Monster Hunter Wilds review: Bigger & bolder than ever before

It’s time to dust off your Great Sword, call in sick for work, and get ready to sink hundreds of hours into the Forbidden Lands because Monster Hunter Wilds is finally here, and Capcom has cooked up a mighty meal even the Meowscular Chef would be proud of. 

Coming off the back of Monster Hunter’s 20th anniversary and the huge success of Monster Hunter World, Producer Ryozo Tsujimoto and his team have a lot to prove. While the beast-slaying series has always been popular in Japan, it was the 2018 release that put Monster Hunter on the global menu. 

World helped forge a new path with its shiny new graphics, masterful weapon overhauls, and a slew of quality-of-life improvements that made it the beast it is today. If World is the grand Elder Dragon that breathed fresh life into the 21-year-old franchise, then Wilds is the new apex predator that’s contending for the golden crown. 

Monster Hunter Wilds promises to deliver a bigger, bolder, and better experience than its predecessor – and for the most part, it does just that, and is by and large one of the best games of 2025. 

Monster Hunter Wilds screenshots & details

• Price: $69.99 / £69.99
• Developer: Capcom
• Release date: February 28, 2025
• Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
• Reviewed on PS5

Sluggish story 

Before we get to the good let’s talk about what I didn’t like. Arguably, the weakest part of any Monster Hunter game is the story. Despite Wilds featuring fully voiced hunters, increased interactions with NPCs, and greater emphasis on its world world-building (lore lovers, you’re in for a treat), it only served as a rather dull roadblock to the real meat of the game – hunting monsters. 

At the center of Wilds’ story is Nata, a young boy from an ancient civilization forced to leave his home after Arkveld – Wilds’ terrifying flagship monster appeared. It’s your job to locate the lost little lad’s home and reunite him with his family. The thing is, it would all be endearing stuff if I cared. 

Look, I’m sorry, but I just want to make a dashing pair of scaly trousers and a shiny new Hammer that I can bonk monsters over the head with. Instead, you’ll hunt one monster, sit through a bunch of exposition from your handler Alma (she’s great), and then be forced into Seikret sections where your feathery Uber will deliver you to your next destination. 

Wilds does an amazing job of easing players into its new weapon mechanics with helpful pop-ups, toggleable accessibility features, and an extensive training room, but the campaign was just too hand-holdy for my liking. As a grizzled veteran of the series with thousands of hours logged since the PS2 days, I couldn’t wait to shake off the stabilizers and forge my own path. 

Fortunately, after 15 hours of slogging through Low-Rank campaign missions, the credits rolled, and Wilds sunk its claws into me. With High Rank quests now unlocked, I found myself longing for the Forbidden Lands whenever I logged off. An ever-growing shopping list of weapons and armor burned into my retinas, and the drive to delve headfirst into another marathon session proved almost unbearable. I lived, breathed, and dreamt about Monster Hunter Wilds.

Flashy & fluid combat

In my years playing Monster Hunter, I can honestly say that I’ve never experienced combat this good or addictive. With just two weeks of play, I had punched in 45 hours – yes, it’s that good. All 14 weapons feel weighty and have received some fantastic glow-ups that make them a joy to play, well, besides Insect Glaive (sorry Glaive mains, it’s still rough out there). 

Hunting Horn has even more utility thanks to its healing bubbles, Switch Axe morph combos are smoother than ever before, and Long Sword is every armchair samurai’s dream. I won’t bore you with all the weapon changes, as I’d be here all day, but it’s clear Capcom has spent a lot of time honing its blade. 

Dexerto / Capcom

Weapon tweaks aside, the main mechanics that switch things up are the new Focus Mode and Focus Strike. Wrestling with the camera has always been an issue in Monster Hunter, just ask any Freedom Unite player about the “claw grip” and you’ll see the life quickly drain from their faces. 

Fortunately, Wilds fixes the problem with Focus Mode. This game-changing mechanic helps with tracking monsters, allowing you to carefully aim your attacks and guards in the direction the camera is facing. It’s a minor change but one that has a huge impact on overall gameplay. 

As a Great Sword main, I am in love with this feature. Gone are the days of narrowly missing heavy-hitting True Charged Slashes after a monster suddenly decides to face away from you – a nightmare when playing multiplayer. 

