I had the pleasure of reviewing Monster Hunter Wilds here at TheGamer, so I knew exactly what the inevitable discourse would be a few weeks before anyone else did. I knew that long-time Monster Hunter fans were going to complain that Wilds was too easy, and I also knew newcomers and anyone who was put off by older Monster Hunter games would be grateful to have a more approachable, and indeed easier monster-hunting experience.
Since launch, the debate has been whether or not Wilds disrespects long-time fans by offering a less challenging experience to attract a wider audience, but this argument betrays a false dichotomy. Wilds’ central flaw isn’t that it’s too easy for veteran hunters, it’s that it’s too forgiving for everyone.
It’s Easy To Call It Easy
For the record, Monster Hunter Wilds was a little too easy for me. I’ve been playing these games for a long time, maining the glaive almost exclusively, and I breezed through Wilds’ campaign without issue. I don’t think I carted a single time until I ran into the double Ajarakan fight to unlock the powercharm. Even if I did find myself in a fight that was out of my league, I could’ve just used the SOS system to call in support hunters to take care of the monster for me.
There’s a lot of new techniques that made this Monster Hunter a lot easier for me. With the new focus and wound systems, you can repeatedly stagger monsters out of their attacks, and with a little practice you can practically stun lock a monster while your teammates or palico whittles away its health. New techniques like offset attacks and power clashes give some weapons even more ways to block attacks and knock monsters over for extended damage phases. If you know how to exploit these techniques, most fights are a cakewalk.
Do these new mechanics make Wilds too easy? That’s a tough question to answer, and possibly an impossible problem to solve. If you’ve been playing Monster Hunter for a long time, then yes, Wilds is easier. But how could it not be? If you’ve spent hundreds of hours grinding arch tempered elder dragons for decos, then of course the Wilds’ base game campaign is going to be easy. That’s unavoidable.
The problem with supporting a player base for as long as Monster Hunter has is that it’s impossible to keep up with their skill level. The hardest Rathalos you’ll ever fight is the first one. It flies around everywhere shooting fireballs that one-shot you, and it feels practically impossible to beat. But once you learn how to deal with Rathalos, it’s a piece of cake. That skill carries across every generation of Monster Hunter. We keep getting better, but Rathalos doesn’t. Now find someone who is starting their monster hunting career with Wilds and ask them if Rathalos is easy. Or better yet, don’t, because they’re probably going to call you a jerk.
What Monster Hunter Wilds Is Really Missing
‘Easy’ is subjective, broad, and frankly, a poor way to critique a game. But Wilds does have a major flaw, one that long-time fans can feel and newcomers wouldn’t understand. What’s being interpreted as a lack of challenge is actually a lack of friction. It’s not that the hunts are easy, it’s that it doesn’t really matter how hard you try.
Monster Hunter has a reputation for being convoluted and esoteric, and starting with Monster Hunter World, Capcom has been working hard to shave off the rough edges and streamline the experience. With 30 million copies of World sold, the results speak for themselves. Tamping down the fiddliness has made Monster Hunter a lot more approachable, and a lot more successful.
But with Wilds, it seems Capcom may have finally streamlined too much of Monster Hunter, rendering it a watered-down version of what it once was. There are countless examples of mechanics and systems that Wilds has simplified that all add up to create a more forgiving and more mindless experience, which is both disappointing for fans and a disservice for newcomers.
Consider the core gameplay loop of Monster Hunter World. Once you’ve selected your target, you begin preparation. You might start by visiting the Chief Ecologist and consulting the field guide to learn about the monster’s strengths and weaknesses, then you’ll adjust your weapon, armor, and decorations to give you an edge. You’ll then head to the chef and concoct a meal with a careful combination of ingredients to get the resistances and abilities you want. Then you’ll dig into your stash to carefully select the consumables you want to bring based on the environment you’ll be hunting and the special abilities of your target. Only then will you be ready to depart on the mission and take on the hunt.
In Monster Hunter Wilds, you don’t have to do any of that. Seriously, you just pick a monster and go kill it. If you forgot to eat, you can make a meal in the field. If you didn’t check the monster guide, you can open the menu and read all about it anytime. Didn’t bring an antidote for a poison monster? Your Palico will fix you up. Forgot to refill your potions? Your Seikret miraculously has extras in its pouch. There’s no reason to prepare for a fight when you’ll be handed everything you need whenever you need it. There’s no reason to really try when Wilds wants so badly to make sure you succeed.
Monster Hunter Is Losing Its Identity
This isn’t about ‘gitting gud’ or the character-building that comes from overcoming adversity. I’m not making a ‘Dark Souls is hard because it makes you appreciate beating it more’ argument here. I realize Capcom is going for something more streamlined and frictionless here, and that’s not inherently bad. But by watering down the hunter experience, Monster Hunter has lost a big piece of its identity.
The preparation isn’t just there to slow you down and waste your time. There’s storytelling and world building in prep. It grounds you in the reality of the game and forces you to really consider the biology of your targets and the ecology of the world around you. We build connections to the monsters through learning about them, and you miss out on that experience when you just haphazardly hack and slash your way through Wilds’ menagerie. The less you have to think about the process of hunting, the less meaningful the experience becomes.
It’s disappointing to see so many people clamoring for the mod that gives the monsters a health bar. Not because that makes the game easier, but because it eliminates the need to look at their wounds and body language and listen to their sounds to gauge how close they are to dying. That’s cool, that’s what made Monster Hunter unique. The more of those things Monster Hunter loses, the more it just becomes like any other action game. Yes, Wilds is easier, but more importantly, what was cut to make it easier are the things that make Monster Hunter, Monster Hunter.
- Released
-
February 28, 2025
- ESRB
-
T For Teen // Violence, Blood, Crude Humor