More than a million players have anticipated the day Monster Hunter Wilds released. A whole company issuing a day off on its launch day. This got to be the biggest game launch of 2025 so far. It’s… wild. So many Monster Hunter fans are out there today, giddy of taking out a giant monster with an oversized weapon.
But personally, I am a bit of an outlier who’s not that big of a fan of Monster Hunter. I greatly respected it, and I’m proud that we at Gamer Matters awarded Monster Hunter World, where the previously niche game series gets its proper big-budget release on modern consoles, Game Of The Year.
But there’s something about the MonHun games that just didn’t do it for me. I enjoyed what I played of Monster Hunter World, but not enough to keep me playing through the end of the story.
It wasn’t until Wild Hearts, of all things, made me understand in full the appeal of these hunting games.
I also tried the newer Monster Hunter Rise earlier this year, while I find the game fine, it also failed to hook me for long.
But I’m glad to report that after a weekend playing Monster Hunter Wilds on launch, I’m finally getting a hang of this series. And it’s due to the changes this entry has made that have definitely annoyed longtime veterans.
Finally, I Get To Press Buttons
One of my main gripes when I first played Monster Hunter World, my first ever monster hunting game, was that I just couldn’t get the chance to do all the cool moves I have. I kept getting staggered and stunned and staggered even in the first hunt.
With Monster Hunter Wilds, the difficulty ramp is much, much gradual. The first five hours or so has you hunt monsters that can barely flinch me, allowing me to just swing that massive Switch Axe like there’s no tomorrow.
It wasn’t until the Congalala hunt where I start getting knocked over and be sent flying for not dodging attacks. Which is a good 10 hours in. By then, I feel comfortable with the core moveset of my weapon of choice. And having to adjust to be more reserved and tactical on my weapon swings felt like a natural progress of difficulty.
Yes, this also meant that the early hunts are way too easier for veterans of the genre who expected a challenge. I get the complaints some players had. But for me as a greenhorn monster hunter? I finally understand why people love these games so much and feel more willing to learn as the game dishes out more and wilder monsters.
Trust Us, We’re The Good Guys, Really
The other big change Monster Hunter Wilds made is a stronger narrative hook. I feel like the development team at Capcom has read so many opinion pieces of why Monster Hunter World is a colonialist fantasy where you’re a jolly a crew of outsiders invading a perfectly natural ecosystem by committing mass culls over innocent fauna (a take that I understand where it’s coming from yet respectfully disagree) that Monster Hunter Wilds makes so much effort to portray the Hunter’s Guild being this kind, respectful and empathetic organisation that’s out here to do good by the people and the land they’re exploring.
You can’t just hunt big monsters without authorisation. The Guild kindly request permission from the locals if they can set up camp nearby. And they won’t ask too many questions if the answer they got from the locals is a hard no. And they show genuine interest in learning the lands and its inhabitants, only to brandish those oversized weapons on monsters to protect people. Hunting them is never the first option, though the story does show it often leads the crew having to use desperate measures. But still, there’s this gentle and nuanced take on how these hunters are supposed to behave in the larger world and they are clearly not mass murdering giant animals for fun and sport.
From what I’ve played so far, the story should shut up the haters (or the rightful folks who pointed out the flaw of the past game’s storytelling—depending on who you ask). But at a cost.
The cost is that the regular Monster Hunter flow is regularly interrupted in having to participate in story missions to progress the story. So you’ll be doing a lot of walk-and-talk (where the “walk” is usually done without even requiring your input), a lot of downtime where you just watch the plot unfold, only to have some cinematic moment that leads to a surprise hunt.
The cinematic moments are a sight to behold, but Monster Hunter’s core mechanic doesn’t have enough breadth to it to really create fascinating or creative story missions. So for those MonHun vets who wants to no-life the game until the “tutorial” ends—and the game truly begins—it’s a slog. Especially if you don’t care enough of the characters and world and just want to get hunting quick.
Though for me, having that hook, learning about the Forbidden Lands out east and its history, culture and biodiversity, has a good sense of mystery and satisfying revelations. It’s enough of a motivator to get me to keep going on hunts over and over, other than seeing the cool gear you can craft from hunting new monsters.
Are The Changes Worth It?
The real question now is if the changes Monster Hunter Wilds made is for the better, progression-wise. I personally love it, but reception has been mixed in this regard.
Still, I’ve seen the MonHun no-lifers in the online lobby speedrunning through the story and are now at HR 30 and higher within the three days of launch, so it’s likely another case of veterans feeling the series has regressed a bit when compared to earlier titles but comparing the previous title with all the current updates and changes rather than the base game at launch. At least when it comes to the early game pacing.
But if Monster Hunter Wilds can hook more players like me, who’s slowly being radicalised into becoming a MonHun fan as a result of this, I think it will all be worth it.
If you never played Monster Hunter before, Wilds have made a lot of changes to better onboard new players. The structure of the story progress don’t feel as repetitive due to the cinematic moments and story reveals the game doles out on the regular, and the difficulty ramp up is a lot more gentler allowing you to acclimatise with the fundamentals and basic controls better than previous entries had.
In short, game’s good for beginners. Probably going to—and have—annoyed some veterans as a result. But they’ll get over it sooner rather than later, and it’ll likely end up in making more MonHun veterans.
Monster Hunter Wilds is out now on PS5, PC (Steam) and Xbox Series X|S.