While Monster Hunter Wilds is the first mainline series release since the incredible Monster Hunter Rise, it feels much more like a direct sequel to the impressive Monster Hunter World.  It features some subtle tweaks, as well as significant changes and additions that are a mix of progress and regress, while some are more open to interpretation.  The end result is a game that should feel both familiar and enjoyable enough to returning players, mostly more welcoming to new ones, but that also fails to consistently capitalize on potential or provide a significant evolution for the series.
 
For those who aren't familiar with the series, the basic gameplay loop for Monster Hunter is simple, but stunningly satisfying and even addictive: you hunt large beasts and gather resources from your successful hunts (or captures), as well as in the environments in which you hunt, in order to make new and better weapons, armors, and other items.  The series has a well-earned reputation for being difficult but rewarding, although it has been trending towards softening that position with each release.  Wilds is arguably the strongest step in that direction to-date.

 
You'll immediately notice that the combat, regardless of the weapon type you choose, feels faster and more responsive.  On the surface, that's a welcome change.  In practice, it makes for a noticeably less difficult experience, and some may not receive that change very well.  Having reached the endgame content (which is disappointingly limited for now, although a promised update in early April should help at least some), I remain torn on the difficulty reduction. 
 
In and of itself, I think the challenge is adequate and enjoyable, although some sick part of me sort of misses failing quests due to fainting (dying) three times, or even running out of allotted time, or at least the genuine threat of that failure.  In all of my playtime, I don’t think I have failed a single quest when playing solo or with my oldest child (shout out to Donovan).  I feel like we only ever fainted a handful of times, and part of that was because Donovan elected to use weaker armor for the sake of fashion, specific perks, and/or an even sicker desire for a challenge.  I've joined a few quests where random players were dropping like flies and we failed the quest, but even that was rare.

 
Another change/addition to this end is the addition of seikrets, a mountable bird that you can call in at any time to help whisk you away to safety and on which you can heal, sharpen your weapon, etc.  Rise introduced palamutes, mountable canines that you could use in a similar way, but seikrets can essentially pluck you off the ground to help you move to safety, greatly reducing or even eliminating the need to be more strategic and skilled with blocks, dodges, or general movements.

The hunts still otherwise work as they always have, despite the more open world concept present in Wilds, in that you have a time limit (usually 50 minutes) to kill or capture the targeted monster(s).  Each has different behaviors, strengths, and weaknesses.  The combat is still very satisfying, even if it is easier, and the battles are as dynamic as ever as more large monsters can appear at once than ever before, weather changes, and interactive environments provide additional opportunities to inflict damage on the monsters.  The addition of a focus mode (aiming) and focus strikes (a special attack available while aiming at a weakened/injured body part of a monster is fantastic!)  Combined with the speed and smoothness of the gameplay, namely the combat, I've never felt fiercer or more in control as a hunter.

 
Circling back to the open world concept present in this game, it falls almost entirely flat.  To be clear, you can explore the world and find random monsters to fight, but that effectively just launches into the same form (time and faint limit) as a quest, just with a more dynamic beginning.  I did once leverage the opportunity to hunt a monster unofficially, because I hadn't unlocked it properly yet (more on that in a bit), to get its precious materials for some gear I wanted. 
 
The aforementioned seikrets also undermine these open worlds.  The seikret will track and autopilot you to the monster you’re tracking.  This can be a great convenience, but it comes at the cost of discouraging exploration, as does the ability to grapple in most environmental resources while on the move with the seikret.  In addition, it feels like the general world design also sometimes cannibalizes itself in that the seikret is seemingly essential to traverse some portions of the maps.
 
It just feels like an altogether poor use of potential for this world design.  I personally found the map and mini-map to be unintuitive and not very helpful, and this is on the heels of Rise having a great feature that helped you target specific resources on a map.   This is probably the largest Monster Hunter game ever, but there really isn’t much benefit for savoring the different biomes available, big and beautiful as they are.

 
 
This might also be a good time to mention that in the opening moments of the game, the ability of the seikret to glide off of highpoints on a map.  It felt like it might be a significant mechanic, but it was never necessary – I only ever used it later in the game and literally just for fun.  This may be something that would worthwhile building on in an update or sequel, but it’s entirely forgettable as it is.
 
