Monster Hunter Wilds mods are already here and I found the first one new players should install: a mod that adds a health bar for monsters, allowing you to see exactly how much damage you've dealt and how far you have left to go.
Veteran players of the Monster Hunter franchise may be familiar with mods like this for previous games, but if you're new, you might be wondering why you can't see monsters' HP. The lack of visibility can make it difficult to tell which weapons and combos work best for you, which is especially frustrating if you haven't played a Monster Hunter game before.
One modder, GreenComfyTea on Nexus Mods, created a tweak that adds a basic, no-frills health bar showing current and total HP under each monster's name. It's nothing fancy, but it gets the job done. As the mod's creator warns: "This a barebone mod without convenient in-game customization menu, optimizations, localization support and other cool features, made to be released in a shortest time possible. There will be no updates!"
The mod creator also noted you need REFramework Nightly installed for it to work. If you're new to modding RE Engine games, I'd recommend checking out a guide first to learn your way around. Before installing this mod, you'll also want to keep in mind that Capcom's official stance on mods isn't exactly warm and fuzzy. Back in 2023, Capcom claimed mods are "no different" than cheating in an R&D presentation.
Many gamers would probably disagree with that view, but if you want to play it safe and get a feel for the game without a health bar, you can always try to keep an eye on your weapon damage to gauge what works and how you're performing in combat. You can even adjust how your attack damage shows up by going into "Options" then "Game Settings" and scrolling down to "Weapon Attack Power Display."
As some players have pointed out with previous Monster Hunter games, the lack of a health bar for the monsters is supposed to make hunts more realistic and immersive, which is also something to consider. Of course, there are plenty of reasons a player might find it more helpful to their gameplay to be able to see how much health monsters have remaining, it just depends on your priorities and playstyle.
Regardless of whether or not you decide to try modding Wilds, it's nice that there are options so everyone can have a good time with the game (at least, as good a time as you can have considering its slew of graphics and performance issues).
