Capcom’s Monster Hunter Wilds updates have backed it into a corner

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This week marked the arrival of update 1.021 for Monster Hunter Wilds, introducing an additional level of difficulty in high-level hunts, accompanied by a new endgame grind that expands the possibilities for build customization. Similar to enhancements introduced in past post-launch patches and title updates, these modifications are appreciated, addressing concerns from players seeking increased challenges and reasons to continue their monster hunting adventures.

They’re good updates. But they’re not enough.

The significant struggle with performance continues to be the main burden, causing Wilds to stay submerged in the negative player opinion mire. On Steam, its current reviews are still predominantly labeled as “Overwhelmingly Negative,” and among those, the most noticeable complaints are a series of puzzling performance problems reported by players.

Even after various attempts to address the texture streaming problems, Wilds players have consistently encountered lags, frame drops, crashes, slow responses, and connectivity issues – all signs pointing towards CPU bottlenecks related to DirectStorage that became apparent during pre-release testing as early as February.

According to a recent update from game director Yuya Tokuda at Capcom, it has been confirmed that there’s an issue with Wilds’ CPU usage that is quite extensive and fundamental. This problem necessitates several stages of repairs, with the initial phase scheduled to be rolled out across two significant updates coming this winter.

Oddly enough, I’ve managed to avoid the most significant performance issues with Wilds. There are times when it seems my SSD is moving data as slowly as a USB flash drive, but overall, it functions decently for me. I can make do. However, if I’m one of the lucky ones because my problems aren’t so deep that they won’t be resolved until nearly a year after release, the game should have been launched that much later. (Paraphrased)

Fallow season

Despite its struggles, it’s not just about the game’s performance-its significant decrease in sales indicates this as well. After two significant updates, the game seems to be drifting without a clear, definitive purpose, much like it’s been waiting for a grand, guiding vision that never quite came to fruition. I believe its challenges stem from its own design. In my review of The Wilds, I expressed my disappointment over what appeared to be Capcom simplifying aspects that are fundamental to Monster Hunter. Over time, I’ve come to believe this wasn’t merely a matter of personal preference.

Although the game has issues beyond performance, its steep sales decline suggests there’s more at play. After two major updates, the game appears lost without a clear direction-much like it’s been waiting for a grand vision that never quite materialized. I believe these challenges are due to the game’s design itself. In my review of The Wilds, I expressed disappointment over what seemed like Capcom streamlining aspects that are essential to Monster Hunter. Over time, I’ve come to believe this wasn’t just a matter of personal preference.

Making the same set of monsters harder is a card you can only play so many times.

Instead of armor skills causing issues, it appears that Capcom made adjustments to streamline character building for novice players. They restructured the armor skill system by shifting some skills to weapons and concentrating specific skills on armor sets, making them simpler to understand but potentially limiting their applicability: easier to comprehend yet more focused in application.

Initially, Wilds was designed to be relatively simple at its launch. I believed this simplicity was acceptable if it attracted more players to join the game. However, an unexpected outcome of fighting less challenging creatures is that there’s less motivation to customize your gear for specific targets. Instead, you’re more likely to gather various useful pieces from the simplified armor tree to create a versatile armor set suitable for all kinds of hunts.

In comparison to fusion systems in past Monster Hunter games, Wilds offers fewer options for utilizing materials from early game monsters, especially if one is not inclined towards crafting hats and trousers. Instead, these materials can be inserted into the Artian weapon slot machine, but when monsters aren’t particularly challenging, what’s the point of striving for a perfect Artian weapon?

In Rise, I enjoyed joining random monster hunts with others, transforming scaled foes into possible amulet materials. Wilds shifted my focus towards challenging top-tier creatures instead, as spending time on a Rathalos seemed futile if he didn’t offer valuable loot and the combat was no more thrilling than folding paper. Although the promised environment systems hinted at a grander vision for the game, they seem incomplete, with players still grumbling about the murky autumn graphics that barely affect hunt difficulty or excitement.

Capcom finds itself in a predicament where players are urging for more challenging hunts and don’t find much appeal in other aspects. Apart from introducing new monsters, the post-launch approach primarily involves increasing the difficulty levels of endgame creatures. Initially, all monsters were boosted to match 8-star tempered status, and now each one has its own 9-star tempered version.

You can only make the same monsters more challenging a limited number of times. This week’s early introduction of the new endgame amulet seems like a temporary solution. Capcom pushed for larger, more open environments to such an extent that it overloaded computers, and now we’re left interacting with only about nine out of thirty-two large monsters available in these environments.

After over five months since its release, Wilds continues to disappoint: The fundamental experience of wielding a weapon and engaging in combat with dinosaurs is more enjoyable than ever, but it requires a significant upgrade akin to an expansion pack to truly shine. However, I’m uncertain if Capcom will still have enough resources to work on this update by the time it becomes available.

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2025-08-16 02:33