Cosmic horror, along with sci-fi in general, is a difficult genre to get right. It thrives on the unknown, the creeping sensation that something is just out of sight, not entirely clear, itching at your reality. But, if you don’t get the balance right, you’ll end up with a galaxy wide narrative that’s as deep as a puddle. Shroud understands this well, twisting its story in ways that leave you adrift in its dark world. It’s a book that revels in disorientation, pulling you deeper into its mysteries the more you struggle to grasp them. When it’s at its best, it makes you feel lost in all the right ways.
Shroud is an utterly gripping story of alien encounter and survival from Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of the Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning Children of Time, and paints a grim and grotesque vision of the future, where humanity’s expansion into the cosmos is as much a test of endurance (and capitalist hell) as it is a descent into existential dread.
The descriptions of Shroud itself—its tendrils curling through the void, the sensation of alien briar tightening around the atmosphere—are striking. The opening chapters, in particular, are a masterclass in setting the tone, so much so that I found myself rereading them just to soak in their gnarly brilliance again and again.
Shroud constantly shifts, leaving you unmoored in a way that mirrors the characters’ own descent into fear and uncertainty.
Tchaikovsky’s writing heavily leans into ambiguity, using a mix of perspectives and deliberately vague language to reinforce the unknowable nature of Shroud and its horrors. The book constantly shifts, leaving you unmoored in a way that mirrors the characters’ own descent into fear and uncertainty. Alien encounters are presented in strange, fragmented imagery rather than overtly explicit detail, making them all the more unsettling.
The prose itself even feels unstable at times, as if the words are bending under the weight of something beyond comprehension. Tchaikovsky does his best at making the sci-fi elements accessible, but it’s still a style that won’t work for everyone—those looking for clear explanations or firm resolutions may find themselves frustrated at times—but it’s undeniably effective at immersing you in a world that feels utterly alien.
The characters, particularly Juna Ceelander and Mai Ste Etienne, are an interesting study in detachment. They begin as almost intentionally blank slates, their personalities stripped down to what’s necessary to survive in their assigned roles. There’s a sense that they’re meant to be shaped by their time on Shroud, and they do develop more emotion as they struggle against its horrors. Yet there’s also moments they also regress, hollowed out by their experiences for the faceless corporate machine that sent them there in the first place.
But while Shroud excels at mood and mystery, it stumbles slightly when it tries to settle into a more structured narrative. The middle section loses some of that hypnotic unease, instead slipping into a “monster of the chapter” rhythm that, while functional, feels at odds with the book’s more unsettling moments.
It’s the storytelling equivalent of an explosion in Aquaman—it gets things moving, but not always in a way that feels as meaningful as the world Tchaikovsky has built. Thankfully, the book finds its footing again in the final stretch, closing things out with an inevitably bleak, bittersweet flourish.
What stood out to me most was how Shroud shares themes with something like The Expanse, with heeps of gritty realism, but Tchaikovsky has made his narrative that bit more intimate, spending most of its time in the minds of a few lost souls rather than sprawling across a grand political landscape. It’s a story of survival, in a bitter sci-fi setting, that also manages to explore where we are now, where we could go, and whether there’s anything worth holding onto when we get there.
In the leadup to its global launch, Monster Hunter Wilds broke pre-order records on both Steam and PlayStation. It effortlessly followed in the footsteps of its extraordinarily popular predecessors, 2022’s Monster Hunter Rise and 2018’s Monster Hunter: World, achieving sales that truly cements Capcom’s unique and esoteric RPG series as one of the biggest video game franchises in the whole world.
But that wasn’t always the case. Less than a decade ago, the idea of a Monster Hunter game attaining such remarkable popularity across the globe would have seemed alien. Rewind the clock even further, back to when Monster Hunter hit the scene in 2004, and it would have seemed even more farfetched: the original game was met with mixed reviews. It wasn’t until a year later when Monster Hunter made the jump to the PSP did the series really blow up… in Japan.
That’s right. For a long time, Monster Hunter was the poster child for the “game series bigger in Japan than the rest of the world” phenomenon. The reasons for this were simple, as this story will explain, but that didn’t stop Capcom from trying to figure out how to break Monster Hunter through to the international market. And, as Monster Hunters World, Rise, and now Wilds proves, it was well worth the effort.
This is how Monster Hunter went from a domestic hit to a global force.
