| Monster Hunter Wilds | |||
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| Release Date | Gameplay & Story | Pre-Order & DLC | Review |
Monster Hunter Wilds has finally been released! Does it live up to its hype? Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
Monster Hunter Wilds Review Overview
What is Monster Hunter Wilds?
Monster Hunter Wilds is the sixth mainline game in the Monster Hunter franchise developed and published by CAPCOM. Players will play as hunters under the Hunter’s Guild with the task of investigating the Forbidden Lands. The game will also feature crossplay and will have a simultaneous release across all of its platforms.
The gameplay mostly involves players taking quests to fight against different monsters using specialized tools and weapons in various environments. Lastly, the game will follow a series of quests consisting of its main campaign or storyline, which will function as the game introducing the player to its different locales, monsters, and other quests.
Monster Hunter Wilds features:
⚫︎ Narrative-Focused Action RPG
⚫︎ Snappy and Fluid Gameplay
⚫︎ Addicting Gameplay Loop
⚫︎ 29 Different Large Monsters to Fight Against
⚫︎ 14 Weapons to Choose From
⚫︎ Fully Customizable Avatar and Partner Palico
⚫︎ Unending Progression
For more gameplay details, read everything we know about Monster Hunter Wilds’s gameplay and story.
 Monster Hunter Wilds |
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Monster Hunter Wilds Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Addicting Gameplay Loop Compelling Story With Memorable Characters Streamlined Progression Systems Theorycrafting Galore |
Balancing Affects Overall Difficulty Cheesy Dialogue |
Monster Hunter Wilds Overall - 90/100
Monster Hunter Wilds is, without a doubt, the best game in the series by far. With the quality-of-life additions, addicting gameplay, breathtaking visuals, and surprisingly compelling story, it has exceeded the standards set by its predecessors.
Monster Hunter Wilds Story - 8/10
The story is interesting and it’s clear that the developers focused a lot on its content. It’s certainly predictable and cheesy at certain times with its dialogue, but the interesting cast of characters and overall setup of the climax make it compelling from start to finish.
Monster Hunter Wilds Gameplay - 10/10
Every Monster Hunter game is known for its addicting gameplay loop, which includes satisfying combat and creative progression systems. With Monster Hunter Wilds, the streamlined nature of the game enhances arguably the best aspect of the series: experimentation. There are a couple of hitches on balancing, but the overall combat and gameplay loop make up for this as the game is undeniably way too fun.
Monster Hunter Wilds Visuals - 9/10
In terms of visuals, the game looks great. The biggest problem with its visuals is the post-processing effects that are turned on, as they make the game look washed out most of the time. However, the overall art direction, character and monster designs, and animations elevate the presentation.
Monster Hunter Wilds Audio - 9/10
Monster Hunter Wilds’ music is memorable and distinct, especially with how different each region is from each other. While I’m sure I need more time to let some of the new tracks simmer, some tracks like the main theme, Rey Dau’s theme, and the Windward Plains battle theme, are already ingrained into my head since the betas.
Monster Hunter Wilds Value for Money - 9/10
It’s always hard to justify buying a game for $69.99. However, Monster Hunter Wilds justifies this because of its tried and true gameplay loop. Before even getting into the endgame and theorycrafting, the main campaign is already at least 10 hours long. Not only that, the series will periodically receive new updates that include more content and monsters to fight, encapsulating the game as a truly limitless experience. The biggest con of the game’s value for money is that the best way to play it is through its console version, specifically the PS5, as you’ll have to fiddle around with your PC to get it to run perfectly.
Monster Hunter Wilds Review: A Bigger and Better World
There’s nothing quite like Monster Hunter. Many have tried and come close, but were never good enough to overthrow the game from the peak. After all these years, it seems that the only thing that can outdo itself is itself.
Since its reveal back in December 2023, Monster Hunter has been something that any gamer was waiting for. The biggest hunting simulator and mission-based action RPG is back, and there are tons of changes and quality-of-life improvements introduced for the game.
After being able to play through the game in its entirety, it’s safe to say that Monster Hunter Wilds is everything that you would want out of a sequel of that magnitude. It exceeds the standard that the previous games have set for the franchise with its compelling story, streamlined progression, amazing audiovisuals, and addictive gameplay.
Surprisingly Engaging Story
One of the main gripes of the newer games in the franchise was that you were locked behind endgame if you didn’t finish the main storyline. It’s more or less the same here. Monster Hunter Wilds uses the story to introduce the game’s progression system little by little, aside from showing off the roster of monsters, that is.
Capcom has definitely taken notes from their previous games in how to build a better narrative, as it’s much better and easier to understand this time around. Aside from that, they took one of the better aspects of Rise’s expansion and built upon it by creating interesting characters that you become invested in either over time or from the get-go.
Without spoiling anything, the narrative still follows the theme of man versus nature. There were several revelations during the latter part of the story that genuinely impressed me. Kudos to Capcom for doubling down on the story aspect of the franchise; they have definitely succeeded in creating a compelling narrative, aside from the cheesy dialogue, of course.
