Review: Monster Hunter Wilds – The best entry to the series since 2018

[NeoX]

https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197991011140/recommended/2246340/

Monster Hunter Wilds – The best entry to the series since 2018

Disclaimer:

This review is the representation of my personal experience with the game. Issues and problems other may experience are not part of this review, since these did not apply or happen on my end.

Summary:

We have here on of the best entries to the Monster Hunter Series since World in 2018. This game is such a beauty, not only to its stunning visuals it offers, but also the detailed world life itself.
Its very rare that we can experience such a detail loved worldbuilding and scenary. From the weather changes, to the monsters eco-behavior up to the detailed camp life.
Even the smallest things like palicos in the field, not just vanishing into air, but actualy walking back to camp and refill. Or corpses of Monsters not just vanishing but decaying and growing plants on them (ofc. this takes quite some CPU power). Nothing else in the last 5 years offers such a detailed and love-work world. In Things like These you just want to sink in and watch it progress. The gameplay loop is king again and a massive blast, alone or with friends!

This game is better then MH World (basegame) and is a massive improvement in any PoV towards it. Its not on the content level and feature level as Iceborne is, but we also just stay at the very start of this games life-cycle. With a future Master-Rank expansion like MH-Iceborne in the future, this game can reach legenday status in the games series.

One thing that i sadly have to mod in, is proper ultrawide screen support (5760x1080+ -> 48:9).
The feeling and emergion feeling it brings is a must, when you experienced it just once!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdpA3aEEirA

Gameplay:

Its the perfect gameplay look to be expected from a Monster Hunter game, but done almost perfectly in the best simulation eco-system and a fully connected open world.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3446518619

Starting a hunt goes more fluid then ever before, in the open field or with your handler that follows you everywhere you go, with no reason anymore to „teleport“ back to camp every time for a new hunt or quest. Thanks to the options to cook meals everywhere, the start of a hunt is dynamic as never before. You will encounter dynamic weather and biom changes that will effect endemic life and monsters alike.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3446518438
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3446518483

Fast travel trough the wide lands, is also secured thanks to your new mount that fits the world building perfectly and does not feel forced in like the palamutes back in MH-Rise. I don’t want to go too much into detail here for story-spoiler reasons, but what is sadly missing so far is the palico kitchen or a proper managed arena with controlled encounters, but that may change in the future. Overall i can only say, gameplay is king again and the best reason to buy this game.

Story:

Capcom did what many had never expected them to do. Deliver a story that has focus on the overall World-Building of the Monster Hunter series, down to the great dragon war and the downfall of the old civilization. I am trying to prevent very heavy spoilers for these who want to find out themself on what is revealed here. But let just the following screenshots speak for themself how close we are getting here to the legendary history of the events and the downfall reason of the old civilization...

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3446517803
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3446517608
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3446517423

Capcom did accept the feedback that many (new) players do not like long stories bound to hunter rank leveling. Therefore they did keep the main story bound to the low-rank experience of the game with a gameplay time of 10-15h, so that even casual players can see the credits with moderate gameplay time investment. For these who want to know more of the main story and its effect on the world, will have more additional story content in the high-rank part of the game. For the true monster hunter fans with interest in the series core-lore and world building story, this game is the houly gem of the entire games series. Going into details, would just be spoilers sadly.

Grind & Quests:

We have here a Monster Hunter Game, that should already explain to everyone what to expect when it comes to grinding, hunting and completion. I do not have to explain that you need to hunt monsters for parts for your gear and weapon crafting. With some parts only available by cutting of parts of the monster or certain rare drops. All that is self-explained. What should be mentioned is that the RNG drops of decorations of MH-World is back. You can get more specificly by smelting later in the game, but the natural income of new decoration gems is the main grind next to Artian weapon parts. The main endgame-grind is all around making your gear perfect by getting the best decoration for your gear and RNG crafting the best Artian weapon for your needs. With friends on a daily 1-2h gameplay session, this is entertaining and rewarding alike.

There is one thing that does take the fun out of being a completionist. Hunting monster for gold-crowns is more easy then ever, thanks to the spy-glasses. Capturing endemic life is also quite easy because not all are achivment bound. What destroys all fun is the fishing with its mini-game mechanic. Capturing 30 whoppers or getting at least one Gajau is pure pain and 0 fun. If you can ignore that, do it and the gameplay fun will not break off for you.

You can achive quite the nice high-end gear with moderate grind investment:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3446517106
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3446517061

As a direct successor game to MH-World, i can assure everyone this game managed to surpass it and being more then a worthy successor to it. It is not on the feature and content level of MH-Iceborne by far yet, but again its at the very start of its lifetime cycle and still awaits its Master-Rank expansion in the future. So far the basis for it looks and plays almost perfectly.

