Core idea
A game can be difficult.
A game can be inconvenient.
A game can make you fail again and again.
That is not automatically bad.
The problem begins when friction does not turn into:
- mastery,
- tension,
- reward anticipation,
- story impact,
- or the pleasure of controlling your character.
When that conversion fails, the game stops feeling like a game.
It starts feeling like work.
And the player begins to think:
This is just a job.
And I am not even getting paid.
The frustration around Monster Hunter Wilds is not simply “the game is hard” or “it is different from the old games.”
The deeper issue is that some players feel too much friction is placed between them and the core pleasure of hunting.
They want to hunt.
They want to fight.
They want to improve.
They want to feel good using their weapon.
But before that happens, the game may ask them to follow, search, move, listen, prepare, and wait.
At that moment, the experience moves away from play and starts resembling a workflow.
Difficulty can be fun
Difficulty itself is not the enemy.
Soulslike games can be fun.
High-rank monsters can be fun.
A boss that kills you ten times can still create an amazing payoff when you finally win.
Why?
Because good difficulty is converted into meaning.
| Painful experience | How it becomes fun |
|---|---|
| Dying | You learn what to do next time |
| Losing | You start reading the enemy better |
| A strong enemy | Victory feels more valuable |
| Tension | You enter a focused state |
| Busy inputs | You feel your own improvement |
Good difficulty makes the player think:
That was my mistake.
Next time I can do it.
I can see the pattern now.
I dodged it.
I won.
This is why difficulty can become pleasure.
Research on game flow often discusses the balance between player skill and challenge. If the challenge is too low, boredom appears. If it is too high, anxiety or stress can dominate. What matters is not raw difficulty, but whether players feel their skills can interact meaningfully with the challenge.
Busywork is different from difficulty
Busywork does not work the same way.
Busywork often fails to become meaningful inside the player’s mind.
| Busy experience | Player reaction |
|---|---|
| Forced travel | Let me fight already |
| Repeated steps | Not this again |
| Heavy controls | My input feels blocked |
| Weak rewards | Why am I doing this? |
| Dull quest flow | This feels like office work |
The key point is simple:
Busywork does not become mastery.
Waiting does not make you better.
Walking does not always increase tension.
Repeating a dull process does not create achievement.
Following a workflow does not make you feel skilled.
It only consumes time.
It drains excitement.
It makes you tired before the real game begins.
That is the essence of “a game feeling like work.”
Why Kulve Taroth could still be addictive
Older Monster Hunter games also had grindy systems.
Kulve Taroth, for example, had weapon RNG and repeated runs.
On paper, that sounds like busywork.
Yet many players still got hooked.
Why?
Because the grind was connected to several pleasures:
- the fight itself was still engaging,
- the reward expectation was strong,
- rare weapons created excitement,
- the goal was easy to understand,
- the weapons felt good to use,
- and the multiplayer event had a festival-like energy.
The grind did not remain pure work.
It had a chance to become anticipation.
“Maybe next run.”
“Maybe the weapon drops.”
“I want that one.”
“The fight is still fun enough.”
Of course, excessive upgrade RNG can still become frustrating.
But at least there was a conversion path from repetition to reward expectation.
What can feel wrong in Wilds
The moment Wilds loses some players is often this:
I want to hunt, but the game starts assigning tasks before the hunt.
Follow Seregios.
Do a side quest.
Move.
Search.
Listen.
Wait.
Then combine that with controls that may feel heavier than expected, and the player’s excitement drops.
At that point, the player does not feel like they are adventuring.
They feel like they are following instructions.
Of course, tracking, ecology, and worldbuilding are not bad by themselves.
Monster Hunter has always been about hunting giant creatures in a living world.
The problem is not the existence of non-combat elements.
The problem is when those elements do not amplify the core pleasure of hunting.
Did Monster Hunter start misunderstanding fun around Generations?
The idea that Monster Hunter started misunderstanding fun around Monster Hunter Generations is understandable, but it needs nuance.
Generations and Generations Ultimate added obvious external systems, such as Hunting Styles and Hunter Arts.
Those systems changed actions, dodges, branches, and the number of Hunter Arts a player could equip.
But those additions often connected directly to the pleasure of hunting.
For example:
- Adept style turned last-second dodges into counterplay.
- Aerial style made vertical attacks and mounting more active.
- Striker style let players use more flashy Hunter Arts.
- Valor style turned continuous aggression into a playstyle.
These were external systems, but they were tied to pressing buttons, dodging attacks, attacking monsters, and feeling skillful.