Around the time of Street Fighter 5’s launch in 2016, Capcom underwent an internal reorganization in order to prepare for a new generation of games. These games would run on the company’s brand new RE Engine, a replacement for Capcom’s ageing MT Framework. But this change was about more than just tools. Alongside the engine upgrade came a new mandate to ensure Capcom’s games were being made not just for existing, territory-specific fans, but for a global audience.
“It was a few factors that came together,” says Hideaki Itsuno, a former game director at Capcom best known for his work on Devil May Cry. “The change of the engine and also all teams were given a very clear goal at that point to make games that reach the global market. [Games] that are fun for everyone.”
If you look at almost all of Capcom’s games released during the PS3 and Xbox 360 era, you get the feeling that the company was going all-in on trying to capture an imagined version of the “Western games market.” The action-heavy Resident Evil 4 was a big hit, true. But the more gun-focused spinoffs like Umbrella Corps, as well as the sci-fi shooter series Lost Planet, were all clearly chasing late-2000s Western gaming trends to no avail. After several years, Capcom realized it needed to create games that could appeal to everyone, not just fans of traditional Western genres.
All teams were given a very clear goal to make games that reach the global market.
“I think that we had that clear goal of just focusing and not holding anything back,” Itsuno says. “Towards making good games that would reach people from all over the world.”
Itsuno notes that the time leading up to 2017 was pivotal. “The changes in organization and the changes in the engine, all these elements came together around that time,” he says. When Resident Evil 7 launched that year, it kickstarted a Capcom renaissance.
No other series embodies this new company goal for global success better than Monster Hunter. While it had its diehard fans in the West, for decades Monster Hunter was much, much bigger in Japan than the rest of the world. The series was never conceived to be something that was only big in Japan, but there were real-world factors as to why this happened.
Firstly, Monster Hunter found tremendous success moving from PlayStation 2 to the PSP with Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. The handheld gaming market has always been much stronger in Japan than in the West, as seen with the success of not just the PSP but also Nintendo’s DS and, more recently, the Switch. The popularity of handhelds in Japan is rooted in a number of factors, but the thing that really worked for Monster Hunter, according to the series’ executive producer Ryozo Tsujimoto, was that Japanese gamers were able to reliably play with friends thanks to the nation’s heavily developed wireless internet network. It was years ahead of anything available in the United States at the time.
“20 years ago, Japan was in a very, very solid state in terms of the network environments available to people, and being able to connect and to play online together,” Tsujimoto says. “And of course, we’re not speaking for everyone there, because we realize that there are people who may not have had the chance to play with friends back then. But by moving over to handheld systems, we were able to grow that player base that was interacting and playing multiplayer together.”
Monster Hunter, which is built on a core pillar of cooperative play, recognized that this aspect would best be served when friends could quickly jump into hunts together. There was no better avenue for that at the time than handheld consoles. Thanks to Japan’s advanced internet, it meant Monster Hunter was being developed for a local market first, even if that wasn’t an intentional approach.
This created a loop of sorts. Monster Hunter games would become best-sellers primarily in Japan, and to keep pace with the audience, Capcom would release Japan-only content and host Japan-only special events, further reinforcing Monster Hunter as a “Japan-only” brand.
Monster Hunter did have fans in the West, and they were enviously looking from the outside in.
But the reality was that Monster Hunter did have fans in the West, and they were enviously looking from the outside in as Japanese players received exclusive tie-ins and quests. But as the Western world improved its internet infrastructure and online play became practically mandatory for most console gamers, Tsujimoto and the team saw an opportunity to launch their most advanced and most globally-accessible Monster Hunter game to date.
Released in 2018 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, Monster Hunter: World was a gigantic change for the franchise. Rather than being scoped for small, less-capable handheld consoles, it delivered large-scale, AAA console quality action with souped up graphics, bigger areas, and, of course, bigger monsters.
“Our approach to the globalization of the series and Monster Hunter in general really ties into not only the themes that we had going into designing the game, but also in the name of the game,” Tsujimoto reveals. “The fact that we called it Monster Hunter: World is really kind of a nod to the fact that we wanted to appeal to this worldwide audience that we wanted to really dig into and experience Monster Hunter for the first time.”
It was also vital that Monster Hunter: World not do anything that gave off the impression that Capcom was prioritizing one market over the other. Monster Hunter: World would be released simultaneously worldwide, and there wouldn’t be exclusive content locked to Japan, something Tsujimoto says “comes with realigning ourselves to hit those global standards that people come to expect of titles around the world.”
