Capcom Nailed Monster Hunter Wilds but It Still Suffers From World’s Biggest Flaw

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In a blink of an eye, Monster Hunter Wilds has shattered records faster than a blacksmith hammering through monstrous parts. A mere day after its release, Capcom’s newest beastly creation has managed to enthrall more than 1.3 million players simultaneously on Steam, placing it among the top seven most-played games ever on this platform – outpacing giants such as Elden Ring, Cyberpunk 2077, and Baldur’s Gate 3.

However, despite the impressive statistics and positive reviews, there’s an ominous resemblance creeping in. As more adventurers flock to the Forbidden Lands, they’re finding out that their top-tier equipment doesn’t quite measure up against this specific challenge. Does this sound familiar? Indeed, it does, as we’ve encountered a similar predicament before.

Approximately seven years following the release of “Monster Hunter: World,” which initially faced optimization problems, an unfortunate repetition of events is unfolding in a particularly annoying manner. It appears that certain lessons are more challenging to grasp than others – even for a corporation that’s been involved in monster hunting since 2004.

Monster Hunter Wilds repeats World’s optimization nightmare

As a dedicated fan, I can’t deny the fact that Monster Hunter Rise has made quite a splash – it almost tripled World’s all-time peak player count shortly after its release! However, if you delve deeper, you’ll notice that its Steam rating hovers around a mere 50% positive. The problem? Performance issues so troublesome, they would make even the most formidable hunter consider chucking their controller in frustration.

High-end gamers are experiencing frame rates so smooth they could pass off as a slide show presentation. As one Steam reviewer aptly summed up: “This game is enjoyable, but its performance leaves much to be desired.” Hopefully, this isn’t the kind of ‘game equilibrium’ Capcom was striving for.

It’s puzzling, indeed, that numerous players find it hard to grasp why the game performs so badly despite its visually appealing appearance. A particularly aggravated player, a hunter, expressed his frustration by stating:

“It’s mind-boggling that even though the game looks great, it runs poorly for many players.”

“The most perplexing aspect is that many gamers struggle to comprehend why the game runs sluggishly when it appears visually impressive. A particularly disgruntled hunter commented:”

“It’s confusing that despite the game looking good, it runs poorly for so many players.

This game’s visual quality appears far below what I’d expect given my system’s capabilities. After smoothly playing Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 and Cyberpunk 2077 on maximum settings, it seems unjustified for this title to run poorly on mine. It’s disappointing, even to the point of being a bit embarrassing, because I’ve played games on my deck that surpass its visual quality.

Capcom’s reaction, as anticipated, was rather uninspiring – they suggested players to update their device drivers, disable compatibility mode, and fine-tune the settings. This groundbreaking guidance, it seems, is something no one has ever pondered upon before.

Hey Hunters! If you’re having any trouble getting started with Monster Hunter Wilds on Steam, try updating your graphics driver, disabling compatibility mode, and then adjusting your settings. Remember to be patient and keep supporting us! For further information, stay tuned.

— Monster Hunter Status (@MHStatusUpdates) February 28, 2025

What makes this situation frustrating is that fans of Monster Hunter have already experienced this exact movie back in 2015 with Monster Hunter: World. Despite the game receiving updates to address its performance issues, it seems Capcom has unwittingly fallen into the same pitfall twice, hinting they may not have learned from their initial mistakes.

The industry’s growing reliance on post-launch fixes

It’s becoming increasingly common for publishers, including Capcom, to release games with technical issues, asking players to act as free quality assurance testers and wait for promised updates. This situation can be quite frustrating.

Bethesda’s game Starfield faced such serious performance problems at launch that when players voiced concerns, Todd Howard recommended they merely “enhance” their hardware. Meanwhile, the release of STALKER 2 was met with criticism due to persistent traversal stutters, which have yet to be resolved even after multiple updates. Even the remake of Until Dawn was launched with crashes, corrupted saves, and faulty ray tracing features.

The engine behind Monster Hunter Wilds, known as RE Engine, has demonstrated its effectiveness in linear games such as Resident Evil and Devil May Cry 5, but it appears to strain under the demands of open-world settings. This was also observed in Dragon’s Dogma 2 last year – another Capcom game that faced performance issues at launch.

It’s quite annoying when other game developers successfully launch their intricate games in pristine conditions, and that’s especially true for Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, which managed impressive optimization even with its expansive open world. Warhorse Studios demonstrated that it can be achieved—if you’re prepared to do the required work before release instead of afterwards.

It turns out that Capcom has a good reason to believe that players will continue to play, which is why the performance issues of Monster Hunter: World didn’t hinder its success. Since they could always improve it through updates and still set new sales records, there seemed little need for immediate optimization at first.

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2025-03-01 15:54