Now that Monster Hunter Wilds is available on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, I can finally discuss something that has been on my mind since I reviewed the game: its PC performance. I touched on this in our review, but now that I’ve released my benchmark footage, I can dive deeper into the Monster Hunter Wilds PC performance frustrations that no doubt is being discussed by just about everyone who’s playing the game.
For my testing, I recorded multiple gameplay videos in both 4K and 1440p. I ran the game on a separate PC equipped with an AMD Ryzen 9 9800X3D, an Nvidia RTX 4090 FE, and 64GB of overclocked DDR5 RAM. Meanwhile, I used another PC for recording to ensure performance wasn’t impacted. To track CPU and GPU metrics, I used MSI Afterburner and RivaTuner Statistics Server (RTSS) with a custom configuration, allowing me to display frame rates and averages. The tests were conducted using Nvidia’s 572.16 drivers, as the latest update wasn’t available until February 28, 2025.
A quick note: some may wonder why I didn’t test at 1080p or with more common PC hardware. The simple answer is that I don’t own a lower-end PC or have the components to build one. I considered building a mid-range test rig, but given the current state of the GPU market, it wasn’t practical. Trust me, I’d love to test the game on an AMD video card, but that simply isn’t possible. If things improve, I may revisit this for a broader analysis.
For the benchmark, I recorded multiple runs using different settings: Native (no upscaling), DLSS + DLAA, DLSS Quality, DLSS Balanced, DLSS Performance, DLSS Ultra Performance, and DLSS + Quality with Frame Generation. I also ensured consistency or at least attempted to do so, by fighting the same creature in the same location for each test, allowing for a direct comparison of results.
Here are the settings for those wondering what I used:
- Full Settings
- Render Scaling 100
- Ray Tracing High
- Texture Quality High
- Texture Filtering Quality Highest
- Mesh Quality Highest
- Fur Quality High
- Frame Rate Uncapped
- V-Sync disabled
- Sky/Cloud Quality Highest
- Grass/Tree Quality High
- Grass/Tree Sway Enable
- Wind Simulation Quality High
- Surface Quality High
- Sand/Snow Quality Highest
- Water Effects Enable
- Render Distance Highest
- Shadow Quality Highest
- Distant Shadow Quality High
- Shadow Distance Far
- Ambient Light Quality High
- Contact Shadows Enable
- Ambient Occlusion High
- Bloom High
- Motion Blur Off
- Vignette Effect On
- Screen Space Reflection On
- SSSS Scattering On
- Depth of Field On
- Volumetric Fog High
- Variable Rate Shading Off
I expected my PC to deliver high frame rates in Monster Hunter Wilds, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Overall, I was disappointed with the performance. I had hoped a day-one update might improve things, but no such luck. While I did achieve high frame rates, it was only with hardware that most players don’t have access to—a major concern for the game’s broader audience. I wouldn’t be surprised if Steam is already filled with negative comments about the performance.
I also noticed that some settings didn’t make any difference in visual quality, so I’ll be revisiting this to see if this will have any bearing on the PC performance.
Lastly, I want to point out that Monster Hunter Wilds includes Denuvo, an anti-tamper software designed to prevent piracy—at least until it gets cracked. However, Denuvo has also been known to cause performance issues in some games. It’s possible that this could be a major factor in the game’s performance concerns. We’ve seen it happen in Monster Hunter Worlds, and we’ve seen it in Monster Hunter Rise, among other games. In every instance, the removal of Denuvo helped with the game’s performance woes. We’ll likely find out once Capcom removes it or when reports surface comparing the game’s performance without Denuvo.
With that, here are my test videos for 4K and 1440p performance.
Monster Hunter Wilds PC 1440p Performance Benchmarks
Monster Hunter Wilds PC 4K Performance Benchmarks
Monster Hunter Wilds is available to play on PC (Steam), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
