Despite its popularity, Monster Hunter is notoriously hard to get into. Each new release conjures a crowd of eager but intimidated gamers asking, “Is this the one to start with?” Thanks to its refined combat, thrilling cutscenes, and endlessly engaging gameplay loop, Monster Hunter Wilds is an excellent entry point. While the tutorials are still lacking and many mechanics are far from intuitive, Wilds accommodates those interested in a simpler approach without compromising its most exciting elements.
As the name implies, the game’s main attraction is an environment full of monsters to track, hunt, and craft into gear. Combat shines brightly as ever, with a satisfying array of weapons available to players from the start. I gravitated towards the longsword, with its powerful slashes and spirit meter, but also fell in love with the hammer’s mighty smashing abilities. Bonking a monster on the head has never felt better thanks to fantastic work from combat designers, sound designers, and animators. Wilds also introduces wounds, which appear on a monster’s body after being repeatedly hit in the same spot. Hitting a wound with a focus strike staggers the monster and deals a hefty amount of damage, making it an essential and satisfying mechanic.
Story is not typically a part of the conversation around the Monster Hunter franchise, so I was pleasantly surprised by Wilds’ characters and cutscenes, which kept me invested throughout the entire campaign. After the Hunter’s Guild discovers Nata, a boy separated from his tribe, they embark on an expedition to find his home in the Forbidden Lands, a part of the world previously thought uninhabited. The ensuing adventure shows Nata’s character growth as he reckons with humans’ effects on the environment, while making sure to pack the plot with exciting, monster-based action setpieces. It functions more as a structure to move the player around than a truly compelling narrative, but I found its guidance an enjoyable appetizer to the late-game high rank quests.
Cutscenes are especially spectacular, depicting dramatic lead-ins to hunts that made me feel like an epic hero. The game’s incredible soundtrack enhances the mood even further, combining traditional orchestra with synthesizers to represent the violent changes in the weather. Without fail, hearing Alma authorize my hunter to take on a monster got me hyped and leaning forward in my seat every time, ready to protect the people and ecosystems of the Forbidden Lands.
The encouragement is especially welcome when faced with Monster Hunter’s intimidating creature designs, whether it’s the rose/spider hybrid Lala Barina or the aberrant octopus The Black Flame. Longtime players grow comfortable with monsters and their attack patterns, so it’s reinvigorating to head into a new entry and feel awe and excitement at the mere presentation of something new. In practice, fights are thrilling, varied, and dynamic, thanks to extreme weather effects and creative combat patterns. The initial three-chapter campaign is relatively easy, but not boring – a boon if this entry’s goal was to appeal to new players.
Monster Hunter Wilds is largely approachable for newcomers, but there are some caveats to that statement. While Wilds is more intuitive than past entries, it still has work to do compared to your average game, with mechanics buried in menus or unexplained altogether. Still, the initial difficulty level is low enough that this shouldn’t pose much of a problem; you can brave Wilds’ story mode while avoiding the more complicated mechanics. I picked a simple weapon and made a point to craft new equipment every few missions, ultimately only dying a handful of times. Thanks to assists from NPCs or other online players using the SOS beacon and my mount’s mobility, I was healed often and could always quickly escape danger.
It’s possible to engage with more advanced combos and mechanics, but new players must jump through hoops to do so. For example, there are plenty of tutorial pop-ups, but while they effectively convey how to do things, it’s not always clear when it’s important to do so. Cooking, for example, is a crucial and iconic part of the game, but because the portable grill is just one of many items added to your toolbelt, it’s not immediately clear you should be cooking a meal whenever your previous one wears off. This struggle with tutorialization is exacerbated by Wilds’ menu design, a utilitarian set of beige tabs. It’s functional, but only if you know what you’re looking for; there are tutorials listed here, but some are ridiculously buried. The easiest solution is to play online with experienced friends, who can teach you which food combinations are the best, which tools to bring on a hunt, and which weapons beginners should avoid. There are also endless YouTube tutorials on how to play these games, but it’s a shame the Monster Hunter team has yet to fully grasp how to bring new players into the fold without relying on outside sources.
The bright side of poor tutorialization is that it’s a temporary hurdle. Once you get your bearings, Monster Hunter Wilds is a delight, bringing Monster Hunter World’s carefully crafted gameplay loop to the next level. The monsters are foreboding, the weapons are sharp, and the lower difficulty level means newcomers can start without getting bogged down by the details. The Forbidden Lands are an enticing new playground for the series, and I look forward to spending dozens more hours uncovering the rest of its secrets.
This 2025 review reflects our thoughts on the game’s current state at publishing. As such, post-launch updates were factored into the final score.
