I’m eagerly looking forward to the imminent launch of what has been my most eagerly anticipated game of the year – Monster Hunter Wilds. For quite some time now, I’ve been counting down the days for this sequel to one of my all-time favorite games. To provide a bit of background, I invested approximately 300 hours into Monster Hunter World.
Now that reviews are out, Monster Hunter Wilds has generally received favorable feedback. However, our review on Windows Central noted a missing challenge in the game, which some die-hard fans might find surprising given the series’ reputation for difficulty. As someone who played the game ahead of release, I thought it would be worthwhile to share my perspective, especially with some contrasting views.
I concur that lessening the challenge might seem like a shift for seasoned players, but I view it as a beneficial move overall. This adjustment makes the game easier for beginners and those who play casually, which could potentially bring unprecedented mainstream popularity to the series. However, I must express my own significant annoyance regarding the Wilds aspect of the game.
Playing this series’ multiplayer mode continues to feel complicated and awkward in my experience, even more so than it did when Monster Hunter World came out in 2018. By 2025, I find myself less tolerant of these antiquated systems than before. Consequently, I doubt I’ll be investing as much time into Wilds, which is quite disappointing considering my enthusiasm for this game.
I had higher hopes for the co-op experience
My partner and I have been trying out Monster Hunter Wilds together, both of us having early access. We’ve enjoyed past games in this series collaboratively, and I was excited that the cooperative play in Wilds would be smoother. While there are enhancements such as the game automatically extending an invitation to your ‘link party’ once a cutscene ends in campaign mode, simplifying control management, the process for accepting the invite is less user-friendly.
For example, when we encountered a monster simultaneously for the first time, I found myself engaged in combat immediately after watching its introduction, and you were yet to join my game. Incidentally, those monster reveal scenes are truly remarkable.
In the midst of the monster’s relentless assault, they found themselves juggling the task of accepting the invitation from within the menus, a challenge that could have caused them to lose their place altogether. Once they accepted, they were compelled to abandon their quest and teleport back to camp, only to swiftly return to rejoin me in my game instance.
It’s quite frustrating, especially at the start of the game when there aren’t many fast travel points available. Why can’t we just play through the story simultaneously in a single space? Instead of separately watching cutscenes or adjusting settings, wouldn’t it be better if we could walk to the quest location together and watch the scene unfold side by side? Unfortunately, we seem to spend more time watching cutscenes or fiddling with options than we do battling monsters together. Although cutscenes can now be skipped and auto-invites have been implemented, the process still feels unnecessarily complex and disconnected.
Here’s a tighter summary of how it plays out:
- Party up.
- Start a mission.
- The game splits you and your partner into separate instances, though you remain in the same party.
- Each player finds the monster and watches the cutscene.
- Once the cutscene ends, an invite is automatically sent to party members.
- The invitee accepts and loads into the host’s instance, starting from camp.
- Any progress made fighting the monster in separate instances is lost.
- Even worse, you can be interrupted by the monster while attempting to accept an invite.
Multiplayer Monster Hunter has gone backwards
As an analyst, I find it puzzling that past games such as Monster Hunter Rise and Generations Ultimate managed co-op play more seamlessly. In particular, Generations’ cutscenes skillfully incorporated party members into the gameplay flow, effectively eliminating those interruptions that can disrupt immersion.
It’s disappointing that, instead of drawing inspiration from its portable game series for a more tailored experience, Wilds appears to persist with the cooperative system used in World, which has been requested by players for enhancements over the years.
The World and Wilds series emphasize “dramatic storytelling,” which seems particularly bold in Wilds. However, this emphasis might be misdirected since the franchise is known for its exceptional gameplay. I’m concerned that the multiplayer experience could suffer due to too much focus on storytelling.
The mobile version of Rise seems to emphasize enjoyment and user-friendliness, whereas the primary team focuses on cinematic authenticity – a commendable approach that unfortunately introduces unneeded intricacy in the game mechanics.
Departing from tradition to welcome new hunters
On the bright side, I concur with our assessment that this game is less challenging than World, but it’s hard to deny its enjoyable moments and thrilling scenes. The reduced difficulty will probably attract numerous newcomers to the hunter community, which is wonderful for the series.
As a fan of bows, I appreciate the new focus mode and the option to target marked monster wounds more precisely. These updates make hunting less daunting, and I’m okay with some guidance—especially considering the abundance of intriguing games released this year. The simplified mechanics may seem less demanding for seasoned players, but they are useful in attracting new players at least initially.
While veteran players might miss the challenge due to streamlined mechanics, it’s possible that challenging DLC could be added later on.
In spite of my issues with multiplayer, I think Monster Hunter Rise has the potential to outshine World in terms of popularity, given its user-friendly aspect for solo gameplay. Overall, I’m looking forward to seeing more people try this game and join the Monster Hunter community.
However, nothing dampens my enthusiasm faster than informing someone they can’t start playing with friends immediately. Instead, they must navigate through numerous menus and watch cutscenes before they can play together. This aspect, in my opinion, is the series’ most significant drawback, and as fans, we should be advocating for improved multiplayer systems.
In simpler terms, Monster Hunter World marked the series’ entry into widespread popularity. However, the Wilds expansion seems disappointing if what one desires is a seamless cooperative gameplay from beginning to end without any significant setbacks.
Perhaps they’ll tackle this issue in upcoming expansions or updates, yet it’s disheartening that multiplayer accessibility isn’t given more emphasis from the outset, particularly since the game shines most when played cooperatively with friends.
Monster Hunter Wilds strives to find a harmony that attracts novice players while also challenging veterans, yet its complex cooperative system requires further refinement. Given this, I’m uncertain if I’ll dedicate the same extensive playtime to this game as I did with previous versions.
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2025-02-25 21:09