Monster Hunter Wilds’ “Hidden” Areas Are a Waste of Your Time
Hello everyone. Today we’re talking about Monster Hunter Wilds, which — surprise, surprise — decided that just chasing behemoths until your knees give out wasn’t enough. No, they’ve sprinkled the maps with “hidden” areas, presumably so your Seikret can finally earn its keep instead of being a glorified Uber for big pointy sticks. What follows is basically a scavenger hunt crossed with Google Maps, except more time-consuming and less accurate.
The Illusion of Exploration
The game tries its hardest to convince you it’s non-linear, but let’s be honest — the first few hours feel like being stuck on a theme park ride, shunted from point A to point B while your AI steed stubbornly ignores the interesting bits of scenery. Then you find out there are “secret” areas. Hidden camps. Bonus loot. Views that someone at Capcom allegedly thought we’d want to stop and appreciate. Views don’t kill monsters, people.
Windward Plains – The Tutorial on ‘Hidden’
First up, Windward Plains’ Area Three Platform. “Accessible only with your Seikret!” they say – which is game-speak for “we just locked it behind a glorified keycard.” Above Area Three South Camp, you’ll find Mining Outcrops, Fulgurite Shards and — ooooh — the rare Ephemeral Blossom. Rare in the “it’ll give you crafting mats you’ll hoard forever and never use” sense.
Then there’s the “best mining outcrop farm” which demands you abandon your Seikret and crawl through a hole like a medieval chimney sweep. After risking your character’s vertebrae, you climb vines like it’s a bad Donkey Kong level to grab a bunch of shiny rocks. Because nothing says adventure like geology homework.
Scarlet Forest – Waterfalls and Wyvern Coins
Scarlet Forest’s Area Six Camp hides behind tree roots. Inside? Fishing spots and those Ancient Wyvern Coins you collect, cherish briefly, and then completely forget the existence of. More exciting is the waterfall cave in Area 19 — enter stage left after meeting Lagiacrus post-Update Two. Swim on rails, because free swimming is too much freedom, and scoop up Weathered Treasures like the world’s wettest kleptomaniac.
Oilwell Basin – The Invisible Drop
Here’s a pro tip: sometimes “hidden” means “our level designer put something below camera height.” The Crimson Rivulet Camp is down a steep drop between Area 12 and 16. Blink, and you miss it. Near it is a relaxing fishing spot. As if fishing is going to feel relaxing with a flagship monster breathing down your neck.
Iceshard Cliffs – The Overcompensating Watchtower
The Watchtower pop-up camp requires, you guessed it, your trusty Seikret. Jump a gap, climb some vines, and you’re rewarded with Mining Outcrops and an extremely smug view. They act like gazing across “the Forbidden Lands” will make you forget you’re basically camping in sub-zero temperatures waiting for a pixelated crab to drop a coin.
Then there’s the Sinkhole camp: you find a suspicious hole between Areas Eight and 16, and down you go. More gatherables! More loot you’ll never organise! A hoarder’s paradise, if the hoarder lived in a freezer.
Ruins of Wyveria – Holes in Walls are Apparently Content
The Ruins of Wyveria make verticality feel like a punishment. Several campsites here, but the Secluded Ruins wins for being… mildly scenic. Follow vines to a pipe — because infrastructure in this world is bafflingly intact — and you get a camp with a view of the Lost Path. Whatever that is. The Gap in Rubble is exactly what it sounds like: a hole in a wall with Blackened Fossils and a fishing spot. Stunning.
The Core Problem
Look, I get it — this is Capcom trying to reward “exploration.” But when exploration boils down to “stop here, crawl here, push Circle/B here” while your mount waits like a bored taxi driver, that’s railroading with extra steps. This isn’t Breath of the Wild-level discovery; it’s checklist tourism. These aren’t secrets so much as glorified supply closets you take scenic routes to find.
Monster Hunter Wilds gives you Easter eggs, but hides them in the fridge, behind the celery. Technically secret, but who cares?
Final Verdict
Is it worth hunting down every single one of these “hidden” areas? If you’re the type who collects every coin in a Mario level and feels incomplete without 100% map coverage, sure. Knock yourself out. The rest of us? We’ll visit them if they’re on the way to killing something big and angry. Otherwise, no thanks — I’m here to hunt monsters, not take guided tours from my Seikret.
Overall impression: functional but uninspired. The effort it takes rarely matches the reward, and most “hidden” locations are only satisfying if your idea of fun is pretending every obstacle is a puzzle worth solving. For me, that’s a hard pass.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is entirely my opinion.
Article source: Nine Of The Best Hidden Locations In Monster Hunter Wilds, https://kotaku.com/monster-hunter-wilds-mhw-hidden-secret-locations-2000616328
