Wild Hearts is a monster-hunting game. Across the land of Azuma, a place inspired by feudal Japan, vast beasts shape the world as they roam and rampage. As a Hunter new to the land, you’re here to cull the fearsome creatures that are remaking the land to suit their needs. 

It is reminiscent of the world-conquering Monster Hunter series. The monsters, the armor, the weapons, and the co-op, are all there in both games, but the big trick that Wild Hearts pulls off helps it stand out from the shadow of the iconic series. Developers Omega Force, who were responsible for the vast action series like Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors, and the Toukiden series that previously touched on the hunting game genre, added a deep building system that thoroughly changes how you approach the hunt. 

Early on in Wild Hearts, the player is infused with Karakuri. It’s a form of technical magic that allows you to spawn items into the world at any time. They’re essentially deployables, and have a number of models and uses. In battle, it’s a little bit like Fortnite’s building system, except it has a wide range of prefabs that you can deploy. The most basic one is a crate that’s used in the game in a couple of ways. You can spawn them in to act as platforms to boost up a cliff, or you can use them to block the Kemono’s attacks (that’s the umbrella term for all beasts in the world), creating makeshift walls to hide behind to protect you from a blast or attack. Stacking them up in towers gives the perfect platform to leap from and perform a jumping attack. The boxy deployable is versatile. Another one that can help is a spring, which you can place at various points and will boost your Hunter in the direction they’re running. 

More interestingly, they’re persistent. You can destroy Karakuri that were tossed about in the middle of battle, but if you don’t, they’ll stay there forever. It can be quite fun to run through an area and see all your old battlements left in the land, a reminder of a battle long ago. And you can also prepare an area beforehand if you plan on returning and fighting a Kemono there again. Simply dropping a circle of spring Karakuri around will give you lots of additional movement boosts all over hunting grounds, helpful both in battle and to quickly move across the world. 

That persistence also gives you the opportunity to shape your world as you play. There are a number of advanced forms of Karakuri, such as tents and campfires. They can be placed down in specific areas called Dragon Lodes, creating a spawn for you to return to and expand with resources and crystals. You can put multiple camps down at once, which will allow you to fast-travel around the world, or have a place to spawn nearer a Kemono that’s previously pummeled you. If you like taking the scenic route, there’s a Karakuri for that, too. You can string ziplines across the land, crafting a personalized series of shortcuts that will remain there. When you host a multiplayer game, visitors to your game will be able to see and use your equipment and shortcuts. 

That we’re this far in and haven’t yet discussed the beast battles shows just how much the Karakuri brings to the game and genre. The depth of the system lets you build something truly powerful, with things like gliders, turrets, thumping hammers for battle, or passive items like paddle scoops that you can leave to collect fish from a river. 

The Kemono are exaggerated real-world creatures infused with natural elements. The Lavaback is a ranging gorilla suffused with lava. The Ragetail is a giant, angry rat that’s armored in flower petals. These creatures and more are there to be tracked and hunted ( you can set up a Karakuri hunting tower to ping their position). Though some are so big, you could spot them with a bag over your head. 

Battles are often multi-stage. For instance, beating down on a Sapscourge, a raccoon drenched in destructive sap, started off near the original spawn point, down by a river. The creature had a number of stun attacks and rolls, and it took all my Hunter’s sword skills--lots of big slashes--and Karakuri crate leaps to make a dent in its health. Karakuri won’t always survive if struck by a beast, so there was a lot of running about, quickly replacing my crate towers, and climbing and leaping back into battle. The Sapscourge eventually fled, and the same pattern repeated across a number of stops. This is a hunting game, after all, and these multi-stage fights are built to test your endurance as much as your skills. 

Luckily, there’s help. You can call in up to two other players, which allows friends or random players with an open game, to join you (should you want to help another player, each area has a Hunter Gate that will lead you to a selection of open games in that area). Crossplay across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X is supported. Grabbing a partner or two will scale up the danger of the battle, but it’ll also give you respite in the chaos as they draw the Kemono’s attention. Those precious moments let you gather resources, such as the Karakuri Thread, the main element required to build all the wonderful toys. 

More importantly, with additional players comes additional Karakuri to deploy. This is why the game has a relatively low number of players allowed within each world: in hunts, the Karakuri more than make up the numbers, and even with just three people playing, deployables can quickly fill out an area, creating interesting combos. A simple tower, from your perspective, can be a place to leap from and attack, but for another Hunter, it could be a place to fire arrows from, or leap from and deploy a glider. 

It’s not just the players that shape the world. At one point, I thought I was cleverly hiding behind a tree to gulp down a healing potion, but the Sapscourge simply snapped it into toothpicks and charged at me. 

A successful hunt has all sorts of resources and rewards. The base of eight weapons, including bows, swords, and even a battle umbrella, has up to 200 variations. Each has specific combos and situational attacks when combined with Karakuri. There’s armor to upgrade and more Karakuri to unlock as you battle. It’s a game packed with possibilities and upgrades. 

Wild Hearts is a bold, refreshing new addition to the hunting genre of games. It’s out Feb. 17, 2023 and can be wishlisted now on the Epic Games Store.