Review: Monster Hunter Wilds Open Beta

Genre / Tags: Hunting, Action, Co-op, Multiplayer
Developer/Publisher: Capcom Co., Ltd./Capcom Co., Ltd.
URL: Monster Hunter Wilds on Steam

I’ve been excited about this game since it’s first announcement at the Game Awards 2023. As a long time Monster Hunter fan I feel like going into this game it’s going to be the best experience we’ve ever gotten from a game in the series thus far. Which is kind of crazy to think about, having to come after Monster Hunter World / Iceborne and how well it was received world wide.

Right away this game gives a ton of character customizations than any other Monster Hunter game previously. Which is a breath of fresh air. Being able to have more freedom and more options to make your character the badass you want them to be is great in my opinion. Loads of hair options, freedom to use the color wheel any way you see fit for your hair, face paints and clothing options. Tons of options for the Palico as well, which is also neat, seeing as there were more options in Rise/Sunbreak then previous games, but this game adds even more

What i’m most looking forward to from Monster Hunter Wilds Open Beta is the improvements between both World/Iceborne to Rise/Sunbreak as well as things that we as the players have been asking for, for such a long time.

Such things like: Monster Tracking, Movement throughout the level (On Foot, Seikret, Clutch Claw, etc), Quest Freedom with Dynamic Quests, Returning Monsters (Both shown and not shown), and so much more I could probably make many posts on and will as I experience more things to talk about.

When I talk about Movement throughout the level above, I’m talking about really taking some aspects from Rise/Sunbreak, like the palamute riding and building upon that by evolving that concept of an idea into what the Seikret is now, giving you the freedom of the malamute move style of being able to move up and down terrain easily and being able to repair on the move and whatnot, while also giving you these new things like auto moving towards the area of your marked target and the capability to swap weapon loadouts on the go now.

(Image credit: Capcom)

Talking about ‘Quest Freedom with Dynamic Quests’, gone are the days of going back to town and picking out a quest to go out on a hunt for and having a set amount of time to do so and having a predictable set of monsters that would or would not be there during that specific mission. With how Monster Hunter Wilds does the quest system now, you go out on your mission and see monsters that are there to track and fight, and select one of those monsters. Once you’ve selected them you are given the option of a quest for that specific monster while you’re out in the field to hunt and bring them home. 

Dynamic quests is such a new, and unique take on the quest system that we’ve had for the last 20 some odd years. I’m excited to see how this plays out further and how it evolves from here. This gives so much freedom to hunting instead of being stuck to what quests you have available to you and what monsters would show up in those missions. You can still take missions from your quest helper lady, and join quests that other players have posted as well.

Unfortunately you don’t get to see many of the “Returning monsters” in this Monster Hunter Wilds Open Beta, but I do know that there’s a handful of new monsters, and a bunch of returning monsters. Some that have been in more recent titles like World and Rise, but some that haven’t been in a game for prolly 10 years or more. Going to be quite an experience to see these older monsters in a current generation game.

There’s definitely some bugs to be had, a myriad of folks not being able to even play the beta in it’s current state. But for those of us that can play, myself included. I’d have to give the game easily a 9.2 out of 10. Monster Hunter Wilds feels like just the evolution of World/Iceborne, but with some sprinkling of good mechanics the community loved from Rise. I’m already 2-4 hours into this Open Beta weekend, and I can easily see myself putting in so many more hours going forward.