It wasn’t just a matter of making sure other regions got Monster Hunter: World at the same time as Japan (though it certainly helped). Tsujimoto and co. drilled deep to see what other ways Monster Hunter’s formula could be tweaked to broaden its appeal with players from all around the world.
“We did focus tests and user tests across the world, and some of the impact of those — the feedback and the opinions that we got during that really affected how we designed our game systems and really affected how much success we had as a global title for that game,” Tsujimoto says.
One important change that resulted from these playtests was simply showing damage numbers when players hit the monsters. Little tweaks here and there to an already successful formula drove Monster Hunter to the greatest heights it had ever reached. Previous Monster Hunter games had typically sold around 1.3 to 5 million copies, not including re-releases and special editions. Monster Hunter: World and its 2022 follow-up, Monster Hunter Rise, both recorded sales greater than 20 million copies.
This explosion of player growth didn’t happen by accident. Instead of changing the spirit of Monster Hunter to suit Western tastes, Tsujimoto and the team found ways to open up the series’ unique (and, admittedly, obtuse) nature to a wider audience without making sacrifices. This approach continues with the series’ latest game, Monster Hunter Wilds.
“At its heart, Monster Hunter really is an action game, and that sense of accomplishment you get from really mastering that action is an important aspect of Monster Hunter,” Tsujimoto explains. “But for newer players, it’s really getting to that point. The steps involved in getting to that sense of accomplishment is really what we’re trying to strategize for, in terms of designing for new players. So with World and Rise, for example, we were taking really great care to analyze where players got stuck, what was hard to understand, what they were having trouble with, getting player feedback, and also doing our own kind of research into that. And all of that kind of knowledge has impacted how we’ve implemented new systems into Wilds.”
Within 35 minutes of its release, Monster Hunter Wilds hit 738,000 concurrent players on Steam, a figure more than double Monster Hunter: World’s all-time high. And so there’s every chance that Capcom’s latest hunt may go on to quickly exceed even World and Rise’s lofty achievements. And thanks to a collection of glowing reviews and the promise of more content to come, it seems incredibly likely that Monster Hunter Wilds will continue the series’ mission to take over the world.
This article is an excerpt from an upcoming IGN story that explores how Capcom turned itself around after a chain of missteps and failures. Discover the whole story of Capcom’s fall and rise soon, only on IGN.
The dust on the yesterday’s horizon has become today’s stampede. Monster Hunter Wilds has launched and we are all choking on up-kicked sand. So far the action game has hit a peak of 987,000 players on Steam and all my news feeds are nothing but Rathalos screams. This is what we call a “big ‘un”.
But what trembling critters are eking out an existence in the disturbed ground beneath Capcom’s feet? Other games still exist, and some are just unlucky enough to step out of their bolthole the same moment a much scarier freak is on the prowl. Here are 4 games that just released which may be worth a look if you have no time for big beasties.
Yesterday’s Pokémon chatter meant that we had to put Famitsu‘s Japanese charts on the backburner for a minute, but fear not, here they are!
It has been a big one for Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, with SEGA’s latest wacky RPG claiming the top two spots in its debut week as PS5 and PS4 sales (or should that be ‘sails’?) combined for a little over 105,000 units.
Capcom has announced early details of Monster Hunter Wilds’ first major patch, which is due early April.
Amid the huge launch of Monster Hunter Wilds itself, Capcom detailed Title Update 1 in a post on Steam. The company said the patch’s early April release date, set to arrive a little over a month after the game itself, “will give hunters enough time to prepare for the new content, and challenges, that await them.”
To that end, Title Update 1 adds a new level of challenge: “Prepare your gear, and resolve, hunters!” Capcom said. “TU1 will bring with it a monster of formidable strength at a level above Tempered!” Meanwhile, a new challenging monster will be added with Title Update 1.
Interestingly, Title Update 1 also adds an endgame place to gather. “A new place to meet, communicate, have meals together and more with other hunters will be added to Monster Hunter Wilds in TU1!” Capcom said.
“This area will be available to hunters who have completed the main story, so get hunting and be ready!”
