How I learned to stop worrying and love the grind.

Brian-at-Large: An Introduction

Welcome to the first installment of my weekly column! This is where I put my thoughts down on the games that I play from week to week. Being the Editor-at-Large for Skybox, I am something of a hunter-gatherer for great games. Sometimes it will be something big, like this first column, but many times I’ll be waxing philosophical about something small. 

I look forward to sharing fun games and stories with you, and hearing about yours, too. One of my favorite parts of this art form are the conversations that spring up around it. Thanks for reading. 

I’ve wanted to love Monster Hunter for a long time. I tried with Now, the mobile game, which was fun, but for me ‘phone screen tap’ combat is generally a momentary diversion at best.

I tried with Rise, and before that, World, and even Freedom and Freedom Unite on the PSP. I watched, envious, as friends around the world sunk hundreds of hours into hunting monsters on portable platforms and consoles alike. I went to trade shows and was dwarfed by the size of Monster Hunter statues, promotional banners, and videos on massive, wall-covering screens.

I wanted to be part of the action, partially because it seemed like there was a lot of action to be had. Before the release of Monster Hunter: Wilds, I decided I would dig my feet in, stick with it, and see if I could break through that wall. While the time investment so far may seem like a drop in the bucket to series veterans, over 15 hours later, I’m happy to say I’ve succeeded.

While I’m still tinkering with getting it to run without crashing on my Steam Deck, Wilds looks beautiful and runs exceptionally well on my desktop. While previous entries’ efforts at onboarding still had me fiddle with clunky menus, taking four steps to do something relatively simple, Wilds simplified them enough to let me get into the action quickly and more easily.

World probably would have ensnared me if it hadn’t started with a laborious, slow-moving escort mission, followed by a fight with a large monster. Being new and still unfamiliar with my weapons, I died on that fight. After that, I was greeted with the prospect of repeating the slow-moving cart escort section, at which point I “noped” out. I had heard World was over 100 hours long and if the developers didn’t respect my time enough to put a checkpoint at the start of the first big fight, there was likely much more of that waiting for me throughout the rest of a playthrough, and I wasn’t going to subject myself to that.

People who know me will also probably say Wilds wasn’t going to deter me with its ‘oops, everyone’s hot’ approach to character design, but presentation is important. Starting with a short, fast-paced, horse/lizard/bird-riding rescue mission helped Wilds get me out of my head and into a spirit of adventure. The movement is smooth and responsive, which conflicted with my memories of clunkier, earlier games, and let me appreciate it on my own terms.

Teaming up with old hands to take on colossal foes, striking at weak points together, knocking monsters over, and chasing them to their dens to finish them off, all in the guise of keeping natives safe, is satisfying, in no small part because I got to watch hunters with tons of experience show me what the weapons were truly capable of, giving me ideas of things to try on my own. Going back to Gemma in between missions to see if I can turn these hardened monster bits into something new creates a nice sense of rhythm and pace. With how large each area is (or how convoluted the armor and weapon upgrade trees can initially seem) it can be easy to get lost or intimidated, but that back and forth kept me focused only on the next step. As my grandfather used to say, “the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time,” and that philosophy, which makes it feel more approachable and welcoming for a newcomer like me, feels central to how Wilds is structured. 

Having the freedom to play with all kinds of weapons, and swap them out easily, helped me discover how much I love ‘bouncing on it’ with my Insect Glaive, or tearing into monsters like a wildly spinning Beyblade with the Dual Blades. And Capcom decided to give me a grappling hook to use for collecting resources and crafting materials, all from the comfort of the seat atop my legally-distinct Chocobo? Say less. Shave off some of the rough edges and let the game sing. The menus still need an overhaul, the matchmaking is tedious (we fixed this problem with Halo 2 in 2004, people), but enough of the rocky exterior had been chipped away to let me see the sparkling geode inside.

With Wilds, I had hoped Capcom would help me see what so many others had already seen. Looking back now, it makes me wonder what took me so long. They say, “late is better than never,” but it’s been a long time since being late felt this good.

If you want to check out more of my conversations about Monster Hunter Wilds, you can watch The Platformers Podcast episodes 341 and 342.