If you're new to Monster Hunter, this entry might seem like a solid starting point. However, do not buy this game if you’re using a GPU with 8GB of VRAM. It simply does not achieve a consistently playable framerate on these cards. According to Steam’s February 2025 hardware survey, the most common GPUs among players are the RTX 3060 (6.87%) and RTX 4060 (8.57%), both of which perform terribly in Wilds.


I was using a 2070 Super, and this game finally forced me to upgrade GPUs and a CPU during a shortage and the next flagship between the RTX 50 series and the RX 90 series from AMD coming out but the performance was just so poor I ended up buying a 7800 XT despite the shortages and big bold "SOLD OUT"s I keep seeing on major retailors meaning I had to buy a brand-new GPU just to play a game I had already spent $70 on. This isn't some Unreal Engine 5 Early Access title, this is Capcom a figurehead of game development the game should be able to run fine especially in the AAA space where it is in a major publisher's best interest to have as many people play as possible. And even after upgrading, the visuals still don’t hold up. Compared to other RE Engine games like Dragon’s Dogma II, Resident Evil 4 Remake, and Resident Evil Village, the textures in Wilds feel overcompressed and low quality. Even Monster Hunter: World which isn't on RE Engine looks cleaner. A good example of this is a certain in-game character wearing a white hoodie, which instead appears chromatic and distorted, as if the texture was poorly upscaled.


Beyond performance, the game’s story structure is far too restrictive. It feels like Capcom wants you to follow the narrative above all else, forcing you onto a linear path:

• You can’t explore freely unless outside of quests.
  
• There are ride along sequences where all agency of your character is relinquished as you go to an on-rails set piece.
  
• You can’t go on optional hunts if a major story mission is happening.
  
• You can’t upgrade weapons when key NPCs are unavailable due to the story.
  
• At one point, I simply wanted to upgrade my secondary weapon, only to find the blacksmith was missing completely locking me out.

And then there’s multiplayer, which is an absolute mess. Playing with friends is more convoluted than ever:

• There’s no simple way to just invite someone through Steam.
  
• You have to set up a Link Party, yet even after doing so, you’re not actually in the same instance as your party.
  
• Story progress actively blocks playing together if a major story mission is happening, you can’t play hunts with friends at all.
  
• Capcom has acknowledged some of these issues, stating that the April title update will bring back the Gathering Hub and Canteen. But as it stands right now, the core multiplayer experience is frustrating and overly complicated for a lot of players.

I say all this as a fan of the franchise. There’s simply no other game out there that replicates Monster Hunter’s unique gameplay loop especially now that Dauntless is dead.


Monster Hunter has been my comfort game since 2019 and throughout COVID. Coming home after work, ordering some takeout, and jumping into a gathering session or a challenging hunt even when I barely understood the mechanics gave me some of the most fun I’ve ever had in gaming.
That’s why, despite all the issues, I wanted to power through Wilds’ performance problems. But at its current state, I cannot in good faith recommend it especially if you’re still on an 8GB GPU.
Capcom has promised updates, and I’ll revisit my review once they optimize the game. But as it stands, $70 for a game that struggles to run on widely used hardware, and makes multiplayer a hassle is a hard sell.


Wait for fixes.