Early reaction to the news that Title Update 1 will add a place for endgame players to gather has been mixed, with some welcoming the addition, others wondering why it’s not in the game at launch. It sounds very much like a Gathering Hub from previous Monster Hunter games, but as some have pointed out, it’s interesting that Capcom has chosen not to call it that here. While other players can turn up in your camp, Monster Hunter Wilds lacks a true social hub, so hopefully whatever this is will fill the void.
Capcom released a few images showcasing this new place to gather:
IGN’s Monster Hunter Wilds review returned an 8/10. We said: “Monster Hunter Wilds continues to smooth off the rougher corners of the series in smart ways, making for some extremely fun fights but also lacking any real challenge.”
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Years ago I wrote a piece about what I presumptuously defined as the “emerging” subgenre of city games that respond to the climate crisis, with its attendant catastrophes of unchecked capitalism and resurgent fascism. Today, it feels dangerously like that subgenre is “sub” no longer.
We are engulfed in strategy sims where society is the rind between the formless terrors without and the only-human abusers within. The geography is clogged by Last Cities and Final Bastions Of Humanity, all of them awkwardly avoiding eye contact, like the prophets that line the alleyways of Life Of Brian. I guess it’s in keeping with the “unchecked capitalism” bit that apocalypse fantasies have become a thriving business. I hope that’s not my fault. On the brighter side, roguelike deckbuilder As We Descend is quite fun, combining moderately baroque turn-based combat with tales of Vernian dystopia. Here’s Wot I Think of the demo.
Capcom has issued official advice for PC via Steam players of Monster Hunter Wilds after the game launched to a ‘mixed’ user review rating due to performance issues.
The Japanese games company said Steam users should try updating their graphics driver, turning off compatibility mode, and then readjust their settings if they’re experiencing any initial issues.
“Thank you all for your patience and support!” Capcom said in a tweet.
One of the ‘Not Recommended’ Steam reviews flagged as ‘most helpful’ says Monster Hunter Wilds “has the worst optimisation I’ve ever seen.”
“I understand that new games are becoming more demanding and people are expected to upgrade, but this is absurd,” they said. “I’m aware this isn’t the first instance of new games having poor performance on launch, because the same thing happened with World, but it feels inexcusable at this point.
“I am by no means saying the game is bad, but in its current state, you should probably consider waiting for a more stable release.”
Another negative review also focused on the game’s optimization, saying: “Absolutely atrocious performance for how the game looks. Runs even worse than the beta.”
In a bid to help Steam users improve matters, Capcom published a ‘Troubleshooting & Known Issues’ guide with potential solutions. Capcom asked PC players to follow the steps below “to rule out problems with your PC, Steam, or the game’s files.”
Monster Hunter Wilds troubleshooting and known issues guide
Troubleshooting
When the game does not run properly, please try the steps below.
Make sure you meet the minimum system requirements for the game.
Update your Video/Graphics Drivers.
Check for Windows Updates and ensure all of the latest programs are installed to your OS.
If you still experience issues, try performing a clean installation of the video driver set.
Update DirectX to the latest version. For details on how to update DirectX, please visit the Microsoft support page or Microsoft Download Center.
Add the game’s folder and files to your anti-virus program’s exception / exclusion list. Default Paths: C:Program Files (x86)SteamSteamAppscommonMonsterHunterWilds C:Program Files (x86)SteamSteamAppscommonMonsterHunterWildsMonsterHunterWilds.exe
Add folder and files for Steam.exe to your anti-virus program’s exception / exclusion list. *Default Paths: C:Program Files (x86)Steam C:Program Files (x86)SteamSteam.exe
Give administrator privileges to Steam. To run Steam.exe in administrator mode, right-click on the .exe file and select “Run as administrator.”
If you still experience issues, try logging into your PC in administrator mode and then run the game’s execution file (MonsterHunterWilds.exe).
Verify the game’s files on Steam. To verify your game’s files, follow these steps: (1) Restart your computer and launch Steam. (2) From the “Library” section, right-click on the game, and select “Properties” from the menu. (3) Select the “Installed Files” tab and click the “Verify integrity of game files” button. (4) Steam will verify the game’s files – this process may take several minutes. Important: One or more files may fail to verify. The files that fail to verify are local configuration files that should not be replaced as part of this process. You can safely ignore this message. If problematic files were detected during this process, Steam will automatically download and / or replace those files.
