Monster Hunter Wilds is a more than worthy new entry in the series, but it fails to deliver a technically sound experience on consoles, with image quality and performance issues on both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles.
Earlier today, the tech experts at Digital Foundry released their analysis of the console versions of the new entry in the series launching this week, detailing the three display modes featured on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and what exactly they deliver in terms of resolution and performance. Among the three modes, the only mode that delivers 60 FPS gameplay is Resolution mode, which targets 900p resolution but employs dynamic resolution that hits as low as 720p resolution in demanding sequences and as high as 1080p in lighter sequences. With such low resolutions, it is not surprising to see how Performance mode delivers disappointing image quality, featuring not only blurrier visuals than the other modes, but also some evident visual settings cutbacks, such as aggressive LOD behavior, simplified screen space reflections, and more. The game also uses AMD FSR 1 to upscale to 4K resolution with no temporal upsampling process, which only makes the visuals look worse.
Monster Hunter Wilds performance on consoles also leaves something to be desired, as Performance mode doesn't deliver smooth 60 FPS gameplay, with some frequent dips below the target that are only alleviated on a VRR-capable display. Resolution and Balanced mode do a better job at keeping their 30 and 40 FPS targets, though still with some drops. The uncapped framerate option also doesn't seem to be doing a lot, as all display modes run at their framerate target for the most part, with infrequent performance uplifts in light sequences.
With the more powerful current-generation systems struggling in certain scenarios, it's not surprising to see Monster Hunter Wilds look and run the worst out of all consoles on Xbox Series S. This version of the game not only sports worse image quality with even more visual cutbacks than Performance mode, such as the complete removal of screen space reflections and lower texture quality, but it also runs the worst, with frequent framerate drops from the 30 FPS that are far from ideal for a game like this.
On PC, sadly, things don't fare much better, and only top-end machines can run Monster Hunter Wilds at 60 frames per second and above. You can learn more about this version of the game with my review.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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