Monster Hunter: Wilds’ Minigame Is A Huge Disappointment

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In the update TU1 for Monster Hunter Wilds, players were given a significant addition – a Grand Hub (different from previous Gathering Hubs). Similar to its predecessors, this hub is expected to be where many gamers will gather or spend most of their time, unless there’s an attraction in another region’s NPCs. Monster Hunter World and its expansion, Iceborne, each had exclusive Gathering Hubs upon release, making the arrival of a Grand Hub for Monster Hunter Wilds, which launched on February 28, highly anticipated and long overdue.

The Grand Hub in Monster Hunter Wilds has many wonderful aspects, such as its massive size which surpasses both World and Iceborne’s Gathering Hubs. In fact, it’s almost large enough to be a hub region on its own, like Astera or Seliana. However, when it comes to comparing specific features, the Barrel Bowling in Wilds falls short compared to the Steamworks in World: Iceborne.

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne’s Steamworks is a Dream of a Minigame

In essence, the mini-game Steamworks in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne is overshadowed by Barrel Bowling in comparison. While the former involves pressing random button combinations and relying on luck for success, the latter requires Felyne characters to throw coal into a furnace.

Steamworks can advance through various stages, such as a phase where the furnace operates at ‘High Gear’, offering extra benefits for accurate inputs, or a stage where Felynes signal the sequence of button presses in the correct order.

Since everything depends on Random Number Generation (RNG), it doesn’t matter if players correctly guess button combinations or repeat them throughout a sequence; they still have an equal chance of amassing more steam and receiving better rewards. However, the game may end abruptly for many players when their Steamworks fuel runs out, leaving them to start from the beginning, even though they might not have built up enough reserves. At times, the Handler and Felynes will be blasted into the air by the furnace’s explosion, but then players can continue from the initial point.

Although Steamworks automatically refills its energy supply over time, gamers may need to be patient and wait for a prompt or simply return later when it’s fully replenished. The appealing tunes of Steamworks are an added bonus, yet the generous rewards that players receive even with a half-hearted effort in Iceborne’s Seliana make it worth investing time there.

Monster Hunter Wilds’ Barrel Bowling Arguably isn’t Worth the Trouble

It’s enjoyable that the Grand Hub includes a mini-game allowing players to collect resources, and you can find the Steamworks in Seliana just outside the Gathering Hub. While the bowling element is fun initially, it gets repetitive rather fast. Unlike the Steamworks which requires only resources for operation, players need vouchers to participate in Monster Hunter World’s Barrel Bowling, making it less accessible.

In Barrel Bowling, where player skills play a significant role, one might assume that this would make it more advantageous compared to Steamworks. However, in Barrel Bowling, rewards are given based on grades from two consecutive rounds (each involving throwing two barrels), which can either bring immediate joy if both throws yield high scores or instant disappointment if low scores are earned. Despite the opportunity for endless practice, it’s important to note that the outcome of each throw is not always predictable due to its dependence on player skill, making it challenging to consistently knock down a specific number of pins.

In Steamworks, players will find an abundance of rewards regardless of their performance, provided they’ve got enough fuel to continue playing – unlike a single A Rank run at Barrel Bowling which yields only 8 rewards. It wasn’t until Iceborne that Steamworks was introduced in the game World, and possibly, a Wilds DLC could introduce an engaging and rewarding mini-game someday. For now, players who don’t have spare vouchers can afford to skip Barrel Bowling without missing out on much.

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2025-04-16 07:24