One of the standout changes that came with Monster Hunter Wilds was the introduction of seamless zones. These immersive (and massive) environments are an evolution from World's equally franchise-altering maps, which themselves were a dramatic shift from the instanced zones of prior Monster Hunter titles. There's been a continuous effort by Capcom to reduce the number of loading screens in their Monster Hunter titles, perhaps due to a rising emphasis on ecology and immersion.

This immersion-forward experience of seamless maps should be Wilds best feature, and in many ways, it is. However, I can't help but feel that the feature is held back in the space where it had the greatest opportunity to thrive: multiplayer. With changing weather, events, and unique quests, the seamless maps have created a foundation of seamless and immersive hunting, which itself is held back by a clunky multiplayer implementation that no Monster Hunter title has escaped.

Seamless Environments Are Wilds' Best Evolution

Hidden Loading Screens And Dynamic Seasons Should Be A Slam Dunk

The Guiding Lands was a zone, or rather, an amalgamation of zones, that served as Iceborne's endgame experience. The zone would change based on completed hunts, which would in turn alter monster spawns. It didn't follow the typical Monster Hunter formula of posting a quest, eating, departing, and returning. Despite being home to an undeniable grind, the Guiding Lands had a degree of Zen to it, especially when experienced with friends.

Monster Hunter Wilds' own zones seem to have taken inspiration from the Guiding Lands, fundamentally improving at its core. The zones are more intricate and dynamic, while monster spawns are affected by the weather and spawned with a unique set of quest rewards. With the ever-shifting zones, there's always something new to hunt. Wilds' immersion, from its ecology to its gameplay philosophy, is truly on another level. This is especially apparent once the stories' limits are lifted, allowing the environment to more naturally change, and creating an even more compelling experience once you've "beaten" Wilds.

Environment Link Is Needleslly Restrictive

Not So Seamless Multiplayer

Unfortunately, it's difficult to appreciate these fantastic changes, and nearly impossible to do so in multiplayer. Beyond the convoluted mess of different multiplayer options – squads, link parties, environment links, and lobbies – the immersive world is next to impossible to experience with friends. The world itself is instanced; players in the same lobby can, by default, only see each other while in a base camp. The moment you step out of the camp, the illusion is shattered as you are whisked off to a separate instance.

At first, this makes logical sense. Syncing up environments would be impossible in most lobbies, and in the case of particularly large ones, I don't imagine anyone wants 10 other hunters in their zones. However, issues arise with the more applicable usage of a shared world: playing with friends. One would assume that sharing an instance would be easy to do when starting the game, and may even stumble across the environment link option in the mess of menus and be, temporarily, validated in this thought. If only it were so simple.

Adding friends in the first place is difficult enough, requiring hunter codes and multiple submenus. The UX design feels, in general, a decade old.

There are a few caveats to the environment link system. To begin with, starting one is needlessly tedious. A link party needs to be established beforehand, and the hunter starting the environment link needs to be the link party leader. Once it's established, the environment link is broken when transitioning between zones, meaning that despite the five dynamic environments and near-seamless transition between them, lest you want to engage with the clunky UI to begin another environment link, you're stuck in the zone it was established in.

Monster Hunter's Clunky Multiplayer Needs A Change

Dated Multiplayer Doesn't Need To Be A Franchise Staple

Monster Hunter has always had problems with its UX, which can often create a mixed first impression from new players. Features are often left unexplained and hidden, or are pointlessly dated, convoluted, or absent. While the initial frustrations revolving around the difficulty of experiencing the story with friends are completely valid, now that the game has been out for some time, I've personally found the lack of a substantial environment syncing option link to be the most disappointing multiplayer element of Wilds.

For such a record-breaking franchise, with Wilds continuing to set more and more, it's shocking to see such a stagnant approach to multiplayer and UX design. Monster Hunter, to me, feels like one of the few franchises which actually innovates with each new entry, but multiplayer has often stayed stagnant, or in some cases, degraded.

At its core, I want to experience the excellently crafted world of Wilds' with friends. Essential to that world is the changing seasons, the changing monsters, and the changing surpluses and outbreaks. Being unable, fundamentally, to engage with the seamless world present in Wilds, and having the reason for this being a dated multiplayer design, was an exceedingly disappointing realization. While environment link is an incomplete attempt, with some thoughtful changes, Monster Hunter Wilds can easily become one of the most immersive experiences, not just in the franchise, but in gaming as a whole.