Monster Hunter Wilds: Great Game, Awful UI

Monster Hunter Wilds represents an outstanding addition to the Monster Hunter series, earning high praise from both fans and critics alike in terms of commercial and critical success. Yet, despite this accomplishment, it stumbled when attempting to address one of the franchise’s most significant issues – a challenge that serves as a major hurdle for newcomers.

From a fan’s perspective, it’s not common knowledge that Monster Hunter isn’t particularly beginner-friendly. However, with the releases of World, Rise, and now Wilds, they’ve made significant steps towards making the game more accessible without requiring players to invest excessive time in grasping complex game mechanics or combat control schemes. Frankly, it’s astonishing that these improvements have led to such a massive player base, given its initial reputation.

Nevertheless, there’s one area where the series seems to be struggling, and in this particular aspect, Wilds might be less polished compared to earlier titles such as Rise and World. This shortcoming appears to be primarily in the user interface (UI) and menu systems.

Among all features, the overly complex interface of the game is particularly uninviting to newcomers in this series. Interestingly, Monster Hunter Worlds might be less appealing than previous games in the series, even though it appears to be friendlier for beginners in most other aspects.

Monster Hunter Wilds menus are some of series’ worst

In my adventure through Monster Hunter Wilds, it’s not the monsters that have posed the most challenge in my quest to create top-tier equipment, but rather the complexity of the game’s menus.

Despite having invested more than 200 hours into Monster Hunter World, I found the Wilds to be quite challenging. The user experience in this game is peculiar because it offers an overwhelming blend of insufficient and excessive information simultaneously, making the actual gameplay experience tougher.

As a gamer, I’ve got to say, Monster Hunter Rise has introduced something totally fresh – a dual weapon system for hunting monsters. This is an exclusive feature in the series that adds an exciting new layer to my gameplay experience. It’s a fantastic touch!

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Best settings for FPS in Monster Hunter Wilds

When creating a new weapon, the game provides you with two options: primary or secondary slot for equipment. However, the game doesn’t clarify which slot each weapon will occupy. One might wonder, why can’t the game simply display the primary and secondary weapons separately?

It appears that this minor inconvenience, on its own, might not seem significant. However, it involves going to your storage to change weapons before a hunt. Unfortunately, each new feature in Monster Hunter Worlds is associated with a menu function that either lacks intuitive design or is incomplete, and could be easily improved.

For instance, consider a revised menu interface where players can view their complete inventory of consumables without needing to cycle through each item individually by pressing and scrolling a button. However, navigating the camera becomes tied to moving this menu, and the same applies when accessing hidden supplies from your Seikret.

Here’s a more straightforward way of expressing the same idea: When using a keyboard and mouse for gameplay, not only is camera control taken away from you, but you can’t use your mouse cursor to pick up items. Instead, you have to navigate with the mouse wheel and arrow keys, which may seem peculiar.

In the gaming world of Wilds, it feels like nearly every new feature snatches control right out of my hands, making gameplay less immersive and more frustrating compared to earlier versions that weren’t exactly user-friendly paradises to begin with.

A user-friendly design with intuitive menus could make Monster Hunter seem less overwhelming for novice players, whereas Wilds unnecessarily adds complexity through minor, irritating adjustments that accumulate over time.

And that’s without mentioning how bizarrely difficult it is to play with your friends.

I have never seen a franchise that revolves around co-op so hard get multiplayer so wrong, so many times.
byu/GeronimoJak inMonsterHunter

As a gamer, navigating through the various multiplayer options in Wilds has become quite the challenge. With so many new ways to team up with my buddies compared to earlier versions, it’s tough to decipher which lobby or session I should hop into for the best gaming experience!

Essentially, Monster Hunter Wilds stands as a victory for its series, save for some suboptimal PC performance issues. Apart from this one concern, there’s little else to criticize. The allure of Wilds is such that countless hours can be spent within its world, and it has exceeded my expectations for what an MH game should offer.

Investing equal time in enhancing the menu and user interface, as well as in developing exceptional core gameplay, would significantly improve the overall product.

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2025-03-03 01:49