons
Sharpen Your Blade
The core of Monster Hunter is one that’s always stayed pretty steady throughout each main entry. Across multiple environments, and through using a variety of heavy-hitting weapons, you take on increasingly intimidating and exciting combat encounters with a roster of iconic beasts.
For everything that Wilds brings to the table, that core principle has been maintained here and polished to a dazzling gleam. You’ll still pick from an impressive roster of 14 weapons with unique playstyles, and set out on hunts by yourself or with friends and gather materials to gradually build up to some truly climactic fights. Monster Hunter Wilds’ alternate title could honestly be “Monster Hunter ‘If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it’ Wilds.”
Which is also why returning Monster Hunter World and Rise players will be able to slip right into Wilds without any real trouble. Balance changes and new techniques for weapons offer new strategies for players, as well as system-wide changes that actively change the way that you hunt.
And in a twist that will (probably) excite players from those two games, Monster Hunter: Wilds does away with the strange gimmick hunts from the previous two entries. No more Rampage getting in the way of your normal hunting and no more colossal monsters with strange processes of attacking them.
Wilds returns to the solid foundation that Monster Hunter has had from the start – with the slight caveat of not having fan-favourite elements like aquatic combat – a relatively small loss!
New Tools And Angles
Compared to other action games, Monster Hunter has always made the physical presence of the enemy an integral part of how you approach them. You aren’t given a health bar to keep an eye on as you mindlessly hit them, you’re encouraged to learn their behaviour and adapt to them just as they adapt to you.
Success in Monster Hunter comes from learning about the creatures you face and the ways that they behave to try and secure a win without losing any rewards. This is where the new “Focus Mode” comes into play, and encourages you to even further concentrate your attacks on particularly vulnerable parts of the monster for some big damage rewards.
Over the course of a hunt, you’ll open red glowing “wounds” on a monster, that you can specifically target using the right trigger and actively attacking these glowing spots. The result is a material drop and a boatload of damage being thrown on the monster in a short time, and this is true for all monsters that you face.
Monster Hunter has always encouraged you to be aware of your surroundings and this now extends to the creatures as well, as you juggle dealing damage and keeping out of harm’s way.
The other major addition to the formula here is the Seikret mount that you’re given at the start of the game, and sticks with you throughout every hunt of the game. In a way, they replace the Palamute companions from Monster Hunter: Rise, and function primarily as transportation rather than combat support, like your companion Palico.
Your Seikret acts as your supply item chest, your escape in a moment of danger and your holster for a second weapon in the middle of an encounter. For the first time in the series, you’ve got the freedom to carry any two types of main weapon with you on the road, without having to totally restart a quest.
In the open beta (and early parts of the story), I was really worried that the Seikrets would take the fun out of actually exploring the luscious new areas in Wilds, but I was pleased to see that this automation is pretty much exclusive to the main questline, and was never an element in multiplayer hunts. While you still have the option to set a marker down and have your Seikret automatically move towards it, you aren’t ever forced into using it.
The Chosen One(s)
Monster Hunter isn’t a series that’s loved for its narratives or characters. Most play the games for the experience of venturing with friends and making your own stories. And while there’s absolutely nothing wrong with a series that puts gameplay over story, I’m pleased to share that Monster Hunter: Wilds has finally managed to marry a more traditional narrative with the gameplay loop of Monster Hunter and made something really great in the process.
While the premise and execution isn’t anything that will light the world on fire, I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of character and charm packed into these quests, with some genuinely great moments sprinkled throughout. The low-rank quests in Monster Hunter have always ostensibly been tutorials and preparation for the more dangerous group missions that come later, and that isn’t really different here. What is different is the way that it’s presented to you.
Monster Hunter: Rise split single-player quests and multiplayer quests into two discreet categories that didn’t ever cross over. The result was a slightly unfocused experience that never felt truly singular. I never really wanted to spend time doing quests that I was forced to do alone – Monster Hunter is a series best enjoyed in the company of friends.
Luckily, all quests in Wilds can be enjoyed like this, with the company of other players and even AI companions if you choose to play offline, without the pressure of other players on you.
