In all my time covering games, I have seen some partnerships revealed that make a ton of sense, but I have also seen some that don’t make much sense at all. Then there was the Koei Tecmo/EA Originals announcement, that one not only came out of left field, but promised something big in the hunting of monsters genre. A week later we got the reveal trailer and the first details and then EA were kind enough to invite me to play the game early and I now understand what is going on.

There is no denying it, the game bares a striking resemblance to Monster Hunter and that is because that series established the genre, its why Metroidvania exists as a genre. The biggest difference for this game is the speed in which everything happens, you move faster, enemies move faster, the world itself is faster. But before we get into that, lets delve into the lore of the world, especially because the lore connects to one of the games major mechanics, building. The developer is Omega Force, the group best know for the Warriors series of games, but they have also released a hunting game many years ago, so Wild Hearts is their return to the genre. In the game, the world of Azuma and it is filled with creatures from teeny tiny, to massive and monstrous and as a hunter, it is your job to take them down, except the larger monsters – known as Kemono, are extremely fast, dangerous and unrelenting. While your character is perfectly capable of taking down smaller foes, larger ones are beyond you, until your luck runs out and you are annihilated, left to die in the snow. That is where a mysterious stranger comes in and using a small cube you found earlier, they tend to your wound and bring you back to the land of the living.

That cube is where the games biggest change from Monster Hunter comes in, it allows you to craft Karakuri, items that can help you out in battle or just to get around the world. Think Monster Hunter X Fortnite and you will get an idea of what to expect, the crafting is fast and can be used in some inventive ways in combat, but more than that, it lets you modify the world to suit your play style. It is vital that you understand just what Karakuri can do, not only do they let you set up camps that you can return to when you venture back out into the world, they can also let you establish zip lines to help you get around, but their biggest gain is in combat. Depending on the weapon that you choose to fight with, sword, bows, giant hammers, or one of the many others, finding the right Karakuri to allow you to make full use of them, is going to take some time.

So with all that, how does playing the game feel, well its hard to judge. The build that I was given access to was clearly a work in progress, there were animations that didn’t work, the game faded in objects right in front of me and more. But, from the portion that did run smoothly, I came away impressed and a lot of that is again due to the speed and the building. Karakuri can be as simple as a box, a little more complicated as a springboard, and then beyond that massive traps and damaging options. The first major fight that I got into, had me taking on a giant mouse, but as with all the Kemono, it was corrupted by nature and was covered with trees and other assorted fauna. It’s tail however was the big threat, as it was massive and could be swung around like a flail or brought down from above like a massive hammer. After taking it down, which required tracking it down when it ran away, I was allowed to explore a little more and of course, someone wanted some help, which lead me to my first big boss fight.

This fight took place inside the lair of a not-spider creature, but one who behaved as if they were a spider, only they used amber instead of webs. This required some serious adjustment to my run in and wave the sword around like a mad person, but of the amber that would coat the ground, making it very hard to do so. This is where my use of the Karakuri really shined, at first building boxes was all I could do and that was great for building platforms to climb up ledges, in combat however it changes things up. When you build a box, you can stack a few of them and climb to the top and once you get up there, your character will automatically leap from it, allowing you to do a power smash attack, how it works with a weapon like a bow, I don’t know. This beast though was a real challenge, as it would constantly roll up and smash through my towers, because they are not one-use items, you can keep using them as long as you want. The other Karakuri that I had access to in this fight was the springboard, which sounds like it would launch you up into the air, but instead it does it to the side. Using a combination of leaping attacks, side attacks and heavy attacks, I was able to take down the beast, but it was a real challenge.

Something that you can do and while I had the chance, I wasn’t able to make use of it, is attack a Kemono’s weak points, which are usually revealed through combat, or should you scale them. Attacking those points will reward you with some resources, but more over it will deal massive damage to the beast. For the smaller ones, accessing this points won’t be much of a challenge, but for the larger ones, you will have to climb them like in Shadow of the Colossus and while they won’t be puzzle focused, the game makes use of a stamina system, ala Breath of the Wild, so climbing will still pose a risk. That stamina system also comes into play during fights, dodging or unleashing heavy attacks will cost stamina and if you run out, you won’t be able to do either and trust me dodging is something you will want to do. When you are not in combat, the stamina system doesn’t make an appearance, so you can run to your hearts content, but climbing still makes use of it.

My time with the game was not as long as I would have liked, but it did wet the appetite for more monster hunting. It is easy, at a surface look, to just say it’s a Monster Hunter clone and for a few aspects you would be right, but the games speed alone renders that comparison void. The real jewel of the game is the Karakuri, being able to build towers where you want, ziplines to get around and more, makes it feel like you are impacting the world in meaningful ways. The interesting part is that other players can come to your world and you go to theirs, to see what is being done, giving you insight to maybe try different things, but just be aware that the Kemono can take down your structures, they are wild beasts after all. There is plenty more that I got to see that I can’t talk in detail about, there is a character creator, skills to learn and unlock, a cooking system and so much more, but from what I can talk about, things are looking good. Of course, the game is still in active development, so things can change and polish will be applied to it before it releases, or at least it should, so while the build was rough, that shouldn’t be the case when its available to all.

Wild Hearts is a game I enjoyed playing, not only because it was a new take on Monster Hunter, but because it was so very different at the same time. The ability to play with mates will surely make this one to keep an eye on and of course, the Kemono will challenge the most veteran of hunters around, but that is what makes things fun.