It is no wonder that the Monster Hunter franchise has managed to generate such a dedicated and passionate fanbase. When your games comprise of talking to cute little animal merchants one minute and fighting monsters that make Yhorm the Giant look 5’11” the next, you’re appealing to two very lucrative groups of nerds.
The Monster Hunter games are also visually spectacular, with vistas that match the enormity of the foes you’ll fight and fell. This does means the Monster Hunter Wilds system requirements are less accessible than a lot of games, though. Let’s take a look.
Additional Notes: This game is expected to run at 60 fps @ 1080p (with Frame Generation enabled) under the "Medium" graphics setting. DirectStorage supported.
Additional Notes: This game is expected to run at 30fps @ 1080p (upscaled from 720 native resolution) under the "Lowest" graphics setting. DirectStorage supported.
Helpfully, the Steam page for Monster Hunter Wilds includes what you can expect in terms of performance in the “Additional Notes” section, so this is less of a vague guessing game than it usually is. Less helpfully, though more interestingly, that section for the recommended specs gives you what you can expect, but only with frame generation enabled. This means that if you’re on a GPU that doesn’t support it, or just dislike it, you’re left in the dark as to performance. The RTX 50 Series might be worth considering here, too, as the GPU requirements for this game are higher than expected.
Another unusual aspect of the Monster Hunter Wilds system requirements is that this game supports Microsoft DirectStorage. In theory, this improves performance by directly linking the SSD to the GPU, meaning that the assets do not have to spend time being decompressed by the CPU first.
This has great potential, though the technology is yet to be widely adopted and it’s hard to give hard and fast number as to the performance. What we can say, however, is that to make the most of whatever DirectStorage will give you, a new NVMe SSD should be on the menu. The MP700 ELITE or MP700 PRO are great options here.
We made a Dark Souls reference earlier, but that’s not the most accurate comparison to make. Where any Souls-like game generally necessitates a trial-and-error approach in order to learn move sets and identify openings for attack, Monster Hunter places far more emphasis on preparation.
This means that you must learn about your quarry first. Locate suitable items to use, more effective weapons to wield, and monster knowledge to recall mid-battle to understand how to successfully hunt the monster in question.
Additionally, the difficulty in Monster Hunter’s boss fights works differently. Dark Souls bosses can delete you in a millisecond, but in Monster Hunter, there is more room for error. Though the potential for frustration remains similar as boss fights in Monster Hunter can last way, way longer.
It’s also worth mentioning that the world of Monster Hunter is not as oppressively dark. There is humor and light-heartedness to be found, which can be well-needed these days.
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