Now, players can use the Focus Mode to do a complete 360 and slam their mighty sword into their fleshy foe’s hide. If you do enough damage to a monster’s weak points, then glowing red wounds will appear on breakable appendages. They’re essentially giant hit-me signs that give Hunters the chance to deliver high-damage attacks with Wilds’ new Focus Strike move. 

Dexerto / Capcom

Every weapon’s unique Focus Strike is incredibly satisfying to pull off, and they’re oozing with enough visual flair to give even the most striking Shonen anime a run for its money. My favorite weapon was the Bow, which can now unleash a volley of honing arrows that target all weak points. This was made even more satisfying when Flying Wyverns like Rathian and Rathalos tried to escape, only to be sent hurtling down into the ground for further punishment (yes, PETA hates me).

Switching between two weapons on the fly also brings more depth to the man vs beast brawls. Should you find yourself carting to Rey Dau’s electrifying attacks with a Blademaster build, then you can change your strategy by calling over your Seikret and dusting off your secondary.

Beastly monsters & changing environments

Speaking of the beasts themselves, Wilds’ roster is brimming with a menagerie of toothy terrors that would make even David Attenborough giddy. The game’s open-world regions are positively brimming with life, from Vespoids feasting on rotting carcasses (yes, dead monsters now rot) to the Windward Plains’ deadly bear-like Doshaguma that roam around in packs – another new feature introduced in Wilds. 

Even old school monsters like the pink poopy monkey Congalala and Gen 1 favorite Yian Kut-Ku have been lovingly reworked. Not only do they look better than ever before, but they’re also way deadlier. Myself and a fellow reviewer were pleasantly surprised by just how fearsome Yian Kut-Ku was, with the Bird Wyvern spitting out a constant stream of scorching hot fireballs that threatened instant carts if we got too close. 

Dexerto / Capcom

Hunters worried about not having enough fleshy foes to take down needn’t worry. In my 40+ hour playthrough, I fought everything the game threw at me. Amongst the fresh-faced newcomers was the Ajarakan, a fiery ape who pummels its pint-sized foes with deadly WWE-style combos. 

Then there was the snake-like Leviathan Hirabami (not to be confused with Harambe), who levitates in the air and strikes Hunters from above with its razor-sharp teeth and claws. Each one served as a Hyperbolic Time Chamber, where I could hone my oversized weapons and prepare myself for the adrenaline-fueled High Rank quests ahead. 

Combine this with the ability to roam between all the locales seamlessly, seasonal changes that impact the look of environments, nomadic monsters, 100-player lobbies, and a steady 30 FPS on base PS5, and you have the most ambitious Monster Hunter yet. 

Stylish gear returns 

Monster Hunter Wilds’ colorful cast of monsters is also reflected in its sleek-looking armor and weapons. While they’re not nearly as bright or comical as Rise’s wacky designs, they are a huge step up from World’s boring bony aesthetics. There’s just something so cathartic about obliterating a monster and then fashioning a designer jacket out of its hide. And boy, can you make a lot of stylish jackets.

Dexerto / Capcom

Looking your best is particularly important when teaming up with fellow Hunters. During the review period, I joined lobby quests, linked up with Hunters via SOS flares, and farmed overworld monster Investigations via the new Environment Link feature. 

Multiplayer functionality is a lot more convoluted and complex this time around, but once I wrapped my head around these new ways of hunting, I couldn’t put my controller down. Wilds’ 100-player lobbies and crossplay across PC, PS5, and Xbox also helped me feel like I was part of this living, breathing world.

Dexerto Review Score: 4/5 – Very Good

PROS	CONS
Addictive combat	Dull story
Great monster designs	Muddy & washed out textures
Stylish equipment
Seamless open world environments

Monster Hunter Wilds is a giant stomp towards a bigger and brighter future for the beast-slaying series. Despite the sluggish pace of its story and a few muddy textures on base PS5, it’s clear Capcom hasn’t bitten off more than it can chew. 

Wilds is a triumphant culmination of mechanics, monsters, and ideas that have been masterfully forged from 21 years of collective knowledge and experience. The result is nothing short of a carefully honed blade that manages to slice its own path and stand proudly amongst Monster Hunter greats. 

If Monster Hunter World was the appetizer, then Wilds is the full-blown main course. If you’ve never played Monster Hunter before, it’s time to start. Now, if you don’t mind, I have a date with Rathalos and a new Great Sword to make.  

For more information on how we score video games, check out our scoring guidelines here.