Monster Hunter Wilds Review
Does the open world live up to the hype?
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Title: Monster Hunter Wilds
Release: February 28, 2025
Platform: PS5 PC Xbox X|S
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Genre: Action Open World Big Monsters
ESRB: T
Reviewed on: PC
Time Played: 54 Hours
Intro:
Monster Hunter Wilds takes everything great about the series—intense hunts, deep gear customization, and an ever-evolving ecosystem—and pushes it further with stunning landscapes and dynamic weather. With an expansive world, new mechanics, and an easier entry point for newcomers, it delivers an exhilarating experience. But does it truly refine the Monster Hunter formula, or does it simplify the thrill of the hunt too much? Let’s dive in.
Where it starts
The Hunter’s Guild is journeying to the Forbidden Lands, which are believed to have been untouched by humans for a long time. However, upon their arrival, they discover a small boy wandering the desert, carrying a harrowing tale of his village’s destruction. With this news, they decide to leave and return later with a full team, including you, a Monster Hunter, to explore these new lands.
Can the kids watch
There was voice acting, but the language was appropriate. Most of the game involves battling large creatures with various weapons, possibly severing tails or tentacles, without major dismemberment concerns during the hunt. I’d say the biggest concern would be playing with random people online. The multiplayer world can be wild with voice chat and customizable imagery.
A Monster Hunter’s Job
Your role as a Monster Hunter is to help maintain the delicate ecosystem of an area. If a large beast is causing problems for the local wildlife, the guild will assign you the task of taking it down. Hunters are typically accompanied by a Handler, who represents the guild and grants permission in some cases. You will also be there to protect the researchers as they study and learn more about the world.
Your Best Friends
Accompanying you on your expeditions will be a Palico and a Seikret. The Seikret can be mounted, allowing you to traverse the land at high speeds. Your Palico is a feline companion who will gather materials and assist you in battling large monsters. They possess several different skills that make fighting significantly easier. If you start to lose a lot of health, they will run to you and throw a vigorwasp, or they might fly around in a small aircraft shooting rockets at the monsters. Their entire existence is a boon to the hunt.
Preparing for the Hunt
Before leaving camp for an exciting hunt, it’s a good idea to ensure you have everything in order. Select the items you want to carry with you, such as potions for healing, antidotes for poison, or even a hot drink if you’re hunting in a cold area. Once you’ve chosen your items, it’s time to prepare yourself a hearty meal. A good meal will boost your health and stamina for a while, and it can provide beneficial skills based on the ingredients you use. For instance, depending on your hunting plans, you might choose to eat fish for defense instead of meat for attack power.
Weapon Selection
There are a total of 14 different weapons available for you to hunt with, providing plenty of options to find your favorite. Each weapon features its own combat style and usefulness in a hunt. Whether you’re familiar with a weapon or not, it’s wise to visit the practice area to test it out. You don’t want to play through the entire game only to discover an awesome move you could use with your favorite weapon that would have made some hunts much easier.
Exploring the Forbidden Lands
Monster Hunter Wilds will take you through various areas, each featuring dynamic weather and changing environments. A fallow season will be followed by a storm, leading to a time of plenty. The environments will change, and you will encounter certain monsters only at specific times. After you get far enough into the game, you will have the option to rest until a specific time in an area for your preferred spawns to show up. You can leave the camp whenever you like to explore, or you could consult your map to locate everything around, even select a monster to create a quest, offering bonus rewards for completion.
Collecting Materials
You can purchase some basic items, but the truly useful ones require effort and crafting. While exploring, you will have a map to reference, labeling everything to help you locate specific plants or harvesting spots. Some items will also be essential for creating your gear, so it’s wise to collect everything you encounter in case you need it later. Most bugs and plants can be gathered while riding your Seikret, enabling you to collect materials at a quicker pace.
Tracking Down the Target
Once you embark on a hunt, it’s time to track your target. When you check your map, your target will be marked, allowing you to find them instantly; gone are the days of searching for tracks and signs to locate monsters. Once you arrive, you start attacking with your weapon while trying to dodge incoming attacks. After inflicting enough damage, the monster will flee the area, forcing you to chase it down and start damaging it again. Eventually, the beast may retreat to a cozy spot to recover from the injuries, providing you with the chance for a brutal awakening. When the hunt is over, you can carve off pieces to craft weapons and armor.
Equipment Management
Once you have enough monster materials, you can bring them to Gemma, the local blacksmith, to combine everything and create armor or a new weapon for you. Different weapons and armor will offer various skills and benefits. A significant part of the game involves mixing and matching different pieces of gear to achieve the highest level of specific skills. You can also acquire skills from decorations that can be placed in gear with the correct slots. If you find a piece of gear you like but are missing the necessary parts, you can add it to your wishlist. A wishlisted item will alert you when you acquire the needed material, letting you know when you can return and craft it.
