I’ve been playing Monster Hunter games for years, though I wouldn’t call myself a series veteran. I first jumped in during the Wii and DS era, getting my hands on Monster Hunter Tri and Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, and while I enjoyed them, it wasn’t until Monster Hunter World and Monster Hunter Rise that I really got hooked. Those games opened the floodgates for a much larger audience, streamlining mechanics while keeping the deep, strategic combat the series is known for. Now, Monster Hunter Wilds takes another evolutionary step forward—not just refining the experience but making it more immersive, seamless, and welcoming to new players than ever before.
Before the first hunt even begins, Monster Hunter Wilds immerses you in its world with a surprisingly robust character creator. You can fine-tune every detail of your hunter and their Palico companion, and the level of detail is stunning. What’s even more impressive is how seamlessly these custom characters integrate into real-time cutscenes. The game runs on Capcom’s RE Engine, and it’s clear that the power behind games like Resident Evil 4 Remake and Devil May Cry 5 is being put to excellent use here.
Unlike past entries, Wilds puts a greater emphasis on storytelling. While Monster Hunter has never been known for deep narratives, the story here is engaging enough to keep you invested. It’s a character-driven journey that introduces you to the game’s mechanics while also giving you a reason to care about the world and its creatures. It won’t win any awards for storytelling, but it does a solid job of making the world feel more alive. Plus, it’s fast-paced—running at about 16 hours—but that’s just the start of the real experience, which revolves around grinding, crafting, and perfecting your hunting skills.
One of Monster Hunter Wilds’ biggest strengths is how much smoother everything feels compared to previous games. Some of the series’ most tedious mechanics have been streamlined without sacrificing depth.
A few major improvements stand out. There’s no more constant town trips, you no longer need to return to town just to pick up a new mission or launch a hunt. The world is open, and you can naturally transition from one battle to the next without immersion-breaking load screens. Being able to cook on the go is a big one. Food buffs are essential in Monster Hunter, and now you can prepare meals anywhere in the field rather than having to visit a specific hub. Multiplayer is more fluid than ever. You now don’t need to return to camp between hunts—you and your friends can keep exploring and fighting without interruptions. And starting hunts is now dynamic. Instead of picking a quest and heading to a predetermined zone, you can stumble upon a monster naturally in the wild and engage it immediately, greatly improving the flow of this aspect of the game.
These tweaks make the game flow better, keeping you in the action and reducing downtime. It feels like Capcom looked at every small friction point in World and Rise and smoothed it out.
Of course, the heart of Monster Hunter is the hunting itself, and Wilds delivers in spades. The game features an impressive variety of biomes, each with environmental factors that affect combat. Sandstorms, floods, and other dynamic weather events can change the course of a battle, forcing you to adapt on the fly. The creatures you hunt are beautifully animated and incredibly detailed, and longtime fans will be thrilled to see iconic monsters return alongside a host of new beasts.
Some of my personal highlights were, Rathalos – A franchise staple, this fire-breathing wyvern is back, and just as ferocious as ever. Balahara – A new monster capable of slithering through the landscape and burrowing below you. And Lala Barina – another new monster which possesses a really interesting spider-like design and can impose status effects if you’re not careful.
Each monster has unique behaviors, attack patterns, and weaknesses, making every fight feel like a puzzle to solve. And thanks to the new Wound system, you can target specific body parts more effectively, dealing extra damage and potentially crippling a monster mid-fight.
Monster Hunter’s combat has always been one of its biggest draws, offering an incredible variety of weapons, each with its own playstyle. Wilds doesn’t just throw you into the deep end—it actually interviews you at the start, asking a few questions to suggest a weapon type that might suit your playstyle. If you’re new, this is a great way to ease into the mechanics, but you can still try out all the weapons in the training area before committing.
Each weapon has its own depth, movement speed, and mechanics. Some, like the Great Sword, are slow but devastating, while others, like the Dual Blades, focus on fast, relentless combos. Personally, I alternated between the Insect Glaive and Charge Blade. The Insect Glaive allows for incredible aerial mobility, letting me vault over monsters and stay constantly on the attack. The Charge Blade, on the other hand, is a complex but immensely satisfying weapon that switches between a sword-and-shield and a massive axe with explosive power. Every weapon feels unique, and finding the one that clicks for you is part of the fun.
A huge part of Monster Hunter is the grind—the constant hunt for better materials to craft stronger weapons and armor. Crafting in Wilds is more streamlined, and I found that I could build high-end armor sets faster than I could in World. This makes progression feel rewarding, but at times, I felt the game could have used a bit more challenge.
Compared to previous titles, I noticed that monsters in Wilds weren’t quite as punishing. While the fights are still engaging, I rarely felt that intense, edge-of-my-seat tension that made victories in past games feel truly earned. This slight drop in difficulty means you don’t always need to meticulously plan your gear and strategy before a hunt. That’s not necessarily a bad thing—newcomers will appreciate the lower barrier to entry—but I hope future updates reintroduce more brutal encounters for veteran players.
Capcom has already announced a roadmap of future content, and I fully expect tougher monsters and additional challenges in the inevitable expansion pack. If the base game leans a little too much toward accessibility, I’m hopeful that upcoming updates will bring back that sense of overwhelming, sweat-inducing challenge that hardcore fans love.
Despite the slightly toned-down difficulty, Monster Hunter Wilds is a fantastic new entry in the series. It refines and improves almost every aspect of the formula, making the game more fluid, immersive, and accessible. The busywork has been reduced, the monsters are as fun to fight as ever, and the world is richer and more dynamic. Whether you’re a longtime fan or a complete newcomer, this is one of the best Monster Hunter experiences yet—and one that will keep me coming back for hundreds of hours.
A PS5 review code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.
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9
- + A wide array of old and new monsters to take down
- + Deep character creator
- + Very welcoming for new players
- + So much player choice for loadouts and replayability
- - Would have loved some high challenge monsters in the base game rather than hoping for an expansion
