WILD HEARTS Review: Taming My Heart

It’s hard to believe that the monster-hunting sub-genre has pretty much been dominated by the Monster Hunter series all this time, with no other game developer rising to challenge the franchise that Capcom has created and maintained. Well, that day has finally come: Koei Tecmo’s Omega Force subdivision is about to give Capcom a run for its money with its newest project Wild Hearts. While it is true that Omega Force is the creator behind Toukiden, another monster-hunting series, the game didn’t see nearly as much success as Monster Hunter. However, a new partnership with EA Originals was just the push the company needed to gain more traction. Announced merely five months ago, Wild Hearts is an action-hunting game mixed with innovative crafting mechanics set in a world where giant monsters run rampant. Wild Hearts undoubtedly has a lot going for it, but perhaps it needed a bit more time to bake in the oven before releasing.

Wild Hearts is set in a land called Azuma, a high fantasy landscape inspired by feudal Japan, and boy, is the art direction beautiful. Your adventure will take you across multiple luscious biomes ranging from blooming flower fields and stunning cherry blossom plazas to frozen ice tundras and derelict palaces. The interesting thing is that all the animals here, known as Kemono, are magically infused with the natural environment around them, with wildlife adorning their bodies. Humans and Kemono once lived in peace and harmony, but something has caused the latter to turn out of control, resulting in the destruction of cities and loss of lives. You play as an unnamed protagonist that just happens to be the sole bearer of an ancient technology that can restore the balance across Azuma.

What are Karakuri?

It’s hard not to compare Wild Hearts with the likes of Monster Hunter or even Toukiden, which again was developed by Omega Force themselves. The central premise stays the same: you hunt giant Kaiju-sized monsters. What makes this experience stand out from the others is its unique Karakuri mechanic, where you can create various structures on the fly. These range from simple boxes and springs to gigantic hammers and bombs. You see, your character in the game is gifted with the skill to conjure up celestial threads and wield this power, and as such, you are the only one capable of putting a stop to all the Kemono.

So what are all the tricks up your sleeve when it comes to Karakuri? The game does an excellent job of pacing out all the different structures you can create, because there are a lot. You start with super basic building blocks such as boxes that you can stack and springs you can bounce off of. As you start fighting more species of Kemono, certain Karakuri will be “awakened,” and the game will slow down time and teach you the button inputs to summon it. These range from placing multiple torches to create a firecracker or stacking several boxes to form a bulwark wall. Slaying monsters rewards you with points you can exchange for upgrading existing Karakuri or unlocking new ones.

Unique Base Building

Each Karakuri serves its unique purpose depending on the monster you are fighting, so you won’t be spamming the same buildings repeatedly. You also can’t build forever as you expend threads to create each structure. Threads can be mined from rocks and trees around the world or taken directly from the Kemono you are brawling against. I often found myself running out of materials to build and had to scavenge around for more thread or focus on enemy weak spots to extract them. Wild Hearts uses a new mechanic called “Hunter’s Arm” that allows you to latch onto Kemono after exposing weak spots to extract and overcharge threads. All in all, it’s a well thought out system that is both intuitive and challenging, forcing you to be strategic about your approach.

This is also where a base-building mechanic comes into play. Aside from the Karakuri that you build during combat, there are also ones you build outside, known as Dragon Karakuri. Scattered throughout each biome of Wild Hearts are entities known as Dragon Pits, which can be activated and upgraded should you have the necessary materials to do so. More pits activated means more resources at your disposal to build structures. These include fireplaces, tents, forges, lanterns, watch towers, etc. Tents are probably the most important building to construct in the beginning as they act as a fast travel point and respawn location, but they take up tons of resources. 

Free Flowing Combat

Where Monster Hunter games use a traditional mission-based approach, Wild Hearts uses an “open-world” like system where you can explore Azuma at any time, even with no hunts active. Once you’re farther into the game and unlock more Dragon Pits, you can set up base across various regions of each biome and even decorate your home with slice-of-life structures like signs, beds, and lanterns. You can also start setting up ziplines and air vents at key locations to make traveling smoother and more satisfying. It’s a nice change of pace and a cozy welcome to the otherwise hectic nature of Kemono hunting. The building mechanics here are reminiscent of what’s found in Death Stranding, where you construct different buildings to make traveling easier. The condition of each world persists, so all your buildings remain, even if you travel to other areas. So whenever you play cooperatively, you witness the creations of the host player’s world and vice versa. Later in the game, you also unlock a vehicular wheel that makes traversal less cumbersome.

