after playing both of its open betas, I was shocked by how different the final game was from everything I had been expecting. Not that I expected it to be an exact clone of Rise, with its small-but-mighty world and acrobatic combat, or even a direct follow-up to World, which brought mass worldwide appeal to the Monster Hunter franchise at the cost of its characteristic difficulty. Wilds isn't anything like classic Monster Hunter, either - the series has come much too far in the 20-something intervening years to go back.

In many ways, Monster Hunter Wilds feels like a soft series reboot - it certainly makes enough changes to the core gameplay to qualify. It simplifies some aspects while complicating others, making it an excellent series starting point that also has a lot to offer longtime fans. In doing so, it creates a beautiful, immersive world, full of detailed creature designs and death-defying feats of battle. It's a world that's easy to get lost in, although it's hindered by performance issues and a story that plays out like a 15-hour tutorial.

An (Almost) Truly Open World

Monster Hunter Wilds Is All About Free-Roaming

It's already been widely theorized, but in case you missed it: Monster Hunter Wilds eschews the usual hub-and-hunt structure for a more open concept. You don't have to post a quest and hail a wingdrake every time you want to fight a monster; you can literally walk directly out of the hub area and into the (mostly) open world. Monsters roam freely at all times, and if you see one you want to hunt while out in the open world, you can simply start attacking, and the associated quest will begin automatically.

Although the regions are still technically separate, you can walk from one end of the map to the other without ever needing to return to base. It's a brilliant system, elegant in its simplicity and unlike anything Monster Hunter has ever done before. Still, I suspect this system will be a bit divisive. It's great for material farming, but disrupts the general ebb and flow of the game. I often found myself needing to step away from the game after chaining together multiple heart-pounding hunts, where the hub areas in previous games always allowed for a built-in break.

It makes sense in the context of the story, though. The Forbidden Lands are a lot less developed (and a lot more inhospitable) than other regions, so the hub areas aren't as big or as central to the gameplay as in previous games. What you can't find or craft yourself, you'll go without - there's no canteen for meals, and you have to get pretty far into the game to unlock material retrieval. It's an interesting twist that injects a little bit of survival gameplay into what'd ordinarily be another action RPG, making it feel fresh.

And this more open structure serves it well, because the world of Monster Hunter Wilds is breathtaking to behold, and well worth exploring. There's a great sense of variety among its maps - each is unique and beautiful in its flora and fauna, just as it is in layout and design. Each area also has different interactive environmental elements, like a geyser of fire you can set off for extra damage, or a rocky perch you can collapse to send a monster plummeting to the ground. These bolster the complexity of its creature designs, as each monster interacts with the world around it in unique ways.

And speaking of monster design, Monster Hunter WIlds couldn't have done better when it comes to creating a massive menagerie of awe-inspiring creatures. Unfortunately, I can't discuss some of my personal favorite monsters without spoiling the latter half of the story, but suffice it to say that both new and returning monsters are done justice here. Each monster really feels like a part of its ecosystem, whether it's fighitng smaller creatures for dominance or swinging around on webbed ropes. The game doesn't reuse many monsters from Rise or World, so most of them will be new to more recent fans.

Classic Monster Hunter Combat, Revamped

Focus & Wounds Provide A Fresh New Take

Some players were understandably worried about their favorite weapons after playing the Monster Hunter Wilds beta. Certain weapons seemed to be missing their ultimate moves. I'm happy to report, though, that all the weapons I tried have been restored to their full functionality in the release version, even if some of their combos have still been rearranged. Every weapon has also been given new combos, many of which relate to a pair of new combat systems: Focus and Wounds.

In a way, Wilds is simultaneously easier and more difficult than previous Monster Hunter games. Wilds has beefed up many of its monsters, giving them much larger health pools, and massive, sweeping moves that deal a lot more damage. That makes hunts tougher, sure, but also more exciting. At the same time, the player also has a lot of new options to hurt monsters, too. They can use Focus to target specific areas of a monster's body, and, if they do so enough, they'll open up a Wound that they can attack for extra damage.

Breaking monster parts by applying and destroying Wounds may also cause extra rare parts to drop.

All of this ensures that the game is fresh for everyone, whether it's your first Monster Hunter or if you've put hundreds of hours into every game to date. Other than that (and the more open structure), though, it really is the same old Monster Hunter, and that's a compliment. The tense, challenging combat, the incomparable thrill of a successful hunt, everything is ported over perfectly here. Unfortunately, it does suffer from some pretty serious performance issues that can be disruptive, especially in the endgame.

A Newfound Story Focus Does Wilds Few Favors

Too Much Of MH Wilds Is On Rails

Unfortunately, you don't really get to explore much of that world within the main story quests. In part, I think the issue stems from an overly short beginning: within moments, you're bombarded with exposition, and you're forced to process it all while running from hordes of monsters and dodging sinkholes in what amounts to an extremely overwhelming introductory quest. I give it props for wanting to get right into the action, but this sequence left me reeling.

Here's the gist: you're a hunter sent to investigate the Forbidden Lands, which your superiors had always believed to be uninhabitable. However, their worldview was shaken by the sudden arrival of a boy, Nata, on their doorstep, who claims to have come from a Forbidden Lands tribe in peril. You and a few fellow hunters are set to investigate, but Nata is no navigator: you follow one rumor to another, from tribe to tribe, as you inch ever closer to Nata's home.

The story itself is able. It's a lot more in-depth than previous Monster Hunter plots, although it occasionally leans on overplayed tropes in its portrayal of indigenous people, and some of its last-minute reveals are a little silly. But I found myself really caring for the characters in a way I've scarcely done elsewhere in the series. I wouldn't call Wilds a brilliant character study by any means, but the main cast is multi-faceted and likable, which was enough to carry it through.

Unfortunately, this all plays out in a series of formulaic, on-rails missions that make up the main body of Wilds' story. And I do mean on-rails: you literally cannot steer your Seikret off the path defined for you, even if you try. Sometimes, it feels like the entirety of the story only exists to prepare you for the high-rank hunts you can access afterward - there's likely enough content there to sustain a player for hundreds of hours, especially with future updates already confirmed for Wilds. You could say the game only really begins after the credits roll.

But, for what it's worth, every aspect of Wilds' story looks and sounds incredible (when the framerate isn't dipping, that is). On-rail missions allow for some excellent, massive setpieces. Besides the beautiful visuals, Wilds also boasts a lush score and immersive sound design - battle themes are bold and bombastic, incidental music is inspiring, and hub music is akin to a lullaby. With headphones on, I could sit in the middle of any map and enjoy the sounds of birdsong, rushing water, and the wind through the leaves - sometimes I did just that in between the bigger hunts.

Final Thoughts & Review Score

ScreenRant Gives Monster Hunter Wilds An 8/10

Ultimately, if you like Monster Hunter, or tougher action RPGs in general, you'll almost certainly like Wilds. I certainly did, and there's still plenty left for me to explore thanks to the staggering amount of postgame content it has to offer. It brings a lot of interesting new ideas to the series' tried-and-true formula, without changing the complexity and challenge that's always made its combat engaging.

However, the performance issues are prevalent enough to be pretty disruptive - though they could be fixed in a future update. I'm willing to overlook its clichéd story, but the on-rails missions go far too long. But once you get past them, Monster Hunter Wilds is a bold, ambitious, and wonderful game that does justice to its legacy.

ScreenRant was provided with a game code for the purpose of this review.