The prospect of playing through an entire new Monster Hunter game is always exciting, yet daunting.
As you climb the monster power rankings and continuously improve your weapons and gear, you nonetheless always feel like a David having to contend with hundreds of Goliaths. It’s almost a reverse power fantasy; sure, you’re more than skilled and qualified enough to take down a menagerie of terrifying beasts, but you’re often just one slip-up away from being reminded of your place on the food chain.
Monster Hunter Wilds understands this better than any other game in the series to date. Its gargantuan scope – for the maps and monsters both – makes you feel truly small. And without the advanced maneuverability provided by tools like Monster Hunter Rise’s Wirebug, your hunter is significantly easier prey. Wilds offers a much more grounded combat experience, in that sense.
That’s not to say you’re less powerful or capable, by any means. As I found out in my recent seven-hour preview of Monster Hunter Wilds, your way of evening the odds comes from expanded weapon capabilities, smart environmental interactions, and no shortage of quality-of-life improvements that make monster hunting more thrilling and engaging than ever before.
From one hunt to the next
What immediately struck me about Monster Hunter Wilds is its incredible pace in its early hours. I’ve been hesitant to start up a new playthrough of Monster Hunter World recently because it spends so much time meandering before you’ve even gone up against your first large monster.
By comparison, Wilds smartly trims the fat. There are small story beats and cutscenes in between hunts along the main story path, but they’re brief and interesting enough to tune in for. Plus, your own hunter has a voice now and they are treated as a more involved character rather than simply the one who just exists to get things done. They are still that, of course, but assigning a voice and expressions to them goes a way to help them feel more a part of the world.
The cadence of monster battles in these earliest hours is simply perfect. Essentially a very cleverly disguised tutorial, your first batch of monsters gradually introduces you to status ailments, the benefits of various weapon damage types, and how the environment can be interacted with to get one over on your prey.
These opening hunts also get you used to your Seikret companion. Not dissimilar to Monster Hunter Rise’s Palamutes, the Seikret is a bipedal bird-like creature that can be ridden for extra speed and mobility. They can be called on to instantly sweep you out of harm’s way if you need to sharpen your weapon or imbibe a healing potion. But they also have their own inventory of supplies if you need to top up on items, and they can hold a second weapon for you to take out on hunts.
This, for me, is one of the best changes Wilds brings. Having an alternative weapon option without needing to head back to camp is such a boon. Slashing damage not quite cutting it on the monster you’re fighting? Hop onto your Seikret and swap out to a blunt-type Hammer. You can even apply buffs with a Hunting Horn before swapping to a more aggressive weapon in the Long Sword or Dual Blades, for example.
A truly monstrous lineup
Your first fight against the Chatacabra is simple enough – essentially a bloated target dummy that fights back, not dissimilar to Arzuros or Great Jaggi from previous entries. The very next hunt against the Quematrice is a noticeable step up. This massive bipedal wyvern isn’t shy about throwing its weight around, and it can also inflict Fireblight on the player, which sets them alight and deals damage over time until extinguished (as always, a quick dodge and roll in a puddle of water will do the trick).
As mentioned, the early game pace is incredibly brisk. I didn’t go longer than 20 minutes before encountering a fresh monster to fight – some new, and some returning from older generations. The Congalala (a ferocious pink ape that can summon its young to help fight you) makes an impactful comeback here, continuing the introduction of status effects and how to combat them.
In a sentence that will sound completely normal to long-time Monster Hunter fans, it uses its farts and breath attacks to dish out paralysis, as well as an effect that disables item usage until your hunter sprays themself with deodorant.
Lala Barina, meanwhile, is a fierce new addition. This giant plant-like arachnid gracefully dances around the battlefield, spreading pockets of spores that cause paralysis build-up. However, my new favorite of the bunch has to be Uth Duna, an aquatic creature that sticks to waterlogged environments. It’s able to use bodies of water against you, creating huge waves that can knock you around.
