An Addicting First-Time Hunt | Monster Hunter Wilds [PC] Review

[Hunter Beware! This review of Monster Hunter Wilds will include spoilers.]

With a new release in CAPCOM’s flagship action RPG series at the end of February 2025, everyone was getting a whiff of Hunting Fever—even me. Hearing my friends’ escapades as they hopped back into Rise and playing the Beta with them. Then, watching the delicious food in the benchmark multiple times, the Monster Hunter live-action film, and finally spending some time with the first Monster Hunter on PS2 out of a long-standing curiosity. Like some of my other reviews, this is another Phantom’s Phirst.

But Monster Hunter on PS2 is not what we’re talking about today; perhaps another time. This review is dedicated to the game that led to me upgrading my pre-built’s 1650 Super to an RTX 4060: MONSTER HUNTER WILDS. So, let’s get right into it.

: Benchmark on GTX 1650 SUPER

: Benchmark on RTX 4060

Gameplay

Given that it’s one of the most difficult factors of getting into Monster Hunter, as realized in my first attempt back in high school with 4U on a friend’s 3DS, let’s start with gameplay – something that Wilds also quickly gets the player into.

Within your first hunt, you will find that Monster Hunter Wilds sports a variety of weapon types and thus a variety of playstyles, up to fourteen to be exact. Within the beta, and now the full release, the Dual Blades were my weapon of choice. They’re described as weapons allowing for “continuous, ferocious attacks” without the ability to guard. Against monsters that are usually bigger than me, the lack of a guard sounds like a big deficit, but the idea of the capability to use different attacks to maneuver in and out of danger quickly was exactly what I got.

Rather than focusing on when would be the perfect moment to guard, I could use my attacks and speed to serve as a great defense. For example, pressing the Triangle button performs stationary slashes, but pressing Circle can perform a lunge spin attack that you can use to get in and out while also dealing damage. This maneuver is very beneficial against flying monsters or monsters that are slightly above ground, as you can get under them and continue attacking within demon mode to unleash stronger attacks and build a full meter to unleash an insanely satisfying flurry of attacks twice in a row. Speaking of monsters…

Aside from the Hunter, the most important thing about Monster Hunter is the Monsters, and I loved taking down most of the ones in Wild. From your first encounter with the frog-gorilla fusion Chatacabra to the flagship husky-haired “Palpatine with chains” Arkveld; there’s a range of creatures big and bigger that truly delivers fun and even comfort when it comes to hunting. The Chatacabra is the first monster you fully fight with, and it’s always nice returning to it when you’re stronger to see just how much faster you can now take it down. Additionally, monsters are more like animals within a natural ecosystem rather than bosses from an RPG, making them more natural and allowing you to slay them repeatedly. One of my favorite monsters to fight in that kind of situation was the Lala Barina, a white spider with black legs and a red flower sack that can spread glowing pollen that will paralyze you on contact. It’s such a beautiful creature, so I had to fight it several times to get its armor set and sport it for the entirety of my playthrough.

Another one of my favorite monsters to fight is the Jin Dahaad, a huge ice leviathan with numerous ridges scaling its entire length. At first, during low rank, it was a tad difficult to fight due to a one-hit kill attack that wasn’t clear how to avoid. However, after learning that there were chunks of ice that you’re supposed to hide behind, I leapt behind them for safety, only to hop back out, scale its entire body, and slash at its open wound with a Focus Attack. It’s genuinely one of the most satisfying attacks I’ve ever seen in a video game—as a Dual Blade player, of course. Hunters can shoot out an SOS Flare to ask for help, and I seek out requests against this one. I want to see how much faster I can slay one.

A big aspect of the game is crafting, as you forge newer weapons and armor from the carved remains of the monsters you fight. Weapon decorations alter the stats, skills, and elements slotted into your gear, leading to an abundance of different tools you’ll craft for all sorts of plans. For instance, you can build tools to prevent a monster from successfully fleeing. The hunt for these whirling, twirling, flying, flaming, slimy creatures often never strays from being boring. At worst, they can get frustrating, the best example being the Nu Udra. While most monsters move on foot or may fly away, allowing you to shoot at them, the Nu Udra transports through cavern walls quite a far distance, thus requiring a lot more traversal. However, you can attempt to catch up with your main method of travel: the Seikret.

Riding the Seikret is the first gameplay you experience in Wilds; you hop onto its back to help rescue a girl being tracked down by huge sandworms. When riding it, you’ll progress at a decent speed to your next quest destination or to a waypoint as marked on your map—automatically. I found this immediately awkward in the beta, and that feeling carried over into the full game. My dislike was strong. Now, there are pros to its execution. Aside from its adorable and customizable design, you can call upon the Seikret to pick grab you out of dangerous situations with the D-pad, which is incredibly beneficial due to the lack of a guard ability with the Dual Blades. To continue, you can press left on the D-pad to pick yourself up and quickly access supply items that are automatically given to you by your handler, Alma. When pressing right, you can switch to your SECOND WEAPON, in my case, the choice of Heavy Bowgun, allowing for a new playstyle of distanced combat and shooting. Finally, as you ride, you can focus on your surroundings with R2 and then press Circle to grab or activate various materials, insects, toads, or ammo with and for your Hook Slonger.

