Review edit after 100%: If you have not played Monster Hunter World - get World, it's currently in better condition than Wilds in every aspect, including graphics, except for few very minor details. P.S: major issue is cats not cooking for you now, so food scenes are much worse.

Wilds atm is VERY not optimized - on 4070 it struggles quite a bit to do High settings, forget Hi-res pack or Ultra. Textures load time can take up to 2-3 seconds, even in cutscenes, but only had one crash after more than 100 hours of playtime. On 5080... it crashes all the time, but texture pop-up time is reduces significantly, though it's still has same presence as on 4070. Btw, despite not taking even half of 5080 resources game does not recommend max settings and generally keeps between 30-50 fps for combat or exploration, seems like 50 series are almost completely skipped in optimization process at Capcop, it does not know what to do with them, so for smoother experience get older card. There is also ever present glitch where you get weapon comparison window stuck on your screen after exiting tent sometimes that will not go away till you get back to tent.

Ok, now to actual game - it generally continues World line of experience, got a more inclusive game for major consoles and pc to give more people chance to enjoy this franchise. UI is pretty much same as in World - quite comfortable to use, except for few detractions probably inherited from darker times. Multiplayer part is unfortunately still not evolved, still iffy with dcs and communication.

Sound does not seem to have any issues - voice acting is good, ambient, monsters, weapons - all are feeling organically implemented. As for music tracks - it's subjective, there are none that spoke to me personally, new Proof of Hero version not to my taste either.

Graphically it is marginally better looking title (over World, not Rise, we don't talk about Rise), but because of optimization mentioned previously you cannot exactly enjoy that, there is almost always smth not right going on. Human faces is probably the most noticeable improvement over earlier entries. Locations look really good, though maybe a bit more conservative - plains, forest, hot caves, ice cliffs and "ruins".

There is more of a plot here, though as before it serves more of a filler role. They even hinted at some things, but cowardly decided to not go all the way, so there was no mention of what exactly did old people were, done and why they were gone, just some general words, painting them in much better light than they were SPOILER no mention of massive dragon sacrifices, equal weapon, fatalis and it being pretty much post-apocalyptic setting, but they kinda added new bad stuff to list of what ancient people did - artificially modified slave monsters, which to be honest is several grades lower than equal weapon on horrific actions scale . Huge improvement in handler department over World, much much less annoying, though there is new addition of Nata, who is a kid, which explains why he is sometimes like that.

Gameplay is real meat as always in Monster Hunter. Hunting and exploring is as good as it was - there are some new additions and some things were removed (maybe they'll come back in xpacs). For new players - this game is pretty much light hunting simulator with monsters instead of boring regular animals mixed with Devil May Cry style slasher including combos and aerial combat. You do spectacular battles with big or smaller creatures and then carve them for parts, which are used to craft better weapons\gear, often including source monster properties - so fire breathing monster will result in fire damage weapon and fire resistant armour. This loop is very very addicting, despite need to grind for some rare parts. Moveset for weapons retains most of World stuff, but there are enough changes to warrant relearning and guide watching. Some new stuff includes power clash that allows some weapons to do kinda arm wrestling with monster while taking them head on, homing arrows, perfect dodge, chainsaw axe move etc. But as mentioned some things like clutch claw and things connected to it are gone. It is a bit subjective thing - but game does feel easier compared to World, only had to actually get resistance to element three maybe four times, after finishing main storyline and getting desires gear, hunting monsters even with -10 resistance to their element is no problem. Also there are less large ones here atm - 30 (including variants) compared to World launch number of 34 or current 71. Btw - despite advertising Wilds as going open world, while technically true - you can get to other zones without loading screen by walking, they are all connected by long narrow ways, essentially almost completely isolating them from each other except for that one path. After unlocking new region via main quest, you'd be traveling between them via fast travel, never visiting those connecting routes.

So in conclusion - game is good, but not with quite a bit of flaw and if you have not played World yet - get World while waiting for Wild to get optimization and actual end-game, cause currently there is not much of end-game content.