Your custom hunter essentially fills the “chosen hero” archetype and is inexplicably the most capable person to lead the expedition to solve the mystery of the “White Wraith” and the natural phenomena happening across the previously thought uninhabited lands. It’s a fine excuse to have a more character-driven experience with a lot of time being spent on exploring the cultures of the regions you visit.
A Living And Breathing World
The original vision for Monster Hunter was one of vibrant and dynamic ecosystems where players would be able to hunt monsters in a rapidly changing environment. And Monster Hunter: Wilds feels like the true realisation of that original vision from all those years ago.
Previous Monster Hunter games had you returning to specific locations before and after a hunt. You were able to manage supplies, craft new weapons and generally organise yourself in a safe space before you embarked on your next expedition.
Wilds takes out the middle man and lets you explore the world seamlessly, even going out into the world and attacking monsters as they roam around naturally. You always have access to your items and a blacksmith to upgrade as you go, with less punishment on you if you just forgot to upgrade before your latest mission.
As a result, each environment is full of lush detail and feels far more like you’re operating in an unknown land when compared to previous entries. Each of the distinct environments that you hunt in undergoes a cycle of weather systems that creates a drastic shift in the environment. As the introductory area of the game, the Windward Plains is characterised by sandstorms and poor visibility, violent thunder storms before exploding into one of the most striking vistas you could imagine, full of vibrant yellow and gorgeous flora on show.
Each area of the game is like this, and each has something totally unique to offer and something equally as interesting or visually stunning. Down to the tiniest of details, Capcom has created a world here that feels full of life. It almost feels like a shame to be storming through it on the back of a Seikret, but armour needs crafting!
Bumps In The Road
That isn’t to say that Wilds is a totally flawless release; a few hiccups from a technical viewpoint do slightly hinder the PS5 experience, and I hope we can see these being addressed in future patches. Capcom clearly intends to maintain momentum behind Wilds and while the game is PS5 Pro enhanced, that doesn’t mean these things can’t be sorted.
Performance is the big sticking point here, with an unlocked framerate hovering around 30FPS for the majority of the time. While it certainly isn’t anything that will ruin the game for most, it was a noticeable concession that obviously needed to be made.
The other issue largely comes down to how clunky some social interactions can feel at times; for how much the boat is pushed out in every other way, it feels slightly sad that we’re stuck with a social system that feels ripped out of the early 2010s.
It’s really good that we’re finally seeing a cross-platform Monster Hunter game. But I do wish we weren’t having to still type in codes that can stretch into eight separate case-sensitive digits.
And speaking to more of the purist Monster Hunter fans who haven’t quite enjoyed the streamlining of previous games, Wilds doesn’t quite roll those changes back. If anything, the addition of a portable quest board, blacksmith at all times and immediate access to your supply chest means that Wilds is ultimately the most beginner friendly game in the series thus far.
I’m acutely aware that Monster Hunter veterans can be touchy about the conveniences that Capcom has included in recent entries and Wilds only lowers the barrier to entry even more in comparison with previous entries. I personally only see this as a good thing – with the core remaining totally untouched – but I can see this being a point of contention across a few groups of players.
The Capgods Have Done It Again
Ultimately, these small system issues are a brief hiccup in what is otherwise one of the most phenomenal action games I’ve had the pleasure of playing in the last few years. Monster Hunter: Wilds demonstrates the clear vision of the creatives at Capcom and manages to impress in almost every way.
The behaviour of each individual monster is wholly unique and full of expression, each environment is carefully tailored to fit them in naturally, it really feels like you’re intruding on their territory.
Embargo prevents me from showing some of the most incredible screenshots I was able to capture during my time with the game, but some of these encounters feel incredibly choreographed for fights to be fought by 4 people at once. You might have gotten a taste of some of those encounters in the recent Open Beta Test and I can promise you there’s only even more here to sink your teeth into.
There’s a long road ahead for Monster Hunter: Wilds, with no shortage of new monsters set to descend onto the already luscious world of the Forbidden Lands. And I cannot wait to get down to hunting with my friends when the game releases very very soon.