So the issue is not “extra systems are bad.”
The issue is whether those systems support the core loop.
Extra systems work when they enhance:
- weapon feel,
- monster reading,
- risk and reward,
- mastery,
- and the desire to hunt again.
They fail when they become:
- travel,
- chores,
- dialogue gates,
- waiting,
- performance issues,
- or mandatory procedures before the fun begins.
Non-core elements are not the enemy
A game does not need to be only combat.
Worldbuilding matters.
Ecology matters.
Story matters.
Exploration matters.
Presentation matters.
But those elements should support the core experience.
Arkveld is a good example of non-combat elements working well.
The red-and-white visual contrast, the fast chain-blade attacks, the tragic music, the story weight, and the tempo of dodging and attacking all combine to make the fight feel like a final battle.
In that case, music, color, animation, and story are not distractions.
They amplify the hunt.
That is the difference.
Non-core elements are good when they make the core stronger.
They become harmful when they stand in front of the core as obstacles.
The moment a game becomes work
A game becomes work when the player asks:
What is supposed to be fun about this?
In real work, boring tasks can still have meaning.
You get paid.
There is responsibility.
There are people depending on the outcome.
But a game is different.
The player pays time and money to play.
If the game then gives them a dull workflow, the reaction is harsh:
At least real work pays me.
A game starts feeling like unpaid labor when these conditions pile up:
| Condition | Player feeling |
|---|---|
| Weak purpose | Why am I doing this? |
| Poor control feel | This is not fun to move |
| Weak rewards | I do not care about the result |
| Too many steps | This feels like a workflow |
| Failure does not teach | It is just annoying |
| Too much repetition | Not again |
| Too long before the fun starts | Let me play already |
When those conditions align, the game stops being entertainment and starts feeling like unpaid labor.
Steam data shows part of the tension
A single player’s impression cannot define an entire game.
However, Steam data does show that Wilds has had a divided reception on PC.
As of June 11, 2026, SteamDB listed Monster Hunter Wilds with a SteamDB Rating of about 48.56%, 31,675 players in-game, and a 24-hour peak of 39,343.
Monster Hunter: World, on the other hand, was listed at about 87.43%, with 33,850 players in-game and a 24-hour peak of 45,591.
This is only Steam data.
It does not include PlayStation or Xbox players.
It is also a snapshot, not a permanent ranking.
Still, it is notable that the older game can outperform the newer one on Steam at a given moment.
That does not prove everything, but it supports the idea that many PC players still find World’s loop more satisfying.
Players do not want zero stress
Players are not asking for zero stress.
They often want meaningful stress.
They want to:
- dodge at the last moment,
- beat a strong monster,
- master a weapon,
- build better gear,
- try again,
- and read the monster more clearly.
That is stress, but it is meaningful stress.
Games become frustrating not because stress exists, but because meaningless stress stands in front of the fun.
The solution is not simply to make games easier.
The solution is to make friction convert into pleasure.
Summary
A game can be difficult.
A game can be inconvenient.
A game can make the player repeat things.
But friction must turn into something:
- mastery,
- tension,
- reward,
- story,
- or satisfying control.
Monster Hunter’s core pleasure is probably the feeling of taking a weapon, reading a giant monster, and overcoming it through your own execution.
External systems like Hunter Arts and Hunting Styles can work when they reinforce that pleasure.
Music, color, and story can work when they make a fight feel more powerful.
Exploration and ecology can work when they increase the tension of the hunt.
But when those elements do not support the core, they become chores.
In one sentence:
A game can be difficult and inconvenient.
But if that inconvenience does not become pleasure, it becomes unpaid labor.
References / 参考資料
- SteamDB: Monster Hunter Wilds Steam Charts. Retrieved 2026-06-11. https://steamdb.info/app/2246340/charts/
- SteamDB: Monster Hunter: World Steam Charts. Retrieved 2026-06-11. https://steamdb.info/app/582010/charts/
- CAPCOM official manual: Monster Hunter XX, Hunting Styles. https://game.capcom.com/manual/MHXX/page/9/1
- CAPCOM official manual: Monster Hunter XX, Hunting Style types. https://game.capcom.com/manual/MHXX/page/9/2
- Larche, C. J. et al. “The relationship between the skill-challenge balance, game expertise, flow and the urge to keep playing complex mobile games.” https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8943660/
- Tyack, A. & Mekler, E. D. “Self-Determination Theory and HCI Games Research: Unfulfilled Promises and Unquestioned Paradigms.” https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.12639
