Wild Hearts review in progress: Azuma is beautiful and the use of Karakuri adds a whole new layer to hunting games
Here is our first impression of the game after spending some quality time in the world of Wild Hearts.
EA’s Wild Hearts is arriving soon on all major platforms. We currently have a review unit sent to us but for now, here is our first impression of the game after spending some quality time in the world of Wild Hearts. First off, Azuma is beautiful. Azuma is the game’s world which is inspired by feudal Japan. It’s a vibrant world filled with magical beasts to hunt.
Detailed character creation options
After a series of tutorials, in the beginning, to get you up to speed with the controls, you encounter a mysterious man. A couple of dialogues later, you start with the character creation.
I found a far more in-depth character-creation tool than I initially thought. There were many layers of detailing and options to choose from, especially for styling my character’s hair (which luckily matters the most to me).
Origin Story
Wild Hearts didn’t create a standardised version of who you choose to be, what kind of hunter you and what your story is. Instead, it lets you flesh out your own backstory through a conversation with the old man.
Each question naturally put forth in that conversation laid out grounds for you to create your own backstory like where you’re from, how you ended up here, what you’re looking for, why you want to hunt and more.
I came into the game, expecting an answer to what my character is doing in this magnificent forest. What I didn’t expect was that the game would in turn ask me to answer that question. It felt satisfying that I got to answer my own questions. Also, the ability to shape my own origin story had me slightly connected to my character already at this point.
Karakuri and Kemono
Wild Hearts is a game fundamentally built around the idea of Karakuri and Kemono. When I had first seen the trailer for Wild Hearts, seeing the use of Karakuri during combat made me instantly remember Fortnite. As I saw more and more of the game from developers Omega Force, I drew less comparison between the two. However, it was only when I played Wild Hearts that I saw how different the two really are in terms of gameplay.
The game’s Karakuri has a diverse range of uses which are not only limited to combat. There’s a strange power in Karakuri that flows throughout Azuma and from the looks of