Monster Hunter Wilds is not great for newcomers, though it seems pretty cool

Most of the media takes regarding one this year's biggest new games have been written by Monster Hunter experts. Not this one.

All screenshots in this item are from Capcom’s Monster Hunter Wilds and were captured by Game File on a PS5 Pro.

A thing that happens often in the world of video game criticism is that an aficionado of a game series will review a franchise’s latest installment and declare, as an aside, that the new entry is welcoming for newcomers.

This phenomenon is similar to when a grown-up video game reviewer proclaims that a new game will be fun for kids.

How would they know?

I am a curious person who nonetheless probably has a lifetime average Hunter Rank of 1.5, and I am here to deliver some regrettable news to my fellow Monster Hunter neophytes who can’t tell a Congalala from a Blangonga.

Despite what you may read elsewhere, Monster Hunter Wilds, the latest entry in Capcom’s best-selling video game series, will be a blizzard of confusion for newcomers.

It took me 15 hours of determined playtime in the new game’s campaign for the skies to begin to clear.

It took that long for me to text an immensely patient friend who’d been providing MonHun tips for weeks to say: “Think I’ve turned the corner on playing Monster Hunter.“