Game Rating: 9/10

---{PC Requirements}---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☐ Decent
☑ Fast
☐ Rich boiiiiii
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{Graphics}---
☐ You forget what reality is
☑ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ Paint.exe

---{Gameplay}---
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It‘s just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Starring at walls is better
☐ Just don‘t

---{Audio}---
☐ Eargasm
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ Earrape

---{Audience}---
☐ Kids
☐ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ esport REEEE...


---{Difficulity}---
☐ Just press ‚A‘
☐ Easy
☐ Significant brain usage
☑ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{Grind}---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isnt necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☑ Too much grind (decorations and Artian weapon parts)
☐ You‘ll need a second live for grinding

---{Story}---
☐ Story?
☐ Text or Audio floating around
☐ Average
☑ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It‘ll replace your life

---{Game Time}---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☐ Average
☑ Long (because of content-price value)
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{Price}---
☐ It’s free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{Bugs}---
☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ Is this a Bethesda game?
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

[Deffy]

Nice to see some love for this masterpiece instead of whiny crybabies for once.

And game's only gonna get better and better with time. Right now it's like an 8.5, but ask me again in 2 years I suspect it'll even surpass world and Iceborne!

Glad you had fun with the game.

By the way been playing since Tri.

[xTobu]

Bro really said since 2018

[Zerostrikesback]

What weapons were you using in progression?

[NeoX]

Originally posted by Deffy:

Nice to see some love for this masterpiece instead of whiny crybabies for once.

And game's only gonna get better and better with time. Right now it's like an 8.5, but ask me again in 2 years I suspect it'll even surpass world and Iceborne!

Glad you had fun with the game.

By the way been playing since Tri.

Yeah its a blast, most importantly with friends! Can not wait to see how this game will even evolve with the title updates.

Originally posted by xTobu:

Bro really said since 2018 :theskull:

I do not hate Rise, but its way too arcade "speedrun" for me, to give me the classical Monster Hunter feeling and enjoyment. World and mostly Iceborne made it way to perfect for me. And i am happy that Wilds builds and expands on that.

Originally posted by Zerostrikesback:

What weapons were you using in progression?

Main: Dual Blades (main damage)
2nd: Heavy Bowgun (support & healer build)

[Zerostrikesback]

Originally posted by NeoX:

Originally posted by Zerostrikesback:

What weapons were you using in progression?

Main: Dual Blades (main damage)
2nd: Heavy Bowgun (support & healer build)

Did you try out any other weapons in your playthrough? I really liked the tweaks they made to Sword and Shield, but it felt a little brain dead afterwhile so I started jumping between the other weapons.

I usually avoid ranged combat since it doesn't really tickle my fancy, and alot of people in my play group are bow hunters not many HBG. Were there any stand out improvements for HBG playstyle with the focus mode or did you just stick mostly to what you knew from prior titles (if any experience)?

[NeoX]

Originally posted by Zerostrikesback:

Originally posted by NeoX:

Main: Dual Blades (main damage)
2nd: Heavy Bowgun (support & healer build)

Did you try out any other weapons in your playthrough? I really liked the tweaks they made to Sword and Shield, but it felt a little brain dead afterwhile so I started jumping between the other weapons.

I usually avoid ranged combat since it doesn't really tickle my fancy, and alot of people in my play group are bow hunters not many HBG. Were there any stand out improvements for HBG playstyle with the focus mode or did you just stick mostly to what you knew from prior titles (if any experience)?

A friend of mine is teaching me sword and shield right now, so give me a weapon with fast blocking option. Quite fun so far.

[Louis Cypher]

Nice review, I see it the same way - the game is awesome. Sad that gaming gets more and more toxic

[NeoX]

Originally posted by Louis Cypher:

Nice review, I see it the same way - the game is awesome. Sad that gaming gets more and more toxic

Sadly true. Well the idea of starting a clan/guild again (like in the old days) with passionate hunter and own forum/hub gets more and more backup trough such experiences.

[NeoX]

After 170h also achived Platinum completion!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3452550215

Now its time to help others (SOS) to achive the same.
The fun never ends :-)

[Deffy]

Originally posted by NeoX:

After 170 also achived Platinum completion!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3452550215

Now its time to help others (SOS) to achive the same.
The fun never ends :-)

Gratz @NeoX !

[NeoX]

Originally posted by Deffy:

Originally posted by NeoX:

After 170 also achived Platinum completion!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3452550215

Now its time to help others (SOS) to achive the same.
The fun never ends :-)

Gratz @NeoX !

thanks!