Wild Hearts Review – That’s Gaming

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Last month Wild Hearts came out and honestly, you just see Monster Hunter. Or is it just me, it immediately gives me Monster Hunter vibes. Whether you play the game alone or with your friends, you spend plenty of time hunting monsters in the map, this until you have toned them down so much that you can kill them. If you’re not familiar with either title, you might easily confuse them when someone talks about killing off monsters with mega weapons. Because both games have this. The difference might be in that Monster Hunter finds a bit more depth in its battles, these really give you a challenge, Wild Hearts opts for a more accessible choice here, making the entry level a lot lower. Call the game an entry into the Monster Hunter world, but a little different.

Actually, you can pretty much give EA credit for that, where Monster Hunter might put some people off, despite its large fan base. Is a pretty smart move to make an entry level version of such a game, where you as a casual gamer can also go. Sure you’ll find some depth in the game, but it’s different. Also the fighting has gone back to the basics a bit more, before you start making it difficult.

Well, once you complete the standard stuff in the game, then the game speeds up a bit and you’re actually thrown into the deep end right away. After all, you learn to swim best in situations like this. The game requires you to be ready for combat, not the depth of the game yet, but the fighting. You have a Katana at your disposal and with that you may take care of it for a while. You get to take on a Kemono, one of the creatures from Wild Hearts. It is a battle that immediately explains how the basics work and how the game is played. With that, it immediately lays a foundation.

The battles are therefore very similar to the competition, as it is not just hack and slash, you will have to play plenty of tricks and think smart. Watch the monster’s movements, check its attacks and its weaknesses. I am sometimes too impatient for this and fly full on, so this is not the right way. This results in dying often. But if you have found the patience and are good at dodging and timing then you will go loose on this game in no time.

I’m going to repeat myself a bit, but just like its counterpart, you also enter the fights here and you will quickly find that these will take some time, the monster will retreat when it weakens, because of this you have to go after it again. It is a cat and mouse game. If the beast is weakened enough it is possible to climb on it and inflict damage. All in all, the foundation of Wild Hearts is well laid if you look at this closely. The battles are difficult, but not completely impossible. If you run out of life and have no goodies to help you just as quickly, there is Karakuri, which is a kind of crafting system. With this you can make boxes, jump pads, all sorts of things and it can then give you that extra push in combat. You can also use the standard Karakuri as defense, put it cleverly and you block an attack. Of course, as you get further into the game you get more and more lavish options to create. It’s fun to fiddle with them and see what works best for you. Just make sure you have enough resources, because it’s a waste if you want to build something and you don’t have the resources.

Perhaps this is the most impressive thing in the game, it is innovative in a game like this. In addition to this you will also find an extensive skill tree, in which you can unlock new Karakuri. There is so much that it will take some time to unlock everything. You will encounter really nice items, but also items that you think, what good is this? But it’s there so I’m not complaining.

Besides this wonderful crafting system, you will find weapons in the game, of course. Each weapon can be upgraded, improving the use but also the visual aspect of these, which one you use is of course entirely up to you. You can choose more long range or more close combat. Each type has its advantages and disadvantages. Choice between damage or mobility. What weighs more heavily for you. It also gives each weapon its own play style and thus really exactly how you want it.

A small drawback of Wild Hearts is perhaps the diversity of monsters. There are plenty of them and some variations of them. But really unique monsters, there aren’t very many of those, unfortunately. Fortunately, fighting this Kemono is just a piece of satisfaction. In addition, you can simply enough invite some people to go hunting together. The game actually also invites you to play together, it’s just more fun and makes the hunt a lot better.

The game otherwise doesn’t feel very full, it’s fun to go through the various biomes and explore them, but really searching for secrets or hidden things you’re not going to find in this game. As such, the story is not very gripping and is a bit underwhelming as far as I’m concerned. It didn’t grab me for a moment and then you quickly forget about it. I just go monster hunting and that’s it. Fortunately, you do all this in a wonderfully rendered world. On the PS5 we played the game on, it looks great. There is a good character build, you can go wild to create your own character and the options there are ample.

With all this, Wild hearts is a wonderful entry for people who want to hunt some monsters. It lags in some ways against Monster Hunter, but it does have its own charm.