Monster Hunter Wilds looks slightly less terrifying for PC gamers: Capcom has reduced system requirements and released a 26GB benchmark tool ahead of the second beta

Monster Hunter Wilds has had PC players quaking in their boots thanks to its broadly frightening system requirements and some questionable performance in its first beta. It looks like Capcom has spent the past few months addressing that issue, as the company has just lowered the game's recommended specs and offered a new benchmarking tool ahead of a second Monster Hunter Wilds beta and the game's final release in February.

A quiet update to the Monster Hunter Wilds Steam page reveals that the game is now targeting an RTX 2060 or RX 6600 as a recommended spec, down from the previous recommendation of an RTX 2070 Super/RTX 4060 or RX 6700XT. Capcom suggests this will get you 60fps at 1080p medium settings with frame generation enabled.

The minimum GPU specs have seen the 1660 Super bumped down to a normal 1660 and the 5600 XT down to a 5500 XT. On the CPU side, we're down to an i5-10400/i3-12100/Ryzen 5 3600 processor across both minimum and recommended specs.

The benchmarking tool works pretty much as you'd expect once you grab it from Steam. After a 26GB download - and a relatively lengthy shader compilation process - you can choose your graphics settings and see how performance plays out over the course of an in-game cutscene and a handful of exploration sequences. For the record, I got an average of 59.37fps on my i9-9900K/RTX 3080 combo with high 1440p settings and no upscaling.

Capcom had previously hinted that lowered PC specs and a benchmarking tool were on the way, and it's good to see them both arrive nearly a full month before the game's final launch. You'll also be able to get a much bigger taste of the game with the second Monster Hunter Wilds beta kicking off on February 6.

Putting beta feedback into action, Monster Hunter Wilds devs show off improved hitstop and reworked weapons that feel how you remember them.