Although Capcom has been known to make demos before a newMHrelease,Monster Hunter Wildsintroduced a series first experiment with an early access beta on the Xbox, PlayStation, and Steam. The beta allowed players to explore and hunt in one of the new areas, the Windward Plains, and experience the first open world inMonster Hunter’s storied history. Plenty ofnew features shined in this beta, including weapon switching, pop-up camps, Seikret riding, and a following Handler who is both useful and isn’t incredibly annoying, unlike a certain character fromMH World.
Still, not everything in the beta was an objective improvement. Like with any series that has as strong a formula and identity as theMonster Hunterfranchise,Wilds' changes have been met with some controversy and skepticism. Not everyone is a fan of a Palico that can speak a human language, although this can be changed should players wish, but this is perhaps the least of most players' worries.Poor optimization has a lot of PC players worried in particularand there is good reason for this given the recent history of the gaming industry.
Why People Are Worried About Monster Hunter Wilds
PC Ports Have Been Suffering For A While Now
Optimization for PCs closer to the minimum and recommended specs forMHWildsleft much to be desiredin the beta. Some who were closer to the lower end of the required specs reported issues with rendering, with characters looking low poly and poorly textured as if they came straight from the PlayStation 1 era. It even became a bit of a meme in the community, especially with how comical some of the monsters look with single digit polygons, but this isn’t what a game looking at a 2025 release date is supposed to look like.
Monster Hunter Wildsis going to release on June 27, 2025.
This is more worrying considering that Capcom has had a history of some poor PC ports in the past.Monster Hunter Worldhad some notorious issues on PC, especially with itsIceborneexpansion, which grew infamous for deleting save files after being installed.Dragon’s Dogma 2suffered from optimization issuesas well and many were unable to run the game on PC without constant crashes despite having very few issues with other titles made with the RE Engine, like the new batch ofResident Evilgames.
Monster Hunter Wilds Brings Highly Requested Features Like Crossplay & More
Crossplay is just one of the quality-of-life improvements being introduced in Monster Hunter Wilds, but don’t expect to find new weapons.
One thing that should be noted is that Capcom isn’t the only developer who was unable to make consistently good PC Ports. For instance, theotherwise greatStar Wars: Jedi Survivorstill has major issues with its PC port more than a year later andNieR: Automatawas notorious for its issues on PCs. Both are great games, andMonster Hunter Wildslooks like its shaping up to be an awesome title too, but it shouldn’t be forgotten that the version shown off is still a beta. There is still time for the game to be better optimized before its full launch.
MH Wilds' Beta Performed Well On High-End PCs
It Gives Hopes For Optimization At Launch
TheMonster Hunter Wildsbetadid play reasonably well on higher end PCs that are head and shoulders above the recommended stats on Steam. Although this sounds like something that is obvious,some PC Ports struggle to run on PCs seemingly at random. TheDragon’s Dogma 2port is a good example of this, since many players who had PCs better than the recommended specs still reported constant crashes and major frame rate drops. This doesn’t seem to be the case forMH Wilds, which hopefully bodes quite well for its future.
Dragon’s Dogma 2has a demo where players can try the character creator which was released before the game. It is free and currently still available.
Plenty of players got to experienceMH Wildsas it was intended on both PC and consoles, and it should be noted that the version seen is still a beta version.The optimization will likely improve going forward, and other early access titles can be pointed to as good examples of this. The early access forGame of the YearBaldur’s Gate 3had performance issues, which were greatly improved upon after both its launch and subsequent patches. An optimist would say that the same could apply toMonster Hunter Wildsand its beta.
Monster Hunter Wildsintroduces crossplay between PC and consoles for the first time in the series.
Unlike with the past twoMonster Huntertitles,Wildswill launch on PC and consoles simultaneously. This is quite big news that has been swept under the rug, since many Capcom games are seeing simultaneous PC and console releases, but it hopefully shows confidence that theMonster Hunterteam can get the port right this time around. Although it was a long wait and the game isn’t as graphically as intensive asWildsandWorld, theMonster Hunter RisePC portwas solid, running as smooth as butter for anyone with the right specs.
Judgments Of MH Wilds' Performance Should Be Saved Until Launch
There Is Still Time To Improve Wilds' Optimization
The optimization ofMonster Hunter Wilds’beta has rubbed a lot of people the wrong way for good reason. A lot of people are excited about this game, withthe beta reaching a peak of 463,798 players on Steam(according toSteamDBcharts) and that isn’t even accounting for the PlayStation and Xbox players. For context,MH Wilds' beta overtookHelldivers 2’s all-time peak of 458,709 players on Steam (again, according toSteamDB), so its poor optimization is annoying for a lot of people who don’t have high-end PCs.
This outrage has been expressed a lot online through forums and social media, but it is somewhat overblown. The game is still in beta.What players experienced wasn’t the final product, and the purpose of it was to test the game. Optimization might have been one of the things that Capcom was keen to test, although the100-player lobbiesand servers were likely a main priority for the developer. Now that optimization issues have been reported, theMonster Hunterteam can work on it before the game’s launch in February.
Until the launch, the pitchforks and torches should be stowed away. IfMH Wildshas a bad PC port at launch or with its potential demo, then it will receive deserving hate, especially because these issues were already reported beforehand. Yes, it is annoying that many could not get the properMonster Hunter Wildsexperience with the beta, but that is the nature of beta testing. Hopefully, the future versions of the title will let those closer to the minimum and recommended specs of the game experience it in its full glory.
