Uh oh, it looks like Monster Hunter fans are complaining again (not the first time) that the co-op experience in Monster Hunter Wilds isn’t as seamless as they expected.
According to a Reddit post, Wilds’ co-op marks a return to the dreaded “wait until they finish the cutscene” feature that once plagued Monster Hunter World’s multiplayer.
Many players have expressed their concerns in the comments, pointing out that the co-op system is not as seamless as they had hoped. This is especially concerning considering that Monster Hunter Rise had a much smoother co-op system. In Rise, players could watch cutscenes together and even had the option to skip them.
During the Open Beta, fans already struggled with Wilds’ complicated co-op system. Many were confused about what Environment Link and Link Party actually mean. (Gfinity is working on a guide to explain both systems.)
In Monster Hunter Wild’s story progression, there are two narrative moments: cutscenes and walking sections. Cutscenes are the big-budget sequences introducing new monsters while walking sections involve your character exploring with their Seikret, Alma, and Palico.
These atmospheric moments aren’t skippable and help familiarize players with new biomes.
The issue? No one can join other players during these moments. If your friends are still watching a cutscene or doing their "walks," they can’t queue up with you. You’ll have to wait until one of them hits the monster enough times to trigger the Quest Begin notification — only then will your Link Party allow others to join. It is recommended that someone in your party should be a designated ‘Quest Starter,’ responsible for hitting the monster and beginning the quest.
Keep in mind that you’re not sharing an instance with a friend from your party, even if you’re at the same point in the story. However, progress is shared once the monster is defeated, so it’s not entirely hopeless.
In our review, we didn’t explore the online functionality much—about 90% of our gameplay was solo.
While Wilds’ system is an improvement over Monster Hunter World, it still falls short of Monster Hunter Rise and Sunbreak’s seamless co-op, where party members could simply link up without worrying about cutscenes or progression barriers.
Why can’t Capcom just do what Rise perfected? That’s the question flooding the game’s subreddit whenever co-op is discussed. And with the game launching in less than 24 hours, more players will likely find reasons to complain.
For more Monster Hunter Wilds coverage, check out Gfinity.
