Monster Hunter Wilds Faces Performance Challenges on PC and Consoles

Some players are finding the graphics so disappointing that they seem teleported back to the pixelated world of 1996. One Reddit user, going by the name Impressive-Cry-3448, shared screenshots that show blurred, polygonal characters reminiscent of a Nintendo 64 game. Unfortunately, it seems many graphical issues that popped up during the beta haven’t been ironed out in the final release, and the community is not pleased.

Over on Steam, the game had a massive launch, drawing in more than a million players simultaneously within hours. However, user reviews are dominated by complaints about performance hitches. Whether it’s the blocky characters, incessant crashes, or painfully low frame rates, these problems have amassed over 16,000 reviews, resulting in a “Mixed” overall rating.

One review that’s gained significant traction is from a user named Sgt. Walker Rhymes, who humorously noted the game’s overheating issues with, “You can cook a well-done steak on your GPU while you play, and the hot blasts of air from your PC fans truly make you feel like you are in the desert.” Meanwhile, another user, WaterBottle, quipped, “My air fryer is more optimized than this.”

The Monster Hunter subreddit is buzzing with posts on similar issues, with users swapping tips in the comments. Some have had luck by disabling certain settings or updating specific tech like Nvidia’s DLSS via a tool called DLSS Swapper, but results vary wildly. Capcom’s official stance is for players to update their graphics card drivers and Windows installation.

On the console side, while performance appears steadier, it’s still not ideal—players report choppy frame rates and low-resolution textures. Digital Foundry took a closer look at the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S editions, declaring all of them as somewhat incomplete for today’s standards. Even the more advanced PlayStation 5 Pro struggles to deliver a smooth experience.

It’s disappointing that instead of battling beasts, many players are grappling with technical glitches in a game they’ve eagerly anticipated for years. Despite having conducted multiple beta tests where these issues were flagged, the excitement around the game remains, with about 700,000 concurrent players still on Steam. Reflecting on Dragon’s Dogma 2, another Capcom game that faced similar hurdles but improved over time, there’s hope that Monster Hunter Wilds will soon see significant enhancements, particularly given the demand and anticipation.