Monster Hunter World is now on Steam and has immediately broken records with the most simultaneous active players on PC. However, the reviews paint a different picture and are mixed.
Biggest Steam launch in 2018: Monster Hunter World recorded 330,000 simultaneous active players on Steam. This makes the action RPG the biggest Steam launch in 2018, surpassing Far Cry 5.
A sales hit on PC: Pre-orders for the PC version of Monster Hunter World on Steam skyrocketed. In the week from July 9 to 15, Monster Hunter World displaced the long-standing PUBG in the Steam sales charts.
Steam reviews are moderate: Only 47% of 14,806 reviews rated Monster Hunter World positively (as of August 13, 5:45 PM). The reviews don’t quite fit the picture of the Steam records that Monster Hunter World achieved.
How did this happen?
The controls are criticized: Especially mouse and ranged combat
The mouse has input lag: A lot of the negative criticism arises from the controls with keyboard and mouse. Here, players complain about input lag of the mouse, making the movements sluggish. For many, it feels as if they are actually operating a joystick.
Ranged combat is clumsily implemented: Especially in ranged combat, the buttons are assigned in a way that makes it difficult to manage inventory and weapons with their ammunition or arrows simultaneously. Some players prefer to revert to the controller.
Overall, the controls seem too “clunky” for PC players, and one can tell that Monster Hunter World was actually developed for consoles.
The performance is modest: Low FPS and high CPU load
Monster Hunter World eats up hardware and stutters: There were already performance issues in the closed beta. The extreme CPU load was particularly noticeable, causing crashes. Despite a patch meant to fix this issue, some players are still struggling with crashes. Especially in multiplayer, the frame rate drops significantly.
There are also players who are generally satisfied with the game’s performance. However, most of them don’t get beyond 40-60 FPS, and PC players expected more. This often raises the question of why Capcom took so long for the PC port if it is not optimized.
The community helps itself:
- Monster Hunter World: Mod increases FPS on PC, but players fear ban
- Here’s how you can improve performance for Monster Hunter World on PC
The game is “broken”: Bugs and connection problems at launch
The multiplayer troubles PC players: Especially during cooperative play, players complain about connection issues. They are repeatedly kicked from their friends’ sessions and vice versa, especially after having embarked on a quest multiple times. Error codes pop up, and performance issues might also be contributing to this.
On Steam, MHW-Capcom has now published a post addressing this issue. They are working on a solution.
Even a “game-breaking” bug made it into the release version: A bug made it into the game at launch that can delete the entire game save. Players are particularly astounded and annoyed about this. Once hunters defeat the last boss of the story quest, there is a high chance that the save will disappear.
Old known console problems disturb: Complaints about MHW itself
Players also complain about the gameplay itself: Especially interesting among the negative voices are the complaints about the sluggish gameplay. There are quite a few of these. The strange, clumsy controls with the spongy hit feedback are even trademarks of the Monster Hunter franchise.
It’s not just the implementation with mouse and keyboard that causes awkward controls. That is also simply typical for Monster Hunter.
Incomprehensible multiplayer and overloaded menus: Similarly, some complaints arise about the really clumsily implemented multiplayer. It is difficult to understand how to play together at all. Moreover, it’s unclear which missions can be undertaken in what way and when in multiplayer.
These are complaints that also existed with the console version: Exactly these aspects also troubled console players. Many initially struggled with the cumbersome controls and were overwhelmed by the clunky multiplayer. Shortly after release, there were also connection problems on the Xbox One.
The console players were more lenient in their judgments: Despite these difficulties, Monster Hunter World scored highly among console players. Review ratings were very positive, and the community seemed happy. The overall package was good, and players could overlook inconsistencies.
However, they did not struggle with the severe performance issues like PC players did.
PC players were poorly prepared: No open beta, little reporting
At least on PS4 there were free betas: Shortly before console release, there were several beta phases available for players for free. Here, potential buyers could get hands-on and experience the cumbersome controls themselves. The testers quickly realized whether they could look past this or not. Xbox players also benefited from this, as they could read numerous reports from beta testers or see them in videos.
On PC, there was a closed and exclusive beta: PC players had to buy the pig in a poke and relied heavily on outside opinions. The beta for PC was only available to a few representatives of the press, media, and influencers, and only for a short time before release. The first reviews were enthusiastic, and only gradually did issues come to light.
This led players to buy Monster Hunter World who might not have if there had been a longer beta phase.
The hype was gone, and the reporting on the PC launch was mediocre: Months before the console release, there was much hype around Monster Hunter World. Teasers with new monsters and reviews of betas kept coming. However, there was also a lot of talk about the “Monster Hunter” franchise as such, and a lot of clarification happened. Console players were also prepared for the cumbersome controls and complex gameplay.
This may contribute to the current frustration of PC players, who bought Monster Hunter World based on the positive console reviews and did not engage deeply with the title beforehand.
Positive voices say: Bad reviews exaggerate
Many positive voices criticize the negative reviews: Positive reviews often mention that many releases have a bumpy start and that the PC port is still decent. These are often players who are already familiar with Monster Hunter as a brand and point out that the games are just a bit unwieldy. It takes time to get used to it.
Much of the negative criticism arose over connection problems: It is often read that co-op doesn’t work. Here, positive voices point out that this is a problem that can be eliminated. One should perhaps have a bit more patience before dismissing the game.
It remains to be seen whether reviews will improve in the coming weeks.
What do you think about the problems that the PC port of Monster Hunter World is facing?
