Monster Hunter Wilds Review

Capcom’s Monster Hunter series has never been more popular, and the red-hot Monster Hunter Wilds has a lot to prove.

Does Monster Hunter Wilds prove a worthy successor to Monster Hunter World? Find out in our review.

Monster Hunter Wilds Review

Monster Hunter Wilds begins with a bang, with players racing through the desert away from a sandstorm filled with large lizard monsters trying to catch you.

After nearly falling into a quicksand pit, you narrowly escape with your allies and make it to camp. Catching your breath, you then start trying out different weapons to find out which one feels best for you. You get a brief tutorial hunt and fight before being led to the main outpost.

It is here where you are tasked with hunting different monsters and asked to explore the world for other tribes and villages. Early on, you only have access to the desert and forest, but that expands as you progress and new enemies come into the fight.

While Monster Hunter Wilds’ story is pretty simple, it constantly keeps you moving and always introduces new bad guys to fight. It keeps this breakneck pace going until the end of the game, when you will find even more to grind.

Anyone who played Monster Hunter World will feel right at home in Monster Hunter Wilds.

Combat is very similar, but the weapons have had a couple of adjustments. The basic slashes and strikes are simple to pull off, but everything depends on what weapon you are using.

For instance, the Longsword now has combos that feel easier to pull off. Also included is a new finishing move that does 10-15 little slashes in a row, and it feels oh-so good to land that full combo. We could feel the dopamine drip in our brain saying DO IT AGAIN!

We’re sure other weapons got similar improvements and changes as well.

That doesn’t even cover the other things you have to worry about in Monster Hunter Wilds’ combat.

For instance, players have a grappling hook that can be used to drop rocks and other objects on monsters, and it can also shoot flash bombs to knock enemies out of the sky.

Traps also play a massive part in anyone trying to get Monster Hunter Wilds’ best loot, but they are also excellent for dealing huge amounts of damage while the beast is trapped.

Of course, you have got to have your barrel bombs for that extra boom when the creature is trying to sleep.

Put simply, there’s always something to keep things interesting in Monster Hunter Wilds.

Monster Hunter Wilds’ most significant change are its aimed strikes. As players do damage to monsters, they will start to get wounds across their body. Hunters can then see these by aiming with one’s weapon and seeing the bright red spots (classic Capcom).

Hitting those spots is able to enormous damage, cutting off pieces of the beast for some extra loot. In the case of the Longsword, it charges your blade further and increases your damage. While aimed strikes are ultimately a simple addition, they really change Monster Hunter Wilds’ gameplay.

Of course, no matter how good one fights in Monster Hunter Wilds, one is nothing without the right gear.

Monster Hunters Wilds’ core gameplay loop is killing monsters, and crafting new armor and weapons. The highest highs and lowest lows await those trying to collect everything. It is one of those situations where sometimes you get four claws off a beast, and other times you get zero. Gamblers like us see it as a pull of the lever each time we hunt – and that’s why we just can’t get enough.

Monster Hunter Wilds’ roster of enemies is excellent. Up until Monster Hunter World, we previously hadn’t played until the PSP, so there were a lot of new monsters in our eyes.

Even early on, Monster Hunter Wilds pits players against some very creative creatures. The giant spider with the big red flower coming off sticks out for sure.

With Monster Hunter Wilds being large open areas, one will also get the creatures fighting each other like in Monster Hunter World, adding even more strategy to the game.

Since Monster Hunter Wilds is “open world,” all of the settlements are camps and in the zones.

As a result, you get to set up your tents in certain spots where you can change gear, heal, cook, and change items. There are some cool spots to set up camp; just be careful it’s not near a big baddie, or they’ll destroy it.

One downside to the camp system is that you can’t add the creatures you catch in your net. There is a camp in the main area that will randomly put a creature out, but you don’t get one in your tent.

We did get to play some of Monster Hunter Wilds’ online before launch, and the servers worked perfectly on our end. We’ll see how it works with a boatload of people, but we’re optimistic. Even if you don’t want to play online, you can call the support NPC hunters so you don’t have to hunt alone.

While there were no bugs or crashes during the review period, there were frame drops on the base PlayStation 5.

Monster Hunter Wilds is the natural evolution of Monster Hunter World, and is an early front-runner for Game of the Year. Fans and newbies alike will find a lot to like in Wilds.

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