Uth Duna is also where we see another new addition to Monster Hunter Wilds’ feature set in inclement weather conditions. I’m still not sure as to whether these are dynamic or not, but they certainly play a part when encountering specific monsters. I fought Uth Duna during a downpour event, which caused bodies of water to react more with the monster’s attacks. During the hunt against the powerhouse Doshaguma, a lightning storm ensured the creature wasn’t the only source of damage I needed to avoid.
On the topic of the Doshaguma, it’s a monster you may have met already, as it was a part of the first Monster Hunter Wilds open beta test. It’s a pretty tough test in this build of the game, and I would say it’s this entry’s early game ‘gateway’ monster – like Anjanath or Lagiacrus from previous games – to ensure you’re ready for the tougher challenges that lie after it.
An axe to grind
Onto weapons, and much like Wilds itself, what’s here should feel familiar to existing series fans, but many have been spiced up to offer something new. What’s important is that if you’ve been wedded to a particular weapon type for a handful of entries now, that’s unlikely to change with the updates that Wilds is bringing.
My favorite of the bunch during my play session is definitely the Insect Glaive – a weapon I mained in Monster Hunter World, but one I feel fell off slightly in Rise. I’m happy to say it feels better than ever in Wilds, but there have been some key changes. You can now more reliably gather attack, defense, and speed buffs with your Kinsect here, and said buffs do seem to last a good bit longer than in previous games, significantly reducing chores and downtime that are usually involved with this weapon type.
I also continue to love the Sword & Shield, which was my go-to in Rise. Here, it’s been given a powerful new charged attack for more combo variety. My favorite thing about Sword & Shield, though (as well as other weapon types that have guarding functionality), is if you block a monster attack at the right moment, you’re able to parry and hit back with a move of your own. It’s extremely satisfying to pull off, especially when it sends the monster reeling.
Of course, all these weapon types and more are subject to change in the final release build of the game, but what’s here right now – from what I tested – all feels incredibly powerful and impactful. It certainly feels like a more grounded combat experience overall especially compared to Monster Hunter Rise, with even the Insect Glaive’s aerial mobility being less of a focus here. That doesn’t mean that it’s too slow or clunky, rather, you’ll just need to have your wits about you a bit more as your hunter’s evasive capabilities aren’t as potent.
The scenic route
We’ve seen plenty of Monster Hunter Wilds’ first area now thanks to the first beta, but this preview introduced me to the second major biome: the Scarlet Forest. Rainy, overgrown forests are some of my favorite environments to visit in the series, but the Scarlet Forest might just be my favorite yet.
The gimmick here is that various forms of plant life, algae, and plankton have colored the waters a shade of blood red, offering up a striking contrast to the surrounding greenery. Some areas also give way to underground Lala Barina habitats, which look positively hellish in comparison. It’s a gorgeous new area that feels similarly large to the Forbidden Lands but with plenty more claustrophobic, winding paths laden throughout.
A location as dense as the Scarlet Forest does come with its own set of issues, namely in the performance department. I played on a standard PS5 console, and while the build did feel much more stable than the first beta, I did run into the odd framerate hiccup in both quality (30fps) and performance (60fps and 120fps) modes.
What I will say is that I might actually prefer the 30fps experience in Monster Hunter Wilds, at least on console. It was the most stable mode available with the smallest variation in overall frame drops. By comparison, the available performance modes had a noticeably softer image to the point of being distracting – even on a small monitor – and the game struggled to maintain a solidly high framerate in busier locales.
Still, there’s plenty of time before Monster Hunter Wilds’ February 28 release date for performance to be optimized. The game will also feature cross-platform play for PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC, so you’ve also got options if you’re going to be playing with friends.
Overall, I came away from my Monster Hunter Wilds preview significantly more excited. It’s not quite the revolution that World was back in 2018, but when the monsters are as fun to fight and the quality-of-life changes are as strong as they are, Wilds doesn’t really need to be.
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