Monster Hunter Wilds Review (Xbox Series X|S)

Capcom’s storied history is commonly associated with series like Street Fighter and Resident Evil, but it’s Monster Hunter which is on track to eventually become the Japanese video game company’s best-selling IP. Over the past two decades, this larger-than-life series has evolved into an unstoppable force thanks to its increasingly widespread appeal, and now Monster Hunter Wilds delivers perhaps the most inviting iteration yet.

If you are a first timer to this series, all you really need to know is you’re going to be hunting monsters of all shapes and sizes, carving them for materials, gathering minerals and other resources, and repeating this cycle in an endless loop to upgrade your weapons and gear. As for this entry, the story is focused on a boy named Nata who has been forced to flee from his village after it’s devastated by a terrifying creature known as the ‘White Wraith', and now your guild is out on an expedition to the ‘Forbidden Lands’ to save the day and hopefully reunite him with his people.

In this outing, you’re placed in an interconnected world featuring multiple biomes filled with their own eco-systems, populous, new (and returning) monsters, day and night cycles, and harsh ever-changing climates due to the recent monster-related events as well as seasonal shifts. After crafting your character (and cat-like Palico support) in the character creator, you start at Windward Plains, in a more open zone. Once you’ve taken in your surroundings, you’re thrust into the action and mostly hop from one big hunt to the next in the main adventure. Admittedly, the slower-paced segments and handholding in the game’s main story might leave some veteran hunters chomping at the bit.

The story itself still does enough to entertain with some grand moments, but the cast doesn’t always match this energy as they guide you along each quest. Your immediate group is made up of Alma (aka the Handler) who authorises you on behalf of the guild to kill or capture all sorts of beasts, and then you’ve got the ‘Smithy’ Gemma crafting the weapons and gear, and finally the kid you're escorting. Nata’s story is used to progress your guild’s adventure – throwing you into all sorts of dangerous encounters. As for the other two characters, they never really have significant growth throughout the journey but at least offer you the usual services at base and camp sites where you can cook meals for buffs and rest up. Hunters and other units from your guild will also fight alongside you in battle from time-to-time. The upside of the camaraderie is essentially the guided tour these characters provide throughout the main story, showing you the ropes, and potentially making the series a little less intimidating for newcomers.

In terms of the monster hunting, it’s the same process as previous entries but just more streamlined. You can take on a quest, auto-navigate to the monster on the back of your customisable bird-wyvern mount known as a Seikret (or fast travel nearby) and before you know it, you’re carving up your next kill. You’re then sent back to base before heading back out to do it all again. This whole process feels almost instantaneous in Wilds, and some players will likely prefer this speed, but others may miss more thorough preparation, buildup and even downtime between each hunt. As for the combat, you can now swap between a primary and secondary weapon (by mounting your Seikret), giving you more options in battle. This includes close-range heavy hitters like the Great Sword and Hammer to ranged weapons like the Heavy Bowgun. As usual, there’s a good variety of weapons, and you’ll upgrade your gear as you go. Being able to swap between weapons during a battle is a welcome option, but during the main game, we never really had to call on it.

If you are a returning hunter, the hack-and-slash aspect and gameplay loop should already be familiar. One mechanic that has been implemented in Wilds is ‘Focus Mode’ (including Focus Strikes) to target specific wounds highlighted on the monster – ultimately dealing more damage. Veterans might not necessarily appreciate the cues, but it’s another way to make certain monster battles a lot clearer for first time players. Additionally, you’ve got Offset Attacks (countering monsters with their attacks) and Power Clashes (available to weapons with guarding) physically overpowering monsters. Other additional content, once you pass the initial story, fleshes out the experience – with the focus then on levelling your Hunter Rank across higher ranked (and harder monster) quests, unlocking and crafting more powerful high ranked gear and opening new quest lines, monster encounters, and more, with all of it encouraging you to hone your craft.

Of course, the multiplayer also returns – allowing players to drop in and out of other hunters' missions, form squads and join certain hunts through online matchmaking. And if you really need to make up numbers, support NPC is always on hand and can be summoned with an SOS flare. At launch on Xbox Series X, the multiplayer and crossplay hunts have been relatively smooth. Taking down monsters of all sorts with three other hunters has also been a notable step up on the Xbox beta, which is a relief. One issue some might experience though is the whole setup process of multiplayer – with Capcom arguably overwhelming players with too many menus, sub menus, lobbies and matchmaking options. Much like the controls though in this series, it eventually sinks in when you’ve stumbled through it enough times.

As for the game’s performance and visuals, the world of Monster Hunter Wilds is powered by Capcom’s RE Engine (the same in-house engine behind games like Dragon’s Dogma 2). In terms of performance on the Xbox Series X, there are options to prioritise framerate or resolution. Although it’s still undercooked a lot of the time, the ‘balanced’ option aims to offer the best of both worlds. If you do opt with the resolution mode on this platform, you can uncap the performance or cap it at 30FPS. In the performance mode, you have the option to run the game at an uncapped framerate or run it at 60FPS. The compromise with performance mode is that Wilds may not always look quite as nice, but even on a higher resolution, it doesn’t always shine. Some environments can appear quite bleak during certain weather events, and textures look very muddy in certain biomes and during more lively moments of gameplay depending on what setting you’re running.

As for Wilds on Series S, the experience is playable but graphics are greatly reduced. While a lot of games on XSS strive to maintain parity with the ‘X’ counterpart, this game comes nowhere close from a visual standpoint. It looks like night and day side-by-side, and in more intensive battles with fellow hunters or busy environments, it’s sometimes hard to distinguish what is even going on due to the low-quality textures. The performance options are also limited to 30FPS capped, and then there’s the uncapped option based on the rendering load – either way though, you can expect all sorts of dips here.

Fortunately, the game’s performance and graphics on Xbox Series X didn’t dampen the enjoyment of the adventure and balanced mode on this system is probably the best place to start. In saying this, it’s tough to recommend Wilds on the XSS in its current state. Hopefully, Capcom can improve the performance and visuals for Xbox platforms in a future update. Outside of this, Wilds delivers the usual Monster Hunter themes, including an epic soundtrack, plenty of display options (including HUD customisation), arachnophobia mode, mouse and keyboard support and much more – with all these options helping to open up the experience.