I’m basically a newcomer to the Monster Hunter series, at least by any reasonable measure. For years, I avoided these games because they were stuck on handheld consoles I wasn’t interested in—and honestly, they seemed to run pretty terribly.
My first real dive into this world was with Monster Hunter World, which totally hooked me and turned me into a fan overnight. Now, playing Wilds, I’ve clocked over twenty hours and chose to focus on the main campaign before dabbling in side quests, which, to my dismay, was a bit underwhelming.
Monster Hunter campaigns aren’t exactly praised for their storytelling or innovative plots. They’re mostly there to guide you through the myriad of systems and mechanics that you’ll use extensively over your next hundred hours of gameplay. Essentially, they act as a comprehensive tour of the each game’s wealth of creatures.
The usual formula is this: your group is after a mysterious creature that’s causing havoc in various regions. Along the way, you’re constantly sidetracked by other monsters until you eventually find out what was behind your initial target. You then face off against this big creature, and with that, the campaign wraps up. After that, you’re introduced to High Rank, where the real Monster Hunter experience begins.
This broad outline fits Wilds’ campaign just as well as it does World’s. However, the details—those small yet crucial elements—are what make one campaign a thrilling journey, while the other barely leaves an impression.
What made World’s campaign captivating was Zorah Magdaros, an entirely new type of monster so massive that it required an entire village’s effort just to slow it down. This colossal size allowed for battles against multiple monsters simultaneously on its back with space to spare!
This heroic undertaking by the team aimed to introduce a fresh kind of Monster Hunter encounter. Many players didn’t enjoy this event, involving lots of constructing various defenses to slow Zorah Magdaros down, hurrying to load cannons to chip away at its health, and generally engaging in tasks not typical for Monster Hunter.
For me however, those unique sequences were exactly what I liked. They broke up any monotony from fighting one monster after another before it could settle in, and used Zorah’s journey to further the story. As it moved to new parts of the map, those areas opened up for players to explore, allowing us to witness firsthand the impact on local ecology. The true purpose of Zorah’s migration remained a mystery for nearly the whole campaign, adding urgency and allure to the tale.
In contrast, Wilds’ campaign lacked the grand looming threat like Zorah. Arkveld, the game’s leading monster, pops up occasionally to perform inexplicable actions before disappearing for a couple of hours. It’s not even the final boss—that role falls to a dormant giant you discover just one mission prior.
The feeling of diverse groups banding together to face a collective danger is glaringly absent. Some monster introductions feel like Capcom couldn’t find an elegant way to bring them in, so they just abruptly appear in missions, forcing a fight.
There’s a noticeable gap where something once connected different character camps. Some conversations with NPCs and certain cinematic dialogues suggest, well, more was happening, but it remains unseen.
Even the intriguing story of the forerunner civilization and their weather-manipulating tech bringing their downfall falls flat. Instead, it’s scattered through cutscenes, better suited for a lore book.
Wilds’ campaign serves as a microcosm of the game’s core issues. It loses much of the charm; it smooths out the interesting roughness in an attempt to be more accessible. I’m not convinced those were the best areas to refine.
We will likely soon forget Wilds’ main campaign as other aspects of the game become more prominent, but I can’t help but wonder what a real sequel to the World campaign would have looked like.