Addicting Gameplay Loop
The series has always been known to be a mission-based action RPG. The gameplay loop was simple: look for a monster, hunt the monster, collect its materials, craft your desired weapons and armor, then repeat. It’s an oversimplification of how the series is, but it all boils down to having a satisfying loop of combat, progress, and discovery.
The combat in Monster Hunter Wilds is the best the series has ever had. The changes and improvements to each weapon, along with the new combat mechanics, keep the action fresh and engaging. One example of this is the Great Sword, as it’s one of the few weapons in the game that can use the two new combat mechanics: Offset Attack and Power Clash.
Aside from the weapons, the monsters themselves are also an integral part of combat. The new monsters are all memorable in how they’re fought. Moreover, the new system of being able to bring two different weapons makes sense because of how different each monster can be.
Streamlining Opens Up Experimentation
One of the main things that Capcom changed for its new releases was to streamline the process of progression. One example of this was the amount of rewards a player gets after every hunt and how it has drastically increased for every subsequent release.
Although it can be said that the series has gone soft for making it less of a grind, this makes it more convenient for players to try out different things as opposed to sticking to the same build. With a diverse roster of weapons and armor sets to mix and match skills, it encourages the player to try out new weapons and experiment with new builds.
Gone are the days where it takes you ten hunts just to craft a full set of armor and weapon, as breaking parts and damaging wounds would give you monster parts already. Personally, this design is something I prefer, mainly because I enjoy trying new weapons and exploring different builds.
A Little Too Easy
Now to answer the question on everyone’s mind, is the game too easy? Yes and no. It’s important to note that I didn’t cart once during the main storyline, and there were times where I felt as if the monsters would just fall over.
The biggest reason why the game feels easier is because of the absurd amount of damage that you can inflict by using the game’s new mechanics. For context, using Focus Strike on a wound would deal a big chunk of damage to the monster as well as stunlock them and give you a window of opportunity. This window of opportunity can lead up to another wound being afflicted and repeat the same process. Because of this, the monster would helplessly stand still as you wail on it as it dies.
If we were to put Focus Mode and Wounds aside, the monsters are fairly well-designed and aptly difficult, as some of the newer additions to the roster gave me a run for my money. The biggest contributing factor to the game’s difficulty is that the main campaign is balanced enough to make it accessible and easier for newer players to play. This means that the first 10-15 hours of the game are more of a tutorial rather than a test of your skill, since the real challenge is farming for your endgame set.
There are a lot of ways to change up the balance of the monsters, but I’ll leave it up to Capcom to introduce new ways to challenge the playerbase. Although I do wish that they tone down the damage from Wounds and Focus Strikes so that fights aren’t too one-sided.
It Only Gets Better From Here
As more monsters, updates, and its eventual expansion arrive, the Monster Hunter Wilds will only get better from here on out. It’s crazy to think that the game is already good enough to be a 100-hour timesink with all the content that’s already in the base game. I, for one, am excited for what the future holds for the game, since the current direction they’re steering in is already something I’m onboard with. After all, we only get better as we keep hunting.
Is Monster Hunter Wilds Worth It?
Yes! The Hype is Justified!
With the long anticipation and hype around Monster Hunter Wilds, all of that time was completely worth the wait. While the game’s price is a steep AAA premium of $69.99, it has enough content on release to easily sink in more than 100 hours of gameplay just by practicing different weapons, crafting new sets, and fighting different monsters. It also has enough to attract both new and old audiences to the fold.
This is the perfect game for newcomers to get themselves started on the Monster Hunter series, and it has all of the quality of life improvements that veterans want when playing the game! Lastly, I would highly recommend getting the game on consoles instead, as the experience was smooth throughout my playthrough.
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| $69.99 | |||||
Monster Hunter Wilds FAQ
Does Monster Hunter Wilds have different language options for both voices and subtitles?
Yes. To be specific, the available text language settings are: Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, English, French, Italian, Deutsch, Spanish (Spain), Spanish (Latin America), Russian, Polish, Portuguese, Arabic, Japanese, and Korean.
Are there any Elder Dragons in Monster Hunter Wilds?
As of writing, no. The developers have openly stated that they wanted to focus on the different monsters aside from the Elder Dragons. Although the Gore Magala has already been confirmed to be part of the base roster, the monster itself is not an Elder Dragon aside from its full transformation into Shagaru Magala.
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Monster Hunter Wilds Product Information
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| Title | MONSTER HUNTER WILDS |
|---|---|
| Release Date | February 28, 2025 |
| Developer | CAPCOM Co., Ltd. |
| Publisher | CAPCOM Co., Ltd. |
| Supported Platforms | PC (Steam), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S |
| Genre | Action, RPG |
| Number of Players | 1-4 (Quest), 1-100 (Online Lobby) |
| ESRB Rating | T |
| Official Website | Monster Hunter Wilds Official Website |
