Monster Hunter Wilds is facing massive problems on Steam. Although the game was celebrated at its release, recent reviews have plummeted to “Mostly Negative”. The reason for this is ongoing performance issues.
Here is the situation:
Looking at the Steam page for Monster Hunter Wilds, a grim picture emerges. While the overall rating for the game still stands at “Mixed”, the reviews from the past 30 days are over 70% negative. This plunge has led to the recent rating dropping to “Mostly Negative” – an alarming sign for such a large franchise.
The main cause of this remains massive performance issues on PC, which have not been adequately addressed even months after launch. So, it is not due to the content of the game.
What are the reasons for the negative reviews?
Many players report severe frame rate drops, crashes, and poor optimization, making the game nearly unplayable for many. Some players claim that a recent update has worsened the situation: After the patch, their performance is significantly worse than before, even though the game ran smoothly at release.
These technical issues are the most frequently encountered:
- Severe performance issues: Many users complain about unstable and low frame rates (FPS), even on high-end hardware. The game often runs choppy and unpredictably.
- Crashes: Crashes occur regularly, sometimes even when starting the game. The causes are varied, from incompatible settings to issues with certain hardware configurations.
- Stutters and frame rate drops: Particularly when turning the camera or during scene changes, noticeable FPS drops and stutters occur.
- Texture issues: Reports of blurry or not loading textures are common.
- DRM software Enigma Protector: Capcom recently added the controversial DRM software Enigma Protector. Such programs are known to negatively impact performance and are generally unpopular within the community, as they are seen as an intrusion into the rights of honest buyers. MeinMMO reported on this back in January.
In summary, the most common complaints are: unstable frame rates, regular crashes, poor optimization, and issues with textures and system utilization.
How are Steam players reacting?
The mood in the community has soured. Performance has been a problem on PC since the beginning. However, as these issues seem to be worsening rather than improving, PC players are now significantly frustrated.
Here is an excerpt from recent Steam reviews in June:
- Lucapon: “The game would be good if both Denuvo and Capcom’s own DRM wouldn’t eat up the entire CPU.”
- Bam: “Unfortunately, this is the best example that potential has been wasted because the developers refuse to optimize their games. Instead, they rely on microtransactions and shift focus to pointless crossovers, even though we actually need optimization. The fact that we currently lack meaningful content is ignored. The fights and the core of the game are great because Monster Hunter is fun at its core. […] I love Monster Hunter as a franchise, but I can’t recommend a game that manages to become less optimized with every so-called ‘optimization’ update.”
- Zeiram Wing: “There are a few mechanics I wish were different, but my main criticism is the performance. With each title update, the game runs worse and worse.”
This excerpt is representative of the latest negative reviews, which all look similar. It is repeatedly emphasized that Monster Hunter Wilds is very much liked as a game. However, the calls are growing louder for the focus to be on performance now.
What does Capcom say about this? There is no statement regarding the recent negative reviews. However, updates are supposed to continuously improve technical problems, which currently does not seem to be happening.
It should be noted that there are different departments and roles in gaming studios. The parts of the team that take care of new content are not necessarily the ones responsible for technical issues and bugs. Especially not for a game the size of Monster Hunter Wilds. Capcom is currently working on both content and performance problems at the same time. Why it seems to be failing to improve the technology – but rather seems to be getting worse lately – is not something that can be easily said.
For everything about the new title update, you can find here: Monster Hunter Wilds is launching its Title Update 2 at the end of June – Here’s what you can expect
Perhaps the team will be able to improve performance with this update.
