As part of an extended preview at Capcom’s office recently, GameSpot was able to check out Monster Hunter Wilds for Nintendo Switch 2 and captured some footage of the game running in portable mode. Surprisingly, Capcom has seemed to figure out the performance woes that still plague the PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S versions, because the footage here is running incredibly well. As should be obvious, the frame rate is capped at 30 fps, but there doesn’t appear to be any stuttering, skipping, or major slowdown.
Now, the demo build is a highly controlled area of the game where the player is facing off against a Rathian. It’s also a solo hunt, so no extra players causing chaos of their own or initiating all kinds of explosive, VFX heavy attacks. Still, the performance holds steady and if any slowdown is occurring, it’s hard to tell from how the footage is being recorded (which is from an over the shoulder camera). Color me impressed.
As was clear in the first official trailer Capcom showed from the Switch 2 port, Monster Hunter Wilds has taken quite a hit to its visuals. The Switch 2 does have the benefit of DLSS on its side, but Wilds is a fairly demanding game even on PC. It can scale down pretty far, but Nintendo’s hybrid console was never going to be pumping out 4K visuals on this. I don’t even think it is hitting 1080p here, with things being fairly blurry – also a result of how the footage is captured. There’s only so much that can be done, and it’s impressive all the same that such a big, next-generation experience is playable in handheld mode with this level of quality.
Monster Hunter Wilds will be hitting Switch 2 on December 4th, 2026. For launch, it will have a discount bringing it down to $30, though it retails for $40. The game’s expansion, Ascendance, will release in 2027 on all platforms simultaneously.
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
