I’ve managed to snag some time with all three beta tests for Monster Hunter Wilds. I really loved Monster Hunter Rise and played a fair bit of Generations Ultimate, but never dipped my toes into world. I was firmly in the “Monster Hunter needs to be handheld” camp when that was first out and since the Steam Deck came out and the lines between handhelds and consoles are blurring more and more, I’ve decided it doesn’t matter. Not that the deck can handle Wilds, apparently it cannot, but I could still remote play into it, possibly.

I am a Switch Axe user, I think it is one of the more interesting weapons and fun as hell to play once you get the hang of the general concept. I’ve played with other weapons; dual blades (hasn’t everyone?), sword and shield, long sword and most recently, heavy bow gun. My idea for this post is to give out feedback on the game from different perspectives. I kept feeling all kinds of different ways about it and I realized that it was because I’m playing it from different perspectives. So, here aer my thoughts on Monster Hunter Wilds…

… as a (Relative) Newbie to the MonHun Franchise

I’ve already given my history up top and two games that released 5 years apart that I have put over 400 hours into doesn’t really describe a newbie. but a lot of people in the franchise have been playing for YEARS. I’m not one of them so my perspective is mostly limited to the modern lineage of the games. So as someone who has heart lies with Rise/Sunbreak, I like it, but I’m not in love it. For a franchise that is known for confusing choices, the way Wilds is handling the multiplayer is baffling to me. You have link parties, environmental link parties, a tiny, cramped hub area with dozens of horny hunters running around dressed like the Joker, spamming stickers and emotes, all crowding around the spectacled quest lady. It’s chaos! I know the other services aren’t open yet and Alma + The Tent are the only things people are going after, but every lobby I’ve been in has been absolutely wild.

… as a Switch Axe sicko

So far, once I shook off the rust, I’ve been back in full swing with the switch axe. Since we have no wirebugs, I’ve been jumping off lots of ledges to get the jump on monsters. I find charging up the sword take more time than I’m used to. I love that you can jump onto the back of the monster and ride it while attacking with your knife before deciding to use your weapon finisher. There are some differences with how you enact the discharge grab move and I haven’t gotten that to work consistently yet, but I’m sure once the game releases and I practice more it’ll be second nature. But currently I’m still able to pull off some sick shit.

… as a MonHun Rise aficionado

I miss Palimutes now and forever. There is something so disconnecting letting your seikert birds run around on their own, the maps become blended together and don’t really feel like environments that you interact with, instead you just existence in them. The palamutes (and standing next to them, the wirebugs) were a great way to bridge the gap between the long haul map traversal of the old games, and a fresh modern way to get around quicker. The seikerts are the next evolution, they are the self driving car of this world. Where Rise all but eliminated the need for the numbered sections of the map, the seikerts feel like they eliminate the need for the map at all. This is obviously a dramatic overreaction, as its just a demo, but unless they make a big effort in making the environments more memorable I can’t see this changing much. I won’t really complain about the wirebugs not being included because that was never going to carry over.

… as an XBOX Series X user

So far the game has run great and I’m really happy not be dealing with PC settings to get it to run right. it looks good, runs pretty great (its a beta) and will be easy to play.

Quest Complete!

I’d never really cared about World. It looked really cinematic and dramatic to me. A big part of the allure of Monster Hunter to me is the goofiness and World looked like it pushed that aside for big cinema. I probably wasn’t giving it its fair due because all the hallmarks of the older games are there, just streamlined and tweaked for a modern age. The thing I’m really interested in seeing with the full release is if that tweaking went too far.