Wild Hearts preview: Monster Hunter be warned

Wild Hearts, like many of its incredibly designed Kemono, is a strange beast. It’s simultaneously familiar and fresh, and makes smart adjustments to a well-worn formula to offer something you can’t find anywhere else – no mean feat in 2023.

The latest title from Dynasty Warriors developer, and published by EA, Wild Hearts, even in its early hours, strives to build on the well-worn Monster Hunter template of battling giant beasts but does so in its own way.

Creature feature

Much of the basic setup of Wild Hearts will be familiar to anyone that’s played a Monster Hunter, God Eater, or Toukiden title before (in fact, Omega Force also developed Toukiden).

Players head out into gorgeously designed worlds to tackle ever-increasingly colossal monsters (known as Kemono here) to battle them, boss-rush style, carve them up, and upgrade their gear to hunt even bigger beasts. Those basics can certainly be easy to fumble, but Wild Hearts certainly grasps the importance of that loop – even in the game’s early hours I found myself tackling hunt after hunt until the early hours.

There’s a tangible sense of improvement, too, even outside of a shinier sword or better armour and with each battle, I felt like I learned a little more about my prey.

The monsters themselves are delightful to encounter, too. Take early-game behemoth the Kingtusk, for example. It’s essentially a boar the size of a house, and while it’s easy to get trampled, it’s hard not to get close just to admire the detail of its animation.

As with Monster Hunter’s numerous creatures, the Kingtusk’s, uh, tusks can be carved off to remove some of its offensive capabilities. The same can be said of other monsters, too, and each one initially feels just as much like a puzzle as a combat challenge.

Karakuri girl, Karakuri world

So, what’s new? In a word: Karakuri. The player character in Wild Hearts has the ability to conjure tools and items in thin air using nothing but a material called Karakuri Thread.

It may sound like a nightmare to be crafting in the midst of what can be some fairly challenging duels, but it’s remarkably intuitive and flexible. On console, players hold the left bumper to gain access to a series of “basic Karakuri” that can be built in a split second or fused to make more powerful creations.

These can be handy for dodging, like a spring that can send you dashing horizontally to close the gap on a monster or a basic box that acts as a springboard to unleash devastating aerial moves.

Combine some of each together and you get a huge single-use hammer or a blockade to stun charging Kemono, and knowing when to use each (and the dozens of other options) is key to turning the tide of any fight.

Final thoughts

Those are some early thoughts, but I’ll be back in a few days with our review of Wild Hearts. For now, though, it’s an action title that marries a moreish gaming loop with an innovative crafting system that I just can’t get enough of.