In addition to battles feeling less difficult, the game feels more generous in terms of how it doles out loot/materials.  In past games, it’s not uncommon to hunt a monster repeatedly and not get the specific materials you need for equipment you want to craft.  In this game, I've almost always felt spoiled by riches of materials to craft whatever.  That’s not to say I haven’t still had to hunt a monster a few times to get everything for a full armor set, but the struggle of crafting in past games feels reduced more than ever.  This isn’t inherently bad, as it is still gratifying, but I worry if it will limit long-term replayability.

Similarly, at launch, the game has a modest selection of monsters.  I could be biased based on most recently playing Rise with the Sunbreak DLC, but this left me wanting.  I’m happy to hear two new monsters will be available in the first update, but one is simply just a high-rank version of a low-rank monster already in the game.  In fact, that has been a play for the Monster Hunter series as of late – adding the perception of more monsters by simply offering variants in terms of rank (base difficulty), or some condition (tempered is the term in Wilds).  Again, that’s not necessarily bad, but I fear that will be relied upon too heavily, as without these variants the initial selection here would be blatantly disappointing.

  
Earlier, I mentioned unlocking new monsters.  This may be one of the biggest disappointments for me in Wilds.  Rise had returned to a simpler and more effective way of unlocking new monsters and otherwise progressing the game - whether in single player or multiplayer - which was not used in World.  Unfortunately, Wilds uses the system introduced in World, and it doesn’t seem at all improved.  It’s a clunky, unintuitive, and unexplained system if you want to essentially experience the campaign, in which progress is necessary to unlock new monsters simultaneously with friends.  You all still need to sort of start and proceed through the story at the same time, although independently, then wait for a specific part where players can abandon their mission and join a friend's. 

 
Alternatively, if you’ve already unlocked or completed that part, you can simply wait anywhere and join at the appropriate time.  When not held back by progressing in the campaign, the experience of hunting and increasing your rank (with friends or alone) is pretty straightforward - with one big exception, which again goes back to this more open world concept, namely because of a highly questionable way the game chooses to handle something.
 
While you can play solo and offline, multiplayer has long been a focal point for the experience, and Wilds is no exception.  Lobbies are no longer limited to just four players, which is nice, but to play with a friend, you’ll want to create a Link Party.  This will provide automatic invites to most quests you undertake but, as mentioned before, the campaign progress, which is necessary, is a pain to experience simultaneously with friends.

 
 
If you want to explore the large, open biomes together, you’ll have to create an Environment Link.  However, in an Environment Link, you can’t undertake proper quests together.  If that sounds counterintuitive and clunky, it is.  And if you think it again undermines this larger, more open world approach, it does.  Lastly, without that Environment Link, unless you’re in a quest with others, you’ll be left to explore the areas alone, despite lobbies being packed with players before you set off.   
 
While the story is serviceable, I rarely found it particularly interesting or entertaining.  I don’t think you play a game like this for the story, and it features a young man who was in danger but that you (and others) inexplicably continue to drag into dangerous situations, seemingly only to occasionally be justified or necessary from a story standpoint.  I would have strongly preferred they spend less time on the story and cinematics and use that time and energy to make more sweet monsters for me to hunt, or better decisions on - and implementations of - gameplay mechanics.

It's also unfortunate that Wilds feels like a step back in terms of social interactions, despite the bigger lobbies (arm wrestling and bowling are apparently planned for this first update) and gameplay variety.  As it stands, some of the grand battles from past games of repelling preposterously large monsters, or even the base defense mode from Rise that provided a nice change of pace, are unfortunately absent.  Endgame content is also very limited, with crafting fairly customizable weapons (called Artian Weapons) standing as one of the standouts that will likely serve players well as new content becomes available down the road, or simply to more easily grind and help other players do the same.
 
While a lot of this review is not exactly glowing, that’s not to say Wilds isn’t good.  Although I launched both Rise and World for a hands-on refresher before writing this review, the new pacing and combat options make me feel like I cannot ever return to them in any meaningful way, despite loving them in their time.  Hopefully Wilds will add more monsters (and hopefully at least one or two unique battles, as I mentioned earlier) via free updates to make the experience feel fuller, in addition to the potential for DLC and higher rank quests and monsters being high in time.
 
However, this is how the game has launched.  Monster Hunter Wilds delivers the best action in the series, but some may find the reduced challenge a turn-off.  It’s a great opportunity for new players to join, but returning players may be underwhelmed by the limited monster list and reuse of mechanics that have never felt good.  I’ve enjoyed dozens of hours in the game, and I expect I will enjoy dozens more, especially with updates.  All the while, I’ll be hoping future updates or the next game in the series will improve some of these lackluster aspects and more fully capitalize on the potential this series has, especially on current gen hardware.