Wild Hearts has brought an unusual pair of developers together, Koei Tecmo and EA Originals, for a good reason. As a new IP, Wild Hearts hopes to break hard and fast into what they call the hunting genre, facing off against the juggernaut known as Monster Hunter, even if the developers made it a point not to mention its obvious rival during a media briefing. Koei Tecmo rightfully understands that it needs outside help from Electronic Arts to ensure that the game appeals to a global audience. Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, the gameplay beats of Wild Hearts unsurprisingly match those of Monster Hunter to a large degree. But from what I’ve played so far through a generous four-hour preview build, the game does enough to forge its own identity, banking on swift new building mechanics similar to Fortnite.
A wild beast chase
The core loop of Wild Hearts will be instantly familiar to Monster Hunter fans. You mark one of the giant Kemono beasts, cook some dishes to fortify yourself with temporary buffs, and then sprint your way towards your mark. While engaged in combat, you can slash at the creature’s hide with a slew of different attacks, aiming at specific weakpoints to inflict extra damage and hopefully stun the beast. If it flees, you’ll need to chase it down, and if it becomes enraged, you’ll need to be extra careful to dodge its desperation attacks. Once the Kemono finally falls, you’ll earn plenty of materials for weapons, armor, and campsite upgrades for more difficult hunts later on. You can even join forces with a team of up to two other friends to defeat a beast, though the dynamic difficulty will make the hunt harder with each additional member.
Where Wild Hearts begins to separate itself from Monster Hunter is in its speed. Koei Tecmo takes a cue from its Toukiden series and Musuo games in general by making attacks and movement comparatively faster. Combo strings are easy enough as they only require two buttons, though with the right trigger button, you can risk performing a slower but stronger heavy attack that drains some stamina. There’s also a special gauge which you can use to unleash your weapons; with the default katana, this adds several multi-hit strikes for a ton of damage. Time these maneuvers while a Kemono is left vulnerable on its side, and you can whittle down its health in a flash.
Inspired by real-life Karakuri puppets
Upon completing the tutorial, you are soon aided by the Karakuri, which seems to be a kind of benevolent spiritual force that bestows your hunter’s newfound quick-craft abilities. By gathering Karakuri thread from various nodes on the map, you can create all sorts of inventions on the fly. Outside of combat, these include ropes called flying vines that will quickly move you from point to another, as well as devices that will automatically gather resources for pick up. You can also stack boxes and climb up them for a soaring leap that can get you high on a wall, which you normally can’t reach using your limited grip strength alone.
That said, the Karakuri’s main purpose is to support you in battle. Stacking three of those crates mentioned before will send you vaulting into the air for a high-damage flying assault. In fact, it does so much additional damage that the Kemono will spend time smashing the crates, so at the very least they will serve as a distraction. If you have the wherewithal, you can even make a 3×2 stack of crates that will turn into a temporary wall that can knock back and stun a charging Kingtusk boar. Beyond that, it’s worth the materials to make spring nodes that will let you dodge attacks in an instant, and fire torches that will add elemental damage to your strikes. Defeating stronger Kemono and completing various quests will provide you with additional recipes that will expand your Karakuri catalog.
Calming the savage beast
Judging solely on the three Kemono fights in the limited preview build, combat is fast, furious, and relatively easy. While getting struck by a beast can cut your health bar in half, you have a good amount of healing water for restoration, and you can replenish your stock of healing water quickly. In fact, chasing down a Kemono from one area to the next usually puts you on the path of several water nodes and wells. If you’ve defeated any mid-tier boss in Dark Souls or Monster Hunter, you likely won’t have much trouble with the first few Kemono at least. Combat is made even easier with two other hunters at your side as they bring their own Karakuri crafts to the table. In fact, Wild Hearts limits its co-op play to a team of three, because the developers felt that having four players would make combat too easy.
From the start, the tutorial briefly explains why you’re defeating kimono in the first place. Azuma, a land inspired by feudal Japan, was once a prosperous and peaceful territory where humans and kemono had a harmonious relationship. Then something happened that broke that balance, causing the larger kemono to destroy villages and shrines until the only town left standing was Mizuno. It is the last bastion of hunters in a region that has long since been abandoned. As such, several characters you meet along the way task you with restoring order to Azuma, which is split into four seasonal regions. The preview build was restricted to the forested spring region, which has an abundance of resource nodes, but the developers note that the summer, fall, and winter areas will be eventually unlocked as the game progresses.
A much-needed wildcard
The tutorial is also where you can start customizing your hunter, who hides behind a straw hood and a billowy outfit. It’s clear that character customization wasn’t quite ready yet in the preview build, but you can expect an extensive arsenal of Japanese armor that will make you look like a ronin. More than that, your particular world of Azuma can be essentially customized too, as any Karakuri upgrades you place in the world persist. Unlocking additional dragon pits spread throughout the map will give you more resources to add more campsites and other facilities in the region. How you place fast travel points, cooking stations, anvils, and towers will impact the success of your and your party’s hunt.
So far, Wild Hearts looks to be a welcome addition to the hunting genre and will serve as some needed competition to Monster Hunter. It is currently scheduled to release on February 17, 2023 on PS5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC. It also will feature cross-play across platforms, though cross-progression doesn’t seem to be on the table.
