Monster Hunter Wilds impressions — a great starting point for fresh-faced hunters

As a new player to the franchise, I wasn’t sure what to expect for my Monster Hunter Wilds impressions, but after spending around 30 hours slaying big beasties in the Forbidden Lands, I can’t wait to continue tackling the Monster Hunter Wilds achievements. I can happily say that I’ve fallen in love with Capcom’s Xbox RPG, and I highly recommend taking a stab at it yourself if you’re also interested in dipping your toes in for the first time.Monster Hunter Wilds offers a perfect starting point for new playersMonster Hunter Wilds is an action-RPG from CapcomRelease date: February 28, 2025Platforms: Xbox Series X|SMonster Hunter has been a series I’ve wanted to explore for many years, but due to their size, I’ve never quite found the time to dive in fully. When Capcom announced Wilds, however, I immediately fell in love with the idea of dynamically changing environments, and it was clear this would be my chance to take a first step into the treacherous world. I’m a fledgling explorer of this fantastic franchise, so bear in mind these are my first impressions as a newbie — but let me tell you why I love this game!Okay, first things first: you don’t need to have played any other Monster Hunter games to enjoy Wilds, as everything you need to know about the gameplay, world, characters, and monsters is spoon-fed to you throughout the main story. One thing it excels at is guiding you through the fundamentals, slowly introducing its gameplay features at a steady pace to give you time to master each feature. If you’re not sure about something, don’t worry, because there will likely be a little introductory story arc to play through at some point.You’re part of an expedition team sent to the Forbidden Lands to search for a group of people known as the Keepers. The setting and story play a vital role in uncovering everything you need to know about Monster Hunter so you can focus on the fun stuff, like killing things and upgrading your character — in fact, that’s pretty much Monster Hunter’s gameplay loop in a nutshell; and it’s great! Wilds is great fun, giving you the freedom to explore the world as you see fit, drip feeding you increasingly difficult monsters to hunt as you improve your Hunter Rank and unlock better materials to upgrade your gear. When not out hunting monsters, the majority of your time will be spent at the base camp of each region. These camps offer you easy access to your tent for managing your character’s inventory and buffs, as well as a training area and provisioner. You’ll also get access to Gemma the armorer for crafting gear, and Alma for picking up quests and answering other players’ SOS calls for hunts.I quickly found myself enjoying the core gameplay loop: check to see if I can upgrade my gear, drop off my collected materials and stock up on potions and other items, eat some food for health and stamina buffs, and then get back out there for the next hunt. It’s an easy loop that hooks you in for “just one more hunt” anytime you have to turn the game off. There are plenty of side activities to embark on too, like fishing and quests for various members of your expedition team.These side activities would help to break up the monotony, if there was any — honestly, though, hunting monsters just doesn’t feel monotonous at all. Every hunt is awesome fun, and with 14 different weapon types to master, you can switch your playstyle on the fly. This latest entry in the series allows you to equip a secondary weapon, which you can wield by calling your Seikret (your feathery mount) mid-fight. It’s not something I’ve made too much use of, as I’m very happy with unleashing a barrage of arrows from my bow, but it’s cool to have that flexibility.Monsters come in all shapes and sizes, all with weak spots and a weakness to certain elemental attacks, forcing you to adapt your equipped armor and weapons when hunting tougher prey. Attacking the same area of a creature multiple times can also open a wound, allowing you to use the new Focus Mode to target the damaged area and deal massive damage to the monster. Plus, if things get too tough with just you and your feline Palico companion, you can always shoot off an SOS flare to call in up to three other players, or three NPCs if nobody answers your call. The game is gorgeous too, with the world seeming to shift all around as you explore it. During the season of Plenty, the environments come alive with flowering plants, all manner of wildlife, and a plethora of monsters to hunt, large and small. Come the season of Fallow, however, and things take a darker turn. That lushness is all but stamped out, and you see less of those smaller creatures, while larger monsters prowl the areas for any meals they can find. During the Fallow, each region’s Apex predators venture out of their homes in search of food, giving you an opportunity to face down a tougher opponent for lucrative materials.I’ve been having a ton of fun exploring the Forbidden Lands, searching for the next awesome-looking armor set I can craft. You can use that SOS beacon to call for help from players, but you don’t need to be playing in a lobby with other players. They will just join for the one quest before leaving your lobby, making quick bouts of multiplayer action a breeze if you prefer to predominantly play alone.Previous games in the series have been mammoths, requiring hundreds of hours to unlock all their achievements, and it looks like Wilds is following suit. There are achievements for reaching Hunter Rank 100, completing 100 quests, slaying some of the game’s toughest enemies to craft gear of Rank 7 or higher, and for playing a ton of multiplayer. Even without any DLC, this could be a pretty monstrous list to blast through if you’re looking to check it out.With that being said, I really can’t recommend Monster Hunter Wilds enough, and my only regret is that I didn’t step into the series sooner — especially with Monster Hunter Rise being playable alongside the best Game Pass games. If you’re yet to check out the series, Wilds is the perfect place to start!These were my first impressions as a newcomer to the series, but if you’re looking for more, keep an eye out on TrueTrophies soon for the Monster Hunter Wilds review, for an in-depth look at the game from an experienced player!



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