It’s been a rough year for Monster Hunter Wilds, a fun, very streamlined action-RPG bogged down by bad performance on PC and a lackluster cadence of post-launch content. Now Capcom has revealed Title Update 4, the latest free patch aimed at getting the multiplayer grind back on its feet. While it includes the game’s first Elder Dragon, it’s also getting flack for a PC optimization roadmap that drip-feeds fixes and new paid weapon skins that monetize part of the end-game loot chase. Nine months after launch, the latest Monster Hunter sequel still can’t seem to catch a break.
Arriving December 16, the latest free content drop is headlined by the Elder Dragon Gogmazios, which fans are already preparing to get demolished by. A trailer for Title Update 4 shows the ability for four players to team up with support NPCs to fight Gogma as a party of eight. In addition to new Gogma Artian Weapons, Monster Hunter Wilds‘ end-game grind will also expand with Armor Transcendence upgrades, Arch-Tempered Jin Dahaad strikes, additional support hunters Nadia and Griifin, and new optional quests.
So far so good! But Capcom’s recent Monster Hunter showcase also revealed the game’s next set of microtransactions, the Cosmetic DLC Pack 4. This one, which isn’t part of the existing $50 Cosmetic DLC Pass, includes, among other things, new Layered Weapon designs for each weapon type. These don’t impact gameplay per se, but they do look, depending on your preference, cooler than what you earn in the game without paying. Fans aren’t stoked. “DLC like this should not exist,” one wrote on the subreddit.
These kinds of ornaments, now increasingly common in other live-service games, are still relatively new to the Monster Hunter series. There was already a big stink in the community when Layered Weapon skins arrived in Monster Hunter Rise. Capcom even removed a trailer for a paid DLC pack that made weapons look like plushies because it got downvoted so much. As one fan recently laid out, the microtransaction creep has been unrelenting. “”It’s just stickers…it’s just poses…it’s just stuff for the camp…”
Don’t expect Monster Hunter Wilds on PC to get fixed all at once
There’s also the new PC optimization roadmap that Capcom revealed during the showcase. The fixes are good, but long overdue and will be spread across multiple months rather than coming in one fell swoop. The latest performance boost begins with CPU/GPU optimization in December as part of Title Update 4. Then January will add more “PC-specific” improvements to high-resolution texture packs and VRAM usage, as well as new graphics and CPU settings. Further optimization will follow in February with a patch targeting graphical detail to reduce GPU processing loads.
Does that mean the PC version will finally be in tip-top shape by the one-year anniversary? Some players are skeptical that the December update will make a huge difference and are wondering why Capcom seems to have prioritized other things up to this point. “One whole entire year to get optimizations, this is why all of my hunting buddies have already quit the game,” wrote one player on the subreddit.
In the meantime, Steam ratings for Monster Hunter Wilds have improved from a true low point over the summer, but only just barely. It still hasn’t broken 70 percent positive. “I waited a long time before putting out a review of this game,” reads one recent Steam review from a player with nearly 300 hours logged. “Please understand that I’ve been with this series since 2007, so I have an attachment to it unlike any other game series I’ve immersed myself in. To get to the point; Capcom is ridiculous for putting this game out the way they did.”
The long road to redemption for the PC release continues.
