It’s only been a few years since I first dipped my toes into the Monster Hunter universe, and let me tell you, it wasn’t by accident. I’d always been a bit of a sideline observer, mostly because the games were confined to handheld consoles that never really grabbed my interest. Plus, let’s face it, the graphics didn’t exactly scream cutting-edge.
Then came Monster Hunter World, the game that finally pulled me in and made my heart skip a beat. I’ve clocked over twenty hours on Monster Hunter Wilds by now, plunging headfirst into the campaign while ignoring the sidequests. Unfortunately, that decision has come back to haunt me, leading to a rather disappointing experience.
Let’s be real here: Monster Hunter campaigns aren’t exactly renowned for their gripping storylines or unique narratives. They mostly function as a comprehensive guide to introduce players to the myriad systems and mechanics you’ll need for what could be hundreds of hours of gameplay. The campaigns act as your grand tour of the game’s colorful creature catalog.
Usually, the story follows a familiar trail: your trusty team is on the prowl for a mysterious beast disrupting the world’s balance. Along the way, other monstrous adversaries interfere with your pursuit, until you eventually uncover the culprit behind the chaos. Cue the epic battle, the campaign wraps up, and then you’re thrust into the deeper levels of the game where things really kick-off.
Broadly speaking, this formula applies to both Wilds and World. It’s in the finer details, though, where one experience may enthrall you while the other barely makes a mark.
What made World’s campaign shine was its innovative twist. Enter Zorah Magdaros, a gigantic creature whose mere presence demanded an entire village to even slow its progress. This colossal monster was so enormous that players could battle multiple foes on its back simultaneously.
Clearly, the development team was aiming for something monumental and, honestly, it was met with mixed reactions. The fight against Zorah Magdaros was a test of strategy. You weren’t just battling a beast; you were constructing defenses and manning cannons, tasks that strayed from traditional Monster Hunter gameplay.
But I appreciated these changes. Zorah’s journey offered a fresh pace, breaking up the repetition of routine monster battles. Each time it shifted to a new area, that region would open up for exploration, allowing players to witness first-hand the impact of Zorah’s passage. The game kept us in suspense about Zorah’s true motivation until nearly the end, turning the chase into an intriguing mystery.
Now, let’s turn our gaze to the Wilds campaign. Sadly, there’s no Zorah-like figure, no menacing force that looms over the narrative. Arkveld, the game’s flagship monster, makes scattered appearances, engaging in actions that baffle both you and the game’s characters before vanishing again for a spell. Strangely, it’s not even the final adversary; that title goes to a gargantuan beast you only learn about shortly before the showdown.
The sense of a unified effort against a common threat is missing. At times, it feels like Capcom shoehorned monster encounters into missions without a cohesive narrative reason, almost like they were added as an afterthought.
Interwoven elements appear to hint at a more connected storyline that never fully materialized. NPC dialogues and cinematic lines occasionally allude to a deeper plot, but those threads remain frustratingly underdeveloped.
Even the subplot about a precursor civilization and their destructive weather technology comes across as disjointed and could’ve served better as lore rather than a half-baked narrative.
The Wilds campaign seems to encapsulate the game’s broader issues—it strips away much of the old charm and rounds off the rough edges in an attempt to be more welcoming, but perhaps not in the best areas.
As the game’s highlights and shortcomings become more apparent, it’s likely the Wilds campaign will fade into memory. Still, I can’t shake the curiosity about what a true follow-up to World might have offered.
