I have been gleefully submitting to full-on Monster Hunter Wilds brainrot. The past couple of weeks have seen myself, my friends, and my family diving into Capcom’s big critter slaying co-op RPG, and it definitely doesn’t appear that I’m alone, if Steam’s concurrency numbers are any indicator. Even if those numbers are about half of what they were at launch, that’s still half of over one million, which isn’t what I’d call tiny, and that’s just one platform.
Whenever I get this deep into a game’s weeds, there’s naturally going to be some general discussion that crosses my eyes as a result of my own personal digging and the power of multiple website algorithms forcing stuff in front of me. And a throughline that has been bubbling to the surface is that people are disappointed that Wilds isn’t hard enough, that it’s missing some of its soul, or that Capcom forgot what makes this series great.
This grumbling along with my now over 70 hours and over 70 hunter rank levels has gotten me to better process my feelings, thus prompting a discussion of Why I Play Monster Hunter Wilds – and ultimately while I still think my initial impressions hold firm despite some added caveats.
First thing’s first: I absolutely loved this entry’s story. The Monster Hunter series has not really been known for its tightly woven narratives even at the best of times, so admittedly the bar was pretty low. Yet Capcom absolutely launched over that hurdle and set a new high watermark for story in this series with Wilds, weaving in a closer connection between the Hunters Guild and its mission, drilling down into the game’s location with impressive levels of depth, and making the player character feel like a central figure instead of some Neanderthal aimed at a big threat and told to go kill it.
That last point, apparently, is what some players seem to really prefer, which is kind of insane to me. I don’t necessarily mind people skipping cutscenes, but there’s a sort of active movement to aggressively push past the storyline as hard and as fast as possible – despite the game very frequently forcing players along a predetermined and inescapable path to the next fight or feature unlock.
I will contend that having a skip feature or some way to break the guided experience would have been nice as an option for those who truly cannot be arsed no matter how much time Capcom put into the story, but it still kind of makes me sad that some fans are so vehemently against this series getting any kind of narrative. Worse yet, this makes me worried that we’re probably going to see the studio shrink away from such great story beats in future updates. This more focused narrative push is, quite frankly, a far more welcome addition than, say, World’s clutch claw or Rise’s rampage quests.
Speaking of mechanical swings for the fences, I can say the addition of focus mode and its related wrinkles to hunts has fundamentally changed the game more than any other entry in the series. As I wrote previously, this mode has helped me to focus even more tightly on the assortment of creatures, allowing me to read attack animations, react appropriately, and counter or utilize the best openings. I main a gunlance with a build focused on blocking attacks, trying to draw the monster’s attention, and opening up wounds, allowing my family members to focus on breaking those wounds and unleashing DPS hell.
This whole system – focus mode and wounds more specifically – tends to link in to the general perception that Wilds is far too easy, which has exposed me to some pretty unfortunate hot takes as a result of this complaint. Case in point, I was watching a video by someone who watched members of his team get wiped out. “IGN said this game is easy. Do you really want to be worse than game journalists?” he quipped.
Once I finished raking my fingers across my face, I started to process this extreme with exposure to other videos and impressions that were basking in the joy of Wilds while also recalling some of my own harrowing moments. During a hunt against Jin Dahaad, I was trapped between the back of the arena and an ice wall it created as it readied a room-wide attack. Normally what you’re supposed to do is bring down some rocks to hide behind the blast, but since I was stuck, I simply raised my shield and hoped for the best. And I managed to just barely survive with a small sliver of health.
That moment was truly thrilling stuff! But then I also learned that I can block through this otherwise one-shot attack. I know because I tried.
So is that a result of Wilds being too soft? Or did I just happen to put together a dope build that has ramped up guarding and defenses? Isn’t kind of breaking the game a little bit the point of Monster Hunter’s buildcraft? Also, since we all have these incredible array of new tools at our disposal, wouldn’t players like to see the challenge ramp up to meet this new power level and let us feel like we’ve earned new gear? I don’t know about y’all, but I definitely look forward to that – assuming future updates do just that, anyway, and I have little reason to believe that won’t be the case if prior history is any indicator.
This isn’t to say that Wilds is fully faultless. Capcom continues to be a white-hot burning garbage fire when it comes to letting players play together without forcing them through an absolute morass of menuing nonsense. The high rank quest line sort of feels a little cobbled together especially in the face of an incredible narrative in low rank. Artian weapons are a chase that seems kind of predicated on trying for “god rolls” when enhancing them, and I’m not really about that grind. And yes there have been a couple of performance SNAFUs on PC for me, though they’ve been quite rare and my middling rig continues to bear this game extremely well.
I keep playing Wilds not only because I’m a devoted series and sub-genre fanboy but because I have my own chases to complete (I’ve mastered the gunlance, so now it’s time to try a new weapon and a new build) because I like playing with chosen people as well as trying to help out random folks, and because I truly cannot wait to see what gets added next. I am delighting in this game’s present and eager for its future, wider whining be damned.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to get my face caved in by Gore Magala again.
There’s an MMO born every day, and every game is someone’s favorite. Why I Play is the column in which the Massively OP staff members kick back and reminisce about all their favorite MMOs. Whether it’s the new hotness or an old fan favorite loaded with nostalgia, each title we cover here tugs at our heartstrings and keeps us coming back for more.
