A week or so ago, we were allowed to start early on EA Original and KOEI TECMO’s Wild Hearts. The game is a bigger version of Monster Hunter with a purposeful storyline and contains compelling characters, while also bringing along brutal tasks of hunting godly monsters down in the wild. This is more than a hack’n slash type of hunting game, as you can build structures and create certain wooden inventions using magic from nature’s energy called Karakuri in your pursuit to take down the out-of-control Kemono. Also, the world is enormous.
That said, let’s get right into the details.
A story of struggle and devastation
The story is set in feudal Japan on an alternate timeline. Pulling straight from a universal monster flick, giant beasts of godly decent have become enraged and have made it their mission to wipe humans out of existence. Given the climate nowadays on Earth, I wouldn’t blame them too much. Anyway, the Kemono dominated and devastated the lands of feudal Japan, specifically the land of Azuma, without anyone able to stop them. Your character comes into play when they acquire the Karakuri, a magic power pulled from nature, that gives them the ability to build structures and have an advantage over the Kemono.
While the story is certainly simple in its scale and purposeful in its intentions, Wild Hearts brings a much-needed reason for a hunter to hunt down beasts. I know that sounds silly because this game is a beautiful work of fiction, but sometimes you need some motivation to go out and do a deed in a game. Some of the better games out there have purposeful narratives attached to them, and this one seems as purposeful as ever. The storyline about massive creatures waking up and wiping out pesky humans in a time that didn’t feature too many ways to take them down is bleak as it is apocalyptic. It sets the tone not only for the large amount of destruction that you run into along the journey but also motivates you to create strategies and execute them perfectly to save a land that is struggling to survive. It’s just got a tinge of Horizon Zero Dawn in it because of that bleak essence.
It’s a good story that creates a solid amount of motivation to start a hunt and save humanity.
Gameplay to expect
The gameplay in Wild Hearts is intriguing and honestly is built for more co-op than a single-player experience. During my time with this game, I have played single-player mode and spent about 45-50 minutes hunting and taking down Kemono on each mission. While most of that time is me drinking healing potions and building structures to catapult myself off for an attack, the amount of time seems surprisingly adequate when compared to how massive and mean the Kemono is in the game. As we were told during a preview event, playing single-player can happen, but it’s a struggle at times. For example, I had to hunt down a beast called a Lavaback, who is a vicious ape with lava-loaded weapons of destruction. I have had my ass handed to me. Before him, the other beasts were manageable, having patterns here and there to contend with but never anything overly complicated. Lavaback is so fast that building and attacking, as I did with the others, is not as easy as I thought it might be. And that is the joy of Wild Hearts, as you get something a bit different each time you hunt an animal. There are ways the animal reacts and there are strategic options you must take down the said beast with but it changes from Kemono to Kemono. That type of action and reaction in a battle means the game is deeper and rich with raid-like strategic moments. People who enjoy raids, such as the ones in Destiny 2, will find it easy to get into these fights.
Now, getting back to my original point, this game is truly built for a multiplayer experience. Wild Hearts features a three-player option that I highly recommend you take. Playing with friends and trucking along with designing strategies to approach a fight is cognitively enriching, as it is fun. Though I have played alone up to this point, I can see how different the game would become with players communicating with each other, setting traps using Karakuri, and executing fight patterns to quickly dispose of Kemono. While I’m positive the game would be more difficult should you add more players, as it should be, the game seems like it would be more emotionally rewarding hunting and taking down Kemono with friends.
Staying with taking down Kemono, the game does feature a cool mechanic called Karakuri. This mechanic adds an element of creativity to the gaming experience. The Karakuri ability allows players to create structures, such as a simple spring box or as complicated as a giant wall, that hinder the Kemono attack while delivering a destructive blow from the player. The number of structures offered so far in the game is massive. You can create individual structures or flying machines with this power and combine them to make the perfect trap. Again, using this type of mechanic with other players opens many possibilities of attacks to use against the Kemono. This part is probably the strongest reason this game will be a hit, as I’m sure influencers out there will find wild ways to play this game for months on end. It’s akin to finding ways to transport yourself all over the place in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. That was a huge Internet sensation.
Aside from Karakuri, you will also be able to customize your character, upgrade weaponry with a huge backend skills tree, and build up your battle-ready self as the game progresses. While the Karakuri is certainly the reason to play, the weapons/armor/skills complement it very well. It will give you an extra reason to go out and do side and main quests. In other words, there’s more here than just building.
How do the fights feel?
That’s a good question and the easy answer here is that they feel earned. While I’m still getting used to the controls and timing, which are a bit finicky at times, the overall feel of taking down a Kemono by yourself is gratifying as it is rewarding. The battles are cleverly massive and much like how a monster moves from stage to stage in Monster Hunter, the Kemono in Wild Hearts lets you know when it has reached a point in the damage phase where you’re making progress – simply by moving to another section of land. Again, it’s a very Monster Hunter way of telling you that you’re doing a good job.
As of right now, the controls in the game are a bit stiff, but that might just be me. Rolling and dodging really can only be done well when you understand the timing and attack patterns of the Kemono. There were times with the first Kemono when I started rolling back into the beast instead of away. The dodging works well in the game, as it’s just a simple ‘O’ button and dodged, but moving out of range from a multi-attack move from a Kemono requires a run and a slide. Getting that move going can be tedious at times but again it’s about timing and learning patterns. Right now, I’m getting better at it, but I still have a long way to go before perfecting it. The ability to float in the air thanks to a Karakuri structure or create a wall to delay a Kemono’s attack does help the controls out a bit. The final review will certainly have my final say in this department of the game. Right now, it’s progressing for me.
Massive Worlds
Recently, I played Monster Hunter Rise on the PlayStation 5. I enjoyed that game on a mega console more than I thought I would. The worlds in MHR were of a wide variety, but the spaces for those individual worlds were always kind of restrictive, even though they were tall. They were multi-tiered built which made up for some of the smallness. For Wild Hearts, the worlds are enormous.
The game has a multi-tier feel and also has enough world to explore where it feels like a traditional action RPG. I was incredibly impressed with the first few levels and how girthy they felt. When the game opened, that girthiness became even more…girthier. I’m not sure that is a word, but I’m going with it. Anyway, the worlds are massive in this game so far and I haven’t even made it to all of them. They’re unique in their styles and they fit the bill for the Kemono that you’re hunting. There are also hidden treasures around the worlds that encourage you to do some exploration. Hunting, exploring, and fighting are just what these worlds are made of and, honestly, that gives it a leg-up on MHR.
Ongoing gameplay
While this is just a taste of what is to come with our full review, this preview should give you some idea of what to expect out of the main points of Wild Hearts. There are a lot more features to discuss, more stories to outline, and more gameplay to talk about when the time comes.
As of now, look for this game when you’re getting a hankering for some hunting action with more of an RPG backbone.
