Monster Hunter Wilds has clawed its way back into the upper echelons of Steam’s global best-sellers, thanks to a fresh update. It seems the devs have finally addressed those pesky performance issues that plagued the launch, with user sentiment now settling into 'Mostly Positive' territory.

This 1.041 version update is all about heavy-duty optimisation and beefing up the endgame. By tweaking 3D models and streamlining the spawning logic for monsters and environmental fauna, they’ve managed to take the load off your CPU and GPU—finally putting a leash on those persistent frame drops and stuttering. As for the fun stuff, they’ve added 10-star 'Arch-Tempered' quests, including Arch-Tempered Alsheverdo and Arch-Tempered Rey Dau, along with a collaboration quest for the upcoming Monster Hunter Stories 3, due this March.

The mood surrounding Monster Hunter Wilds is steadily thawing. After a disastrous launch that saw the game branded 'Overwhelmingly Negative' due to technical gremlins and content droughts, recent user reviews have climbed to 'Mostly Positive' (2,640 reviews, 72% positive). It’s been a long road of patch-work since last year’s free title update, but the tide clearly turned starting in January.

Players are reporting that the game is finally in a playable state, with some even claiming it runs smoothly on mid-range PCs and the Steam Deck. However, it isn't all sunshine and rainbows; some are complaining that while the frame rate has stabilised, the visuals have taken a hit, looking a bit like modelling clay in places. A few unlucky souls have even encountered crashes or startup failures. The developers have issued a heads-up: if you’re rocking an AMD graphics card, check your driver versions—some are throwing a proper wobbly.