The actual combat here feels much smoother, more flexible, and faster than Monster Hunter, as you can jump, dodge, and lock-onto monsters. There is a stamina bar, but that’s mainly used when climbing walls, akin to what Breath of the Wild does. Attacking consumes no stamina, and dodging only consumes minor amounts. Monster Hunter games, on the other hand, always felt very slow, clunky, restrictive, and lacked a lock-on feature. Attacks are stiff and can’t be canceled because of the commitment of each move. Wild Hearts, however, is more fluid and free-flowing, as you can dance around the arena in any fashion you like, thanks to animation canceling. There are some icky hitboxes and questionable invincibility frames, though, as some attacks are pretty much impossible not to get hit.

Fighting Kemono is a grand and visual treat, thanks to how visually distinct and unique they look. They’re all based on real animals, too, including rats, boars, gorillas, wolves, and birds! The elemental powers they are infused with create some spectacular sequences, such as the boar summoning tree roots across the arena while setting its tusks aflame. Accompanying your hunt are cute little balls known as Tsukumos that can be upgraded to heal you or provide you with threads in battle. Another part of what makes combating Kemono so stylish is the eight different weapons the game features. You got your basic katana, great sword, and bow, but you also have some unique tools such as the claw blade and wagasa umbrella, which was my favorite. The umbrella allowed for such insane combos and finishers; it almost felt like I was dancing with the Kemono… A dance to the death!

Similarities to Monster Hunter

Most of the core gameplay mechanics here are more or less similar to Monster Hunter. A central hub known as Minato serves as a place to talk to NPCs and pick up side quests. There are, of course, story quests that progress the narrative forward and requests you can take up that are akin to Monster Hunter Rise’s optional subquests. You exchange monster parts at the blacksmith or forge to craft new weapons and armor. Every monster’s difficulty is indicated by the number of stars it has, and it is possible to chop off certain monster parts. Monsters are re-used multiple times and come in different variations and forms. Eating a meal before a hunt is equally as important here, so be sure to down some delicious food before heading out. There’s even a bit of cooking involved, allowing you to hang dry your ingredients on a rack for food processing.

AAA Price but AA Performance

Unfortunately, the overall performance leaves much to be desired here, as Wild Hearts runs mediocre at best on PlayStation 5. I can’t even imagine how poorly this would run on last-gen consoles, but that won’t be an issue because this game isn’t even releasing on them, and thank goodness. First thing you’ll notice when playing this game is EA forces you to either log in or create an account if you want to utilize the online features, but half the time, it just says the connection failed. I wasn’t sure if this was just an issue during the pre-launch period or not, but I have verified that the servers work as of February 14, 2023. The game does feature seamless cross-platform play, which is a huge plus, given Monster Hunter’s lack thereof.

One of my biggest gripes here is the load times and excessive use of loading screens. You’d think that a next-gen-only experience would take full advantage of the PS5’s SSD with ultra-fast load times but nope. Not only are they slow, but you’ll also see a lot of them. The game has a whopping three different types of loading screens: black, spinning wheel, and progress bar. Any time you wish to talk to someone or interact with something, such as a campfire or forge, the game enters a loading sequence. Now double that because finishing the dialogue or being done with your interaction triggers another one as well, resulting in painfully long waits and an ultimate loss of immersion. But hey, at least the game never crashed on me. A patch is in the works to address some performance issues so keep that in mind when launch time comes.

Two graphical modes are offered: 4K visuals with 30 fps or visuals capped at 1080p with 60 fps. The higher frame rate option is clearly the preferred choice, given how action-oriented the nature of the game is, but the drop in visual quality is abysmal. The graphical fidelity becomes a murky blur that can’t compete with other AAA next-gen exclusive titles. The cherry on top is that the game can’t even keep a steady and smooth 60 fps in performance mode, with frequent frame drops and dips. I expected a lot better from a game that is priced at a high cost of $70 for the base game and $90 for the deluxe edition.

Tons of Content

Fortunately, Wild Hearts doesn’t skimp on the content, as beating the campaign will run you around 30 hours, with tons of endgame activities and more free content updates on the way. Plus, EA has already clarified that there are no microtransactions planned, so that’s always a positive. There are 20 Kemonos at launch, with more variations coming in March and April. That said, games of this nature are meant to be replayed over and over again to get the monster drops that you want to build your next weapon or armor. 

Conclusion

The team at Omega Force have done a commendable job with Wild Hearts, as it does just enough to stand out from the Monster Hunter games that Capcom has created. This ambitious project boasts a beautiful high fantasy feudal Japan setting and an intuitive and game-changing Karakuri building mechanic. However, the high cost of entry and performance issues hold it back from being truly captivating.

Final Verdict: 4/5

Available on: PC,  PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox Series S|X; Publisher: Electronic Arts.; Developer: Koei Tecmo; Players: 1-3; Released: February 16, 2023; ESRB: T; MSRP: USD 69.99

Full disclosure: This review is based on a copy of WILD HEARTS provided by the publisher.