‘Monster Hunter Wilds’ Review: Eat, Slay, Craft & Repeat

I have picked up numerous Monster Hunter titles but have never been able to stay locked in, but with Monster Hunter Wilds, I found my jam.

Monster Hunter Wilds is a unique entry in the beloved Capcom video game franchise. Thanks to new and well-overdue tweaks, it faithfully maintains the same energy that keeps longtime players returning. It simultaneously does enough to lure in new players, delivering yet another exceptional Monster Hunter game.

Fans of the franchise need not worry; the core game loop remains the same: track down large monsters, beat them to a pulp, take their parts, and craft better weapons and armor to take on even stronger and more challenging monsters.

The gameplay in Wilds is woven into the game’s story, which Capcom went out of its way to make matter. It slyly serves as a more engaging tutorial by integrating Guild and Village quests, a win specifically for those like myself who are still new to this franchise.

The story features a fully voiced protagonist for the first time, who sees the Hunters Guild arrive in the Forbidden Lands, an uncharted territory once believed to be void of human life for thousands of years until you discover a young boy named Nata.

Nata is a mess after a rare and highly aggressive monster called the White Wraith attacks his village. The Hunters Guild takes up the challenge to help Nata find the beast and save his people from complete annihilation.

The 20-hour-plus campaign will see you travel to the game’s five distinct biomes, where you will take on old and new monsters. What you get is not the most memorable game plot ever, but it’s not the worst.

Monster Hunting Never Felt Better

Again, Capom kept things very familiar by returning the same 14 weapon types from the previous games, but they have all been substantially tweaked to make taking down monsters feel the most fluid it has ever been.

For example, two weapons in your arsenal, the lance and the great sword, have a Perfect Guard blocking mechanic that, if timed right, will help you execute a counterattack and negate all damage. It also triggers a new Power Clash mechanic against specific attacks that will see your hunter and the monster engage in a button-mashing struggle to gain the upper hand over the beast.

If you win the Power Clash, you will deal additional damage and stagger the monster, giving you a window to hack away, using the game’s new Focus Mode that allows you to attack “wounds” on the beast with a well-placed Focus Strike, carving off crafting parts and giving the player an exact feel of how far along they are in the sometimes long battles.

Each monster has a unique design and personality, forcing players to figure out attack patterns and movements to take them down efficiently.

Other weapons like the hilarious Hunting Horn and Switch Axe can pull off Offset Attacks, allowing players to stop a monster’s attack by hitting it with one of their own.

Capcom ensured that both The Perfect Gaurd and Offset Attacks didn’t happen often to ensure that the monster fights remained challenging.

Also new to Monster Hunter Wilds is the ability to carry two weapons via your trusty bird companion, the Seikret. While riding the Seikret, players can switch their weapons or do other things like sharpen their blades, shoot dung to disperse packs, use consumables, or jump from it to land on a monster and mount it to unleash smaller attacks before, eventually, a more powerful singular blow.

Before you embark on the hunt, you can also cook on the go, no longer needing to be at a base or pop-up tent to cook a meal and add buffs.

Monster Variety

There is no shortage of monsters to fight in Monster Hunters Wild, with each design sometimes leaving you speechless. Each monster has a unique design and personality, forcing players to figure out attack patterns and movements to take them down efficiently.

The first monster you take on is the Quematrice. Its design takes the idea of dinosaurs turning into birds and flips it on its head because it looks and acts like a reptilian-looking rooster that pecks as it makes its way across the Windward Plains.

Another monster, the Lala Barina, is a play on a gigantic spider that, with its swift movements, almost looks like it is prancing around like a ballerina.

The Uth Duna, a personal favorite, is a giant aquatic creature that seems damn near invulnerable when you first encounter it and causes massive tidal waves as it breeches and moves around. It’s a sight to behold and a challenge to experience.

You will encounter many other monsters during your playthrough, some even more eye-opening than the ones I listed above.

Final Verdict

Monster Hunter Wilds is a fantastic entry into the already brilliant Monster Hunter franchise. It does enough to keep its core base happy, but it does more to attract new players to the franchise with the addition of some new mechanics that make getting acclimated to what can be a very intimidating experience with all of the menus, submenus, weapon types, and other options.

While it’s nothing exceptional, the story does its job of moving players through the Forbidden Lands to experience each of the unique five biomes, which are all teaming with life big and small and affected by changing climates that will force you to alter your monster slaying approach.

While I didn’t get to experience it with friends, this is a game best experienced with others, and Monster Hunter Wilds’ smooth party system makes it easy to include friends in on monster hunting action with a shot of a flare in the air. The NPC characters do a great job assisting you if no one answers your call for help.

Where Monster Hunter Wilds truly shines is when you reach the endgame, but I won’t spoil that for you. Monster Hunter Wilds is a blast and will only get better when additional content for the game eventually arrives.

*Monster Hunter Wilds PS5 Review Copy Provided By Capcom*