These features are also where the adorable Seikret can tend to be a thorn in my side. To start, there are many times within the story that put you on the Seikret’s back, slowly following behind the guild as you observe the new biome that you’ve entered. These segments run on autopilot, and if you try to stop or deviate from the path, you’ll be told to come back and continue the slow trek. Half the time, I felt myself not paying attention to the narrative delivered in these segments, as I’m focused more on the cool, brand new place. Although I appreciate the automatic quest-dependent items given to me, I’d rather the ability to fill the Supply Bag myself to expand my options and playstyle even further. When it comes to weapon switching, you can only do it while on the Seikret’s back, rather than even if you happened to be standing right next to it—which just doesn’t make sense from a logical standpoint. Additionally, there will be some instances where if I got hit mid-Seikret call, the weapon won’t switch until another D-pad presses. Finally, when hopping on the Seikret, you’ll likely have been still moving the left stick or just instinctually doing it due to the idea that you’d be moving your character yourself. However, what happens instead is that either the Seikret will reduce in speed to accommodate for your new inputs and/or go off path or get lost on its path to finding the waypoint, just wasting more time.

There is, however, a workaround. Among Monster Hunter Wilds’ various options and general menus that may overwhelm players, there is an option to help you out. First off, you can ensure that Seikret auto-explore is off in general so that your mount isn’t just walking around when you wouldn’t want it to. A much bigger change is on page 2 on Controls, where I’d recommend you change your Seikret Manual Controls to Type 2. In Type 1, you’re only intended to control the SPEED at which your Seikret moves with R1 and R2. However, in Type 2, your Seikret will only move if you manually control it with the Left Stick. Additionally, if you press Up on the D-Pad, you will call your Seikret or command your Seikret into auto-traverse mode. However, using Down on the D-pad will call or command your Seikret not to move in the direction of the waypoint. The only minimal downside still present from this change is that your Seikret will still carry a bit of momentum from running to pick you up rather than immediately holding still, waiting for commands.

Presentation

Speaking of overwhelming menus, that sentiment extends beyond the Options. When it comes to status or looking to forge, or the “recently selected” menu option that’s ridiculously on by default, Wilds’ dense UI will confuse players. However, there is something remarkable about them. The more you spend your time with it, seeing the different status icons or descriptions, the more you will understand Monster Hunter’s language. Take this example: among the map of weapons I can forge, there are a few I can forge right now, those with the hammer icon. However, those with a blue hammer are those that I could immediately forge right at this instance. Those with a purple or empty hammer are weapons that I could forge, had I required enough materials OR currently had the preceding weapon needed to craft it within my Inventory, as noted by the red box on the weapon’s corner. That knowledge makes Monster Hunter’s menu and gameplay language understandable despite the abundance.

With my purchase of an RTX 4060 graphics card, Monster Hunter Wilds is a quite graphically demanding game, but a large part of that seems to go to its lack of optimization—something that I’m not educated to discuss. With that, I’d advise watching Digital Foundry’s findings when analyzing Wilds.

Alongside my 4060 is still an AMD Ryzen 5 CPU, but a few of my friends have told me that I should still be seeing better performance than I am. That’s because I run Wilds with custom, but mostly low settings with the game capped at 45 FPS. This isn’t because the game can’t hit 60 but because of the many times the games will slightly dip down into the mid to low 50s for a moment. I’d rather keep it smooth at 45, which was not an issue at all concerning gameplay experience. However, even my friends with stronger builds than I and a large number of other Hunters have expressed several issues, such as low-res textures, frame dips on camera turning, lack of an OFF option for Volumetric Fog (outside of changing it within the config file), and more. This is something that CAPCOM is looking to resolve, but if you’re looking to get the highest quality visuals from the parts that you purchased, then I understand the frustration that has been shared. Alternatively, if you’re like me and just want to be able to play the game at decent settings, then I still think Monster Hunter Wilds is in a good state.

To continue off of that topic, this game can be quite beautiful, alongside its fantastic monster and pleasant character designs. Traverse through the Scarlet Forest and watch as the flare of the sun changes the environment from night to day. Seeing the transition happen in real time was spectacular. As I wrote this review, I also listened to YouTube uploads of Monster Hunter Wilds’ OST (and The Smiths’ The World Won’t Listen), as I often couldn’t focus on it when playing. Part of this is because I’m in a Discord call with several other hunters every time I play, but even in the parts where those calls were quiet, I was so focused on the dialogue or the combat that the music just couldn’t successfully plant its seeds within my brain. There are quite a few good songs, and the general makeup of the OST is quite good! Hearing the rhythms of hand-beaten drums or the constant clapping of what is intended to be the people of the villages the player will encounter – it’s very immersive. Or take the best fights in the game, Jin Dahaad’s theme or Arkveld’s; both are incredibly imposing and threatening. I also really enjoyed the music that would play within the Iceshard Cliffs.

Finale

You may notice that I skipped over Wilds’ story and that isn’t because I didn’t care nor find enjoyment in it. Overall, I did quite like what the story, in its end, had to say and teach about its narrative companion, Nata. However, I think I would rather save that for its own time, separate from most of the gameplay.

Monster Hunter Wilds serves as my true first Monster Hunter playthrough, clocking in at about 44 hours—so far. With captivating locales to explore, intriguing monsters to hunt, and gameplay that is not only intensely fun on its own but addicting when played with others, I can say that it is truly worthy of the over 8 million people that purchased it just within three days. I can not only see myself continuing to play it, but I’m already interested in continuing my playthrough of the original PS2 title and the rest of the series in sequential order.