Monster Hunter Wilds is an impressive entry in the beloved franchise, bringing a fresh experience while maintaining the core mechanics that I love. Let's separate the pros from the cons when it comes to this game. On the one hand, the game is an action role-playing game set in an enchanting world rife with vicious monsters and merciless beasts. They have new breathtaking monster designs coupled with vast open-world settings. Sadly, the game is riddled with technical issues such as lags and connection problems that significantly worsen the experience.

Gameplay 

Monster Hunter Wilds brings something fresh with a bold twist, yet remains true to the classic blend of gameplay the series is popular for. Players engage in combat against various monsters using a unique combat system that enables skill, preparation, and strategy. A counter system sorts combat for fourteen different weapon types ranging from the heavy Great Sword to the nimble Dual Blades. New in the game is the ability to carry two weapons hares to a hunt, making the game more flexible and encouraging innovation with a new hunting style. Seikret mounts allow for fast travel and increase mobility for hunters, who now can explore multiple zones without breaking immersion. A new feature that enables players to concentrate on monster wounds gives an element of precision in fights. The excitement of being on the hunt is potent, and both newcomers and veterans have a vast ocean of mastered intricacies waiting for them. One of the standout new features in Monster Hunter Wilds is the dynamic seasonal system, which cycles between Fallow, Inclemency, and Plenty. Each season drastically changes the environment, affecting monster behavior, resource availability, and traversal. During Fallow, the land is dry, making certain areas more accessible but limiting water-based creatures. Inclemency brings storms and harsher conditions, making visibility difficult but also creating new hunting opportunities. Plenty, on the other hand, revitalizes the ecosystem, causing monsters to migrate and new materials to spawn. This system keeps hunts fresh and forces players to adapt their strategies depending on the season.

Wilds also introduces a new food system that is tied to in-game time rather than being mission-based. In past entries, players would prepare meals before heading out on a hunt, gaining stat boosts for the duration of the mission. Now, food effects gradually diminish as time passes, requiring players to eat strategically throughout longer hunts. This change adds a layer of realism and decision-making, ensuring that preparation is an ongoing process rather than a one-time action before each quest.

This is a notable quality-of-life improvement, as it allows for more flexibility in how buffs are maintained. Compared to World and Rise, where food buffs lasted indefinitely until fainting, Wilds’ new system encourages careful planning and resource management, especially for extended encounters.

Concerns with Performance

From the onset, I experienced multiple crashes, four within the first few hours, making the start of this journey very frustrating. The crashes tended to happen during some of the most intensive moments, like moving between regions or fighting at full throttle, resulting in unfinished progress, and requiring certain hunts to be replayed. While the game eventually became stable, random lag spikes continued to interfere with combat, which made accurate dodging and striking far more difficult than it needed to be. These problems stand out the most during large scale fights involving several monsters where sudden drops in frame rates make reaction-based gameplay needlessly difficult. Even in single-player, there is sudden stuttering in high action parts of the game, limiting immersion. These technical issues can severely impact the experience for a game that thrives with precise timing and split second combos.

Graphics and Visuals

Aside from performance issues, there are also graphical inconsistencies. The monster designs do have a very high level of detail, but the world might appear unpolished at times. There are frequent instances of texture pop-ins and flickering shadows, which disrupt immersion during exploration of the otherwise well-crafted environments. In some areas there are muddy and ancient-looking visuals, especially in certain lighting conditions where the textures fail to load properly.

This is very apparent in the game's large open zones, which although ambitious, don't always look as polished. Some character models, particularly NPCs, are portrayed rather roughly in comparison to the detailed monsters striding about, leaving the game with an unbalanced feel. Environmental effects like dust storms and water reflection have some decent but inconsistent rendering quality; in some cases they look stunning, whereas in others they look like they were hastily completed. Such graphical discrepancies do take players out of the experience by making the game world feel much less refined and polished than intended.AI Support Hunters and Game BalanceA controversial addition to Wilds is the AI Support Hunters, NPC companions who assist players in battle. While these AI-controlled allies can be helpful, some players feel they make the game too easy by drawing aggro, dealing damage, and even setting up coordinated attacks. This point was criticized in some of the reviews where some maintained that the appeal of Monster Hunter lies in single player or human versus human matches. Nonetheless, these NPCs also serve as a great introduction for the less experienced players that are unable to deal with tougher battles, therefore making Wilds more agreeable than the previous versions.

Unlike World’s Palicoes, which primarily offered buffs and support, AI Support Hunters function more like full-fledged teammates, making battles feel more dynamic but potentially lowering the difficulty curve. Players looking for a traditional experience may find themselves opting to hunt without them for a greater challenge.

Connectivity Issues

One more issue that is asking for attention is the unstable network. With friends playing together, there can be hunting or matchmaking problems, and sometimes even lag or disconnections. During some hunts, players would inexplicably disconnect, which would either require them to wait for the game to reestablish a connection or restart the whole thing. The SOS flare system, implemented to summon additional players, can also experience lag or malfunction, leaving players stuck in tough hunts. These days, Monster Hunter remains a lot better when played with others, but these issues make some cooperative hunts out to be more trouble than they are worth. Furthermore, there are multiplayer input lags that make combat, especially together with other players, feel slow and unresponsive. In light of how important online activity is for Monster Hunter’s overall experience, these make it hard to appreciate the game to its fullest. If there are changes to these points, the online aspect of the game can be significantly enhanced, and the cooperative aspects embraced.

The Verdict and Final Score

Regardless of these technological ails, Monster Hunter Wilds is, at its heart, a great experience. Combat feels much more fluid and dynamic than before with a new set of weapons and treats that further enhance the strategy behind each hunt. The variety of monsters is extraordinary; both well-known favorite ones alongside brand-new creatures that give every fight anticipation and wonder. New means of traversal such as the Sekrit mounts also improve exploration and ease travel from one hunting region to the other. It's true that the game has its technical problems, but the given game environments, to their credit, feel massive and living. If Capcom can tackle these issues in future patches, this game can easily be among the best on the series. However, players should be ready for some vexatious moments mixed with the excitement of the hunt. Monster Hunter Wilds does put emphasis on and excites in the greater immersive experience, but these technical problems keep it from true glory.

Score

Game 9/10
Optimization: 5/10