Daniel Robson 
While the biggest videogame launches of 2025 will surely be the Nintendo Switch 2 and Grand Theft Auto VI, there's no denying the mammoth-sized impact of Monster Hunter Wilds. Set for release on February 28 – just about the time you'll be reading this – it will likely set beastly new records for Capcom's colossus-culling series.
Monster Hunter is exactly what its title suggests: a game where you hunt monsters. In teams of up to four hunters, you must gather the weapons and equipment best suited for the monster you want to hunt, track it across vast maps, learn its fighting habits in fearsome battles, and slowly but surely wear it down.
Carve up your prize and use its parts to craft even better gear before setting out on your next mission. Following this endless loop, dedicated fans have spent hundreds of hours with each entry since its first roar in 2004.
Originally a hit series only in Japan, Monster Hunter is now one of the biggest games in the world, selling tens of millions of copies worldwide with each new entry. It has even overtaken Resident Evil and Street Fighter as developer/publisher Capcom's best-selling game series. And this new entry will likely be the company's biggest launch to date.
Monster Hunter Wilds is the first game built specially for modern game systems, and millions of fans around the world are hyped.
The Critics Weigh-in
On the eve of the game's release, early reviews are out. And it's official – Wilds is one of the highest-rated games in the series. At the time of writing, it has a mighty 90% critic score on Metacritic. That ties it for first place with 2018's Monster Hunter: World.
Game media around the world have praised its boundless open-world structure. They love its living environments filled with creatures of all stripes, its gorgeous visual style, and its gameplay improvements that make it easier than ever for newcomers to pick up and play.
IGN Japan's reviewer Hiroaki Mabuchi gave the game 9/10, writing:
"The vast and detailed world of Monster Hunter Wilds is spectacular. Although I have some minor complaints, Capcom has managed to expand the game's scale while also making it easier to play, which is quite an achievement. The Focus Mode mechanic that allows players to target their prey's weak points is another welcome improvement. Although the story becomes a little frustrating towards the end, Wilds is carefully crafted to allow you to concentrate on the narrative and enjoy it."
Of the 13 publications that gave Wilds a perfect 10/10 score, VGC wrote, "Monster Hunter Wilds is confident, bold, and one of the best Monster Hunter games ever, thanks to its ability to stand on the giant shoulders of Worlds and improve it in virtually every way."
DualShockers, meanwhile, wrote, "After 100 hours of gameplay and reaching Hunter Rank 110, I can confidently say that Monster Hunter Wilds is a better game than (previous games) World and Rise."
Could It Be Too Simplistic?
Our colleague Tom Marks at IGN's North American edition made similar sentiments. However, he felt Wilds was easier to beat than previous games in the series. Marks wrote:
"Monster Hunter Wilds continues to smooth off the traditionally rough edges of the series in smart ways, reducing as much friction as possible that could get in the way of you grabbing any of its exceptionally fun weapons and planting them firmly in a monster's hide. But in that quest to make Monster Hunter more approachable, Wilds has carved a little too close to the bone in some places, trimming its challenge back so much that I barely needed to dig into its in-depth equipment system at all this time to become an apex predator."
Several media exclaimed that Monster Hunter Wilds will surely be a contender for Game of the Year – some 10 months down the line. That's an impressive sentiment for a series that once upon a time was all but ignored by gamers outside of Japan.
The lowest score given to Wilds at the time of writing was 7/10, with some outlets arguing that Capcom's focus on making the game more approachable has left it a little too simplistic for their taste.
A Balance for Diverse Fans
It's a difficult balance, for sure. Older entries in the series could be quite opaque, making them hard to get into. I remember the days before Monster Hunter fully implemented online play when friends would gather together in cafes, fast food restaurants, or on the street to connect their PlayStation Portable or Nintendo 3DS handhelds to band together to ravage a Rathalos. Players would trade tips, and veterans would help newbies to learn the ropes.
But while that experience was definitely charming, the series only really hit the big time when Capcom began taking more care to address a wider audience with Worlds. And on balance, this approach is obviously for the best. As someone who enjoys the series but is far from an expert player, the lower barrier to entry is welcome.
These improvements are the culmination of Capcom's attempts to make the game appeal to a Western audience, without alienating fans in Japan. That's no mean feat.
Pushing the Tech to its Limits
Overseen by long-time series producer Ryozo Tsujimoto, the development team went to great pains to reimagine Monster Hunter for the 2018 release of World. The result: a smash hit that sold over 20 million copies. Then, the Nintendo Switch entry Monster Hunter Rise took an even more pared-back approach, opening the series up to a more casual fan base.
Wilds learns from these games, further refining its mechanics while updating it for more powerful gaming hardware such as PlayStation 5 and the latest gaming PCs. For the first time, the game offers a seamless open world that players can explore at their own pace. Gamers can try, for example, crafting items and cooking meals in the field as they hunt. In this living ecosystem, monsters prey on other monsters, creating a world full of surprises.
And while some beasts from previous games return, an all-new menagerie of clawed, winged, scaled, and tailed behemoths have been introduced. They range from the giant octopus-like Nu Udra that attacks with poisoned tentacles before disappearing into impossibly tight crevices, to the fearsome leviathan apex Uth Duna and the furry, scaly white wraith known as Arkveld.
Some of the monsters even roam in herds, an innovation that pushes the tech to its limits. Scores of monsters can now travel together yet behave independently. That allows players to try to lure their target monster away from its pack to level the odds. It's a truly remarkable achievement that creates a world that feels natural while also adding new variations to gameplay.
IGN Exclusives
Throughout January, IGN published a series of exclusive articles and videos about Monster Hunter Wilds, centered on a batch of interviews and gameplay sessions we hunter-gathered on a visit to Capcom's development office in Osaka.
Looking back on Capcom's attempts to bring the series to a global audience with World, Kaname Fujioka, who was the director of the very first Monster Hunter game and who served as Executive Director and Art Director for Wilds, told us:
"Cooperative games weren't part of the mainstream at the time, making World a major challenge for us. … But we had absolute confidence about the kind of fun that Monster Hunter provides, and it possessed a history as a series that grew in Japan to become what it was. We never believed that a Japanese sensibility wouldn't be able to land overseas."
In the same interview, Director Yuya Tokuda explained that the gargantuan success of World gave the developers the confidence to go even further with Wilds.
"Thanks to World, we were able to reaffirm that we hadn't made any mistakes with the core elements of Monster Hunter, giving us confidence once more," he told us. "It's because of our experience with World that we've been able to feel assured as we take the next step with Wilds, further improving its core while creating an even more attractive game."
Make no mistake, players across Japan will be absorbed into Monster Hunter Wilds' immersive big-game world from February 28 and beyond. And if you've never played a Monster Hunter game, there's never been a better time to sharpen your blade.
All Images Courtesy of Capcom, Monster Hunter Wilds.
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Author: Daniel Robson
Daniel Robson is the chief editor of videogame news site IGN Japan. Read his series Gamer's World on JAPAN Forward, and find him on X (formerly Twitter).
