Monster Hunter Wilds Dev Capcom Is Trying to Tame Beastly PC Requirements

As Monster Hunter Rise's February 28th release date approaches, developer Capcom has announced it's investigating ways to lower the recommended GPU requirements. This follows up on a statement from the official German Monster Hunter X/Twitter account, which also revealed Capcom is exploring the development of a standalone PC benchmarking tool.

Currently, Capcom recommends an Nvidia GTX 1660 Super or AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT for achieving 30 FPS at 1080p. This minimum specification also requires an internal resolution of 720p, upscaling the graphics via DLSS or FSR at the lowest settings.

For a targeted 60 FPS at 1080p with upscaling and Frame Generation technologies enabled, the recommended specifications include an RTX 2070 Super, RTX 4060, or AMD RX 6700 XT. However, only the RTX 4060 supports Nvidia Frame Generation; the 2070 Super and 6700 XT rely on FSR 3, which, as noted in the previous Monster Hunter Rise beta, exhibited ghosting artifacts.

Targeting 60 FPS with Frame Generation isn't ideal; Digital Foundry recommends a minimum of 40 FPS for third-person games. Running below 60 FPS with upscaling enabled can lead to increased latency and a less responsive feel.

The Monster Hunter Rise open beta highlighted performance challenges for players with lower-end hardware, even mid-range cards like the RTX 3060 experienced issues. A notable problem was a low-LOD bug preventing the game from loading high-detail textures for characters and monsters.

Monster Hunter Rise utilizes Capcom's RE Engine, initially introduced in 2017's Resident Evil 7. This engine has powered titles like Devil May Cry 5, Monster Hunter Rise, and Street Fighter 6, generally delivering smooth performance across platforms.

However, the RE Engine's performance in larger, open-world games with numerous NPCs and enemies, such as Dragon's Dogma 2, has presented challenges on both consoles and PC. This raises concerns about Monster Hunter Rise's PC performance. With the February open beta and late February launch fast approaching, Capcom's efforts to reduce GPU requirements could be crucial for the game's success on PC.