Monster Hunter Wilds (2025)

More or less what I expected from the game. I just really don't like the new generation of MH and I don't think that's ever going to change. Focus mode is undoubtedly my least favorite mechanic they've come up with, much more than clutch claw in World. The wound part is actually well done in my opinion, but focus mode itself, as I feared, completely removes one of the combat's aspects which I thought was always very important in every prior game; positioning. Positioning in every MH game has always been a key aspect of the combat, as each weapon distinctly wants to be positioned at specific parts of the monster, and mastery over the weapon hinges on how well you can position in regards to a monster's attack pattern. That entire element is practically gone when focus mode allows you to always be in the correct position no matter what. There are no decisions to be made when you can just easily aim your weapon wherever you want and never miss your strongest attack. It's a little unfair to say because I played Gunlance and that weapon is ridiculously strong as is and even more so in this iteration of combat, but I don't think I ever carted a single time all the way up until the late stages of the post game HR. You're just almost never punished for positioning incorrectly. Is this a bad thing for the game as a whole? No, not likely. It's never been easier to get into MH, but it's clear that the series is no longer for me specifically.

Even so, the game is still fun. Even the worst MH game satisfies the itch that no other adjacent MH-like can even come close to satisfying. Surprisingly, the story was OK. I couldn't care less about any of the ecological nonsense and I certainly didn't appreciate the forced slow walk riding dialogue cutscenes, but ignoring that, the story is basically about how really cool your hunter is. As they should be.

The thing, however, that really puts me off the new generation of MH, is how they drip feed content. This is going to vary from player to player, obviously, but It's insane to me that I was farming Tempered Arkveld just barely 20 hours into the game, with the story taking less than 10 hours, give or take. Lets not even get into the monster roster and how there's no Elder Dragons this time around to begin with. There's no other way to say it, other than I hate it. I'm done with the game and now I have to wait for the next title update, go back to it for a few more hours and then repeat until the expansion is released. If there's one positive out of this, it's that every time a new MH game releases, it's that there will always be a group of people who suddenly want to go back and play GU again, so that's what I've been doing since finishing Wilds.

For anyone else who is struggling to run this game well, I found that this performance mod for PC helps a good amount with frame rate issues and cleaner visuals. I'm only an hour in and this mod has already made a noticable difference on my PC. It also doesn't force frame generation on if your not a fan of that, although I would still recommend it.

Wilds OPTIMIZER FPS BOOST

Happy Hunting!

No monster hunter language in this one it seems, only real languages.

The character creator is pretty great, and this game also has some great hair physics.

I was also able to make a Palico that looks even more like my cat this time because the game supports longhair fur!