Thanks to Koei Tecmo and Electronic Arts, we’ve been checking out their newest action-adventure, role-playing game, ‘Wild Hearts’ set in a fantasy world inspired by Feudal Japan called Azuma.

Players will play as a hunter in the land of Azuma and after a short introduction to controls, you are able to create the look and gender of the character. After the creation of the hunter is done you will face off against a giant monster or as they go by, ‘Kemono’. After encountering this giant beast the player will be given a new tool to help aid in fights with Kemonos, The Karakuri, an ancient tool that has been forgotten across the lands.

The Kemonos you will encounter are mutated creatures that have taken on elements of their surroundings. As you progress and travel to new terrain you will come across the same base Kemono but they will have new looks and attack styles to them. For example, you could come across a Kemono that uses poison in one area but in another could find a brand new move set based around ice-type attacks.

There are some big challenging fights ahead with a variety of monsters such as the Deathstalker and Golden Tempest but I found doing these fights solo offered an amazing challenge and had me change my style of play with each major encounter I came across. Hunting the Kemono will reward players with parts from the creature that is used for crafting armour and upgrading weapons so if you are trying to track down a certain look you may need to grind a certain Kemono for the parts needed.

With this, the hunter is now able to use thread from loot boxes to build objects or tools to help gain height for jumps to explosive bombs. This thread has a vast range of uses such as building and can be obtained in a few ways but the easiest way is to cut down trees or destroy certain rocks. Fighting and damaging Kemono will also recharge your thread count and when you finally find a companion, they will drop thread randomly during combat.

Also, The Karakuri can be used for combining builds. If you stack the default boxes on top of each other you will make a giant wall that will stop a Kemono from charging or taking a swipe at you as it will knock them back allowing you to get some hits in. If you want to change what object you can build you are able to do so in the equipment tab. I do recommend trying everything and getting used to all the combination builds that can be done. My personal favourite is the harpoon; great against flying targets and targets trying to flee from a fight as it will ground them and does a big hit of damage.

Gameplay if I was to honestly compare it to anything, it would be ’Monster Hunter World/Rise’-like as the groundwork feels very similar. Wild Hearts has found a way to improve on it though, by making it feel more free-flowing and unique to the character’s movement. The attack speed is a decent speed and does not feel slow to start with the bigger weapons at all, with it reflected in the swing speeds that do not do more damage output. While the game is not an open world, you hunt on a large map that is usually home to 3-5 giant Kemono and many smaller ones littered around.

To get around the maps fast you are able to freely build tents which will become fast travel locations. Also, building other helpful structures with the Karakuri device like zip lines, fans, or my personal favourite a giant wheel that you can drive around in, makes for getting around fast and fun.

Now let’s talk about weapons. Players have eight weapons to pick from to suit any player’s style of combat. I personally enjoy the katana which is the default starting weapon. You are able to change the weapons in the equipment menu and if you want to change at the start you are able to use a bow, Nodachi and The Maul (great sword). Both of these are slow for attacking but give big damage output. The bladed Wagasa, which is an umbrella, is the only weapon in the game that allows players to parry attacks which gives it a unique advantage when you master it and could be the best weapon in the game.

After clearing ‘Chapter Two’ you will unlock access to the last few remaining weapons which are the Claw Blades. These are ideal for speedy players as you dual-wield and are able to latch onto targets and fly around them while attacking from the air. It definitely gives ‘Attack on Titan’ vibes. The Staff is another unique weapon that has the ability to mutate into five different forms such as a pike or a giant blade. It is a weapon that will require players to master to learn how to change the form to what they like best. Finally, the Canon is the last weapon being the second ranged option. The Canon does lack long-range with certain attacks but does have some amazing mid-air attacks that will cause damage.

Players are able to play Wild Hearts as a solo experience, where you will have a companion that will help you by attracting aggro on enemies, and if you need to heal will drop thread so you can keep building while fighting. For those that want to hunt in a squad with friends, great news, Wild Hearts supports crossplay which works perfectly no matter what platform you are on. You can play with friends or make new ones by jumping into public lobbies and helping out other hunters.

Public and private lobbies can be found and made by resting at a campfire at your base or a fun new feature that I use a lot when exploring was a small stone shrines called Hunter Gates, and they may or may not have a green glow about them, so if there is a glow that means a player in the same area as you are requesting assistance with a hunt. If you accept you will be teleported to the player’s world and will return when the hunt is finished either by victory or loss. I tend to not ignore an active hunter gate and will always jump in to assist players with hunts.

Sadly, there are some connection issues when it comes to building with low ping. If you are trying to build a combo placement too quickly, I found it would not place the items in the correct spots and instead of building a bomb or a harpoon I have an odd stacking that does not work. The only other minor bug I have encountered is some frame rate and lag spikes in Minato after a Kemono encounter takes place there.

Visually, Wild Hearts is amazing to behold. With the use of bright-coloured pallets and iconic Japanese buildings and structures, it is easy to get lost looking at the environment and the small details of wildlife and flowers that can be seen. The audio tracking is also another great addition to the game with each Kemono clearly having a unique roar or battle cry. Also, just the background music takes a lot of inspiration from Japanese traditional music setting the mood of the era is so well done.

In conclusion, Wild Hearts has busted into 2023 as an amazing hunting RPG that has taken many hours of my time and I still can’t pull myself away from playing. The team behind the game has already said more updates are on the way that will add new hunts, armour and quests so there will be constant additions to the title. Fortunately, a camera mode is in the works so hold tight and you can snap some amazing shots. Wild Hearts has been such an amazing game to experience and I look forward to seeing what is coming in future updates.

Written by: Shane Walsh