Technical State of Monster Hunter Wilds on PC is Catastrophic

Capcom's latest release, while a Steam top-ten hit, is facing significant backlash due to its subpar technical performance on PC. Digital Foundry's in-depth analysis reveals a multitude of issues plaguing the game.

Their testing uncovered lengthy shader pre-compilation times (9 minutes on a 9800X3D, over 30 minutes on a Ryzen 3600), disappointing texture quality even at "High" settings, and substantial frame time spikes, even on an RTX 4060 at 1440p with DLSS. Even high-end cards like the RTX 4070 (12GB) struggle to render textures adequately.

8GB GPUs are advised to use "Medium" texture settings to reduce stuttering, but visual quality remains underwhelming. Rapid camera movements consistently trigger noticeable frame time spikes, persistent even with low texture settings. Digital Foundry attributes these problems to inefficient data streaming, placing excessive strain on the GPU during decompression, particularly impacting budget graphics cards. The analysis discourages 8GB GPU users from playing and expresses reservations about even more powerful cards like the RTX 4070.

Intel GPUs fare especially poorly, with the Arc 770 delivering only 15-20 FPS alongside missing textures and visual artifacts. While high-end systems can partially mitigate these problems, smooth gameplay remains elusive. Optimizing settings without sacrificing significant visual fidelity currently proves impossible.