Disable Compatibility Mode for “MonsterHunterWilds.exe” if enabled. (1) Right click on “MonsterHunterWilds.exe” located in the following folder: C:Program Files (x86)SteamSteamAppscommonMonsterHunterWilds *The above is the default location. (2) Go to Properties (3) Open Compatibility tab (4) Untick “Run this program in compatibility mode for:” If the above does not resolve the issue, please disable the Compatibility Mode for “Steam.exe” located in the folder below. C:Program Files (x86)Steam
Despite these performance problems, Monster Hunter Wilds is off to an incredible start, with nearly 1 million concurrent players on Steam alone. That’s enough to crack Steam’s top 10 most-played games of all-time list, and it’s only going to get bigger as we head into the weekend.
IGN’s Monster Hunter Wilds review returned an 8/10. We said: “Monster Hunter Wilds continues to smooth off the rougher corners of the series in smart ways, making for some extremely fun fights but also lacking any real challenge.”
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Brevity soul’d or no, wit can also be the enemy of honesty; a fundamentally performative pin brooch with an artificial sheen. When I go back over my notes after playing a game, at least two-thirds of them will routinely be useless and powerfully crap jokes I’ve written in lieu of practical points because – even in a document no-one but me will ever read – I cannot bear to cease reminding myself that I’m an implausibly clever sausage.
Occasionally I do remember to just jot down an unadorned factoid. “Cards wot do two things (Gloomhaven)” says my notes on this puzzle game. I’ve had my eye on it for a while, mainly because making your game star a ghost with an axe and calling it Axe Ghost is some premium Nic Reuben bait, especially if the ghost also has normal human arms for some reason.
Monster Hunter Wilds has enjoyed a huge launch, with nearly 1 million concurrent players on Steam.
Capcom’s action adventure game launched on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S, and quickly became the eighth most-played game on Steam of all-time with an incredible 987,482 concurrent users.
To put it into context, that’s ahead of the all-time peaks of best-sellers Elden Ring, Hogwarts Legacy, and Baldur’s Gate 3. It’s already outstripped its predecessor on Steam, where 2018’s Monster Hunter World enjoyed a peak concurrent figure of 334,684.
And it’s worth noting that Monster Hunter Wilds’ actual peak concurrent figure will be much higher, given neither Sony nor Microsoft report player numbers.
The question now is how high can that Steam concurrent figure go as Monster Hunter Wilds heads into its first weekend on sale and beyond. It seems likely it will crack the 1 million concurrents mark later today, overtaking Cyberpunk 2077 in the process. Could 2 million be possible?
While Capcom is yet to announce a sales figure for Monster Hunter Wilds, all signs point to a hugely successful release. (Monster Hunter World topped 25 million sales in six years to cement its position as Capcom’s best-selling title ever.) However, the game has a ‘mixed’ user review rating on Steam, with some reporting performance problems.
IGN’s Monster Hunter Wilds review returned an 8/10. We said: “Monster Hunter Wilds continues to smooth off the rougher corners of the series in smart ways, making for some extremely fun fights but also lacking any real challenge.”
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Is it wrong to eat a dinosaur that wants to be eaten? What if it asks you to make a little hat out of its gall bladder? What if the gall bladder has different opinions on the matter? Discover the answers to these and more as our merry band of conservation enthusiasts/trophy hunters discuss Monster Hunter Wilds!
Nic:Life, the absolute bastard, has kept me away from the Monst. Let me experience it through you. What’s the best Monst so far?
Brendan: I am fond of the squiddy critters that slop about. The Nu Udra is a giant gloopy octopus that feels like a stand-out fight partly because of its many, many arms, but also because of the environment you fight it in. It’s horrible (in a fun way) to wade about in the oil of this region, and try to avoid the flames that inevitably start to spread. Another later squid-like beast has some horrible knifey hands at the end of its tentacles, but I’ll let the readers discover the rest of that creep’s tactics by themselves.
Ollie: I’m partial to the Yian Kut-Ku myself. It was the very first monster I ever fought in any Monster Hunter, back in the days of Monster Hunter Freedom on my PSP. And all these years later, I still recognised all its moves, and it made the whole act of beating up the big fire-breathing chicken even more enjoyable and satisfying than it already was.
Is it wrong to eat a dinosaur that wants to be eaten? What if it asks you to make a little hat out of its gall bladder? What if the gall bladder has different opinions on the matter? Discover the answers to these and more as our merry band of conservation enthusiasts/trophy hunters discuss