Base Camp
Every area you explore will have a base camp. There, you will find the blacksmith for crafting, a shop, and your tent. You may also encounter characters willing to trade rare materials for other goods. The various base camps are where you can pick up main and side quests, complete all your crafting, and manage everything. You can place pop-up tents in designated locations around the map, providing you with fast travel points and access to your tent with all your items. In your tent, you can adjust your item loadout and the equipment you’re wearing.
Customize Everything
Monster Hunter Wilds lets you customize the appearance of almost everything. At the beginning, you can personalize both yourself and your Palico. In the game, you have the option to modify your pop-up tent and Seikret colors. At high rank, you can even alter your armor to look like any other piece you’ve crafted, including its color scheme. Additionally, you have a customizable hunter profile that other players can view.
Playing with Friends & Strangers
Monster Hunter Wilds can be played solo, or you can join up with strangers and friends alike. If you need some help while on your own hunt you can throw an S.O.S. flare, opening up your lobby to the public, allowing people to join in the hunt. Some hunts can go by very fast with four people who know exactly what they are doing. Be warned, however, even with a full party you are still three feints away from failing a hunt, shared between everyone.
Outro:
I would love to hear any thoughts or questions you have about the game or my review, so leave me a message in the comments below. While you do that, let’s move on to my final thoughts and ratings.
I’ve been a huge fan of the Monster Hunter series since World came out in 2018. The world designs, weapon options, and the ability to use pieces of monsters after a hunt to create fantastic gear create a highly addictive formula. In the few Monster Hunter releases I’ve experienced, it seems that there have been numerous quality of life updates with each one, including DLCs, and Wilds follows suit with many impressive updates.
First, I want to clarify that I am an Insect Glaive main and don’t have much experience with other weapons. However, I would assume many weapons received the same kind of attention my main did and gained some awesome new moves and abilities for this game. Wilds introduced a new focus mode, allowing me to identify open wounds on monsters for a powerful attack and providing me with all the buffs I need as a Glaive user to be super effective. I know other weapons also received amazing benefits from attacking those wounds.
For a while, I was led to believe that Monster Hunter Wilds was going to be an open-world game, yet it doesn’t quite deliver an open-world experience. However, it is much more open than any previous Monster Hunter title. The areas you can explore are divided into large sections that you can fast travel between and walk around in without the necessity of a hunt or investigation to get there. The dynamic time and weather changes were enjoyable, as waiting for specific times to gather materials or embark on a particular hunt made the ever-changing world feel alive. They even went so far as to provide a forecast for the area I was in, indicating how long until the weather changes and what monsters would enter the locale. If I didn’t want to wait, I could rest until my preferred time and season for some guild points, though that could alter the forecast.
One thing I found myself missing was the actual hunting of monsters like I did in Monster Hunter World. Back then, I would start a mission, enter the locale, and begin looking for signs like footprints or fur lying around, eventually finding the monster that way. Wilds has streamlined the hunting process by showing me everything in the area, allowing me to mark a waypoint and hop onto my Seikret, who would run directly there on autopilot. Not that it was bad; I enjoyed a lot of it. It just seems like ‘Hunter’ might be kind of a misnomer when locations are given out like that.
There was an overarching story that guided me through the game, focusing on the local ecosystems and various monsters. It was fine, but certainly not the main focus of the game. I often found myself anxiously waiting for everyone to finish talking so I could go battle some big creatures. It’s nice to understand why everyone is present, and it made for some amazing new monster entrances, but I didn’t really care for most of the story.
It took me about 36 hours to complete all side quests and hunts, and I still want to play a lot more to work on builds and increase my hunter rank. The game has a lot to offer, and overall it feels like taking down a big monster is far simpler than it has been in the past. At least from my perspective, using an Insect Glaive, I always felt like a support weapon, but in Wilds, I could easily hold my own and get through a tough hunt single-handedly. Now that could be due to hours of experience with the weapon, but I think it’s the game itself. Regardless, it’s still an excellent game, perfect for newcomers to enter the series and get a taste.
With these final thoughts in mind, it’s time to boil it down to numbers and get the rating out of the way.
The visuals were excellent. The monsters looked great and the world designs were amazing. I’m giving it a 4
The story was there, it gave purpose to all my actions and introduced new monsters in a cool way, but it wasn’t the focus, earning a 3
The gameplay is phenomenal. I can’t get enough of the hunting, gathering, and creation of equipment and items. Working on the best builds for tough hunts and mastering combat. It’s getting a 5
The game is all about replayability. Not from the start, but going on the same hunts searching for that vital monster piece. It can eventually get boring, but not for a while. I’m giving it another 4
I’m having so much fun with this game. It’s everything I could ever want a Monster Hunter to be, and there is still so much more they plan on bringing into the game, to keep my interest for along time. That’s another 5
Giving Monster Hunter Wilds an average score of 4.2. Earning it’s spot on my Special Reserve. I absolutely love a good Monster Hunter game, and I can’t recommend this enough. If you have ever been curious about getting into the series, there is no better time than now to do it.