Wild Hearts preview: A budding rival to the Monster Hunter series

Capcom’s Monster Hunter franchise has largely been unchallenged in a genre of its own for the last few generations but through a surprise partnership between Koei Tecmo and EA, a new challenger in Wild Hearts is shaping up to be its most formidable rival yet. With a faster pace, more fluid combat systems, and unique gadgets to be constructed on the fly, you’ll quickly be hooked into the world of Azuma.

In one of the more surprising partnerships in recent years, Japanese developers under the Koei Tecmo banners, best known for the Dynasty Warriors series, have struck a deal with Electronic Arts as part of the EA Originals program. While this pipeline mostly helps indie titles find an audience, be it Unravel or Josef Fares’ It Takes Two, the Originals label is now being applied to arguably its biggest release yet as Wild Hearts looks to make a splash in the Western market.

At its core, the project has seemingly been designed to target the Monster Hunter fandom, and that comparison is something EA was more than willing to tackle head-on during an early briefing we attended. Rather than shying away from the Capcom giant, the developers are acutely aware Wild Hearts will be held up against the mega-popular franchise that has stood apart in its own genre for the better part of 20 years.

Wild Hearts wastes no time luring you in. From its lush forests amid a feudal Japan-inspired backdrop you can swiftly navigate with a range of fluid movement systems to colossal enemies you strike down with engaging combat mechanics, Wild Hearts presents a fresh spin on the genre without abandoning its roots. From just a few hours in the early game experience, it’s already clear this new formula working a treat.

Rising out of Monster Hunter’s shadow

For those familiar with Capcom’s series, you’ll feel right at home in Wild Hearts. Much of the gameplay loop remains similar in that your top priority is to venture out and slay beasts of different shapes and sizes. These often enormous foes have considerable health pools, varied attacks, and different weaknesses to exploit. Multiple weapons are there to accommodate various playstyles, be it a long-ranged archer, a beefy melee build, or a more agile glass cannon. There’s something for everyone.

While the game does incorporate a linear campaign to start with, it’s the sprawling open world and its many challenges within that serve as the main draw to keep you coming back in the long run. This is no different to Monster Hunter. It’s about the cycle of preparing for a fight, tracking the creature down, defeating it in any which way you can, then reaping the rewards to upgrade your character and equipment before doing it all over again.

As you would expect, these creatures are no slouches. Although our initial hands-on window was limited to just a small portion of the full map, the handful of monsters, referred to as Kemono (beasts or animals in Japanese), we encountered in the opening areas all presented a steep challenge. Some are imposing with their sheer enormity while others are lightning-quick, making them a tough target to hit. But all had their own attack patterns to master, movements to nail down, and phases to anticipate each go around, keeping you on your toes from start to finish.

On foot your character has access to a wide variety of weapons in order to slay said beasts. Numerous attacking styles and combos exist for most of these tools but it’s unclear if they’ll reach the same depth as those found in Monster Hunter. Though combat on foot is just the very beginning of what’s possible in Wild Hearts.

Through a seamless crafting system referred to as ‘Karakuri’, players can leverage ancient technology to get a leg up on the otherworldly monsters that lie ahead. At the press of a button, you can instantly generate a certain structure just about anywhere you please. What begins as planting a basic building block to help you launch into the sky soon evolves into building a giant contraption to slam down on enemy targets for a huge stagger window.

With crafting materials always close by, and the ease in which new builds can be littered throughout a fight, this system isn’t just tacked on for the odd assist. It’s an integral part of Wild Hearts’ combat rhythm that you’re constantly looking to utilize just as much as your standard weapon. The game has largely been balanced around these structures, meaning you’re always looking for the next opportunity to set something up and catch the monster off-guard. A regular jumping attack deals a small chunk of damage, for instance. But leaping from a tall pillar with a spring at its peak to propel you skyward, then striking a foe beneath you is a surefire way to boost attack damage immensely.

Given we only just scratched the surface with a small number of these Karakuri in play for the early hands-on session, it’ll be fascinating to see what else is in store later down the line. The late-game flow is sure to be even more enticing with potentially dozens of these craftable systems in play as you tackle Wild Hearts’ most challenging enemies.

Better if you bring a friend

Wild Hearts can be played in a party of up to three and it’s with a full trio that the game shines brightest. While solo and duo options are available, devs confirmed difficulty is dynamically scaled for each party size. The smaller your crew, the more tedious each battle becomes.

With just one target on the map, enemy AI is essentially locked on at all times. This can make even simpler fights all the more challenging as the game’s crafting system is harder to rely on. As giant bosses hunt you down, there’s very little room for error when selecting your build of choice and placing it in the right position. That’s not to say it’s impossible, but if you’re heading in alone, you’re in for a far tougher experience than the alternative.

When multiple characters are on the battlefield, not only does it allow more time to set up the optimal structures, but it creates room for a synergy otherwise lost in solo play. One member of your party might choose to hone in on movement-based Karakuri for the team. Another may spend their time building walls to stagger enemies as they charge up attacks. While the final member of the squad could focus on keeping aggro and luring targets into traps. It’s a wonderfully inventive evolution in the genre and one that ensures no two hunts play out in exactly the same way.

A promising road to launch

Despite the recency of its reveal, Wild Hearts is just months out from its full release on February 17, 2023. Given the polished state of the early build we played and how feature-complete the early game experience is already, it seems a delay is unlikely so fans won’t have to wait long to jump in. When they do, they can expect full crossplay support on day one and no trace of microtransactions at launch.

While developers didn’t shut down the idea of purchasable in-game content later on, they assured any microtransactions would be “purely cosmetic” if they do go down that road. A breath of fresh air given the current climate.

Obviously, it’s impossible to gauge replayability, endgame systems, and the like from this early build alone. But if the rest of the experience is anything like the opening hours, Wild Hearts could be the first major blow to Monster Hunter’s dominance in quite some time.