Monster Hunter Wilds is the newest installment in the Monster Hunter series released with a hefty $70 price tag on February 27. Capcom, the developer and publisher, is well known for many of their award-winning titles such as the Resident Evil, Devil May Cry and Street Fighter series. With the main Monster Hunter titles being upwards of eight games, plus more than seven expansions, the popularity of the series is well earned. The latest installment follows up the most popular title yet, Monster Hunter World, to keep the player base entertained.
Unlike the previous games, Wilds has an immersive story in which the character progresses throughout their gameplay and is open world explorable. The main game takes place in an area called The Forbidden Lands, where we make our custom character and meet the main cast. The first chapter of the game introduces the core mechanics that are consistent throughout all the titles, keeping familiarity for returning veteran players. We are then shown why the game is called Monster Hunter, as the main character is thrown into melee combat with a large beast. Throughout the game there is a recurring cycle of story dialogue, Seikret riding and boss fights. After defeating a monster or apex predator the player can carve the corpse to craft new weapons and armor, each with special abilities to help them on their journey.
The game mechanics are very reaction based, reminding me of the Dark Souls genre. If you don’t want to focus on dexterity, you can pick up heavy weapons to feel the impact. There are 14 weapon types in Wilds, consisting of strength, dexterity and ranged based weaponry. Each weapon is completely unique from the last with stand alone moves and upgrades for every piece of equipment.
I have three favorite features in Wilds. The first of my favorite mechanics is the wounding in Monster Hunter. When you focus on a limb of a monster, it can get wounded in that area. After concentrating attacks on the wound, it can break and give you monster parts and deal heavy damage to the creature. The second is the Palicoes within the game. Palicoes are a staple feature in the Monster Hunter series, aiding the player in their hunts. I love them so much because they are cute and very helpful in your fights. My final favorite is the Seikrets, the “horse” of Monster Hunter Wilds. They help you traverse the open world game and act as companions in hunts.
The one issue I have with the game is frame loading. If your hunt or boss fight takes you to an unloaded area, it has to load all the shaders without a loading screen. This causes unstable frame lag which gets worse when you use the focus feature. It goes away after 10-20 seconds, but can seriously mess up your battle. This happens even with the strongest of PC builds, but may have been because I was running on High Graphics.
Overall, the game has an entertaining story, amazing graphics, decent monetary value, good gameplay and has a good difficulty level. If you ever have a few extra bucks and a strong gaming system, I definitely recommend trying out this game to its completion.
Graphics Card: RTX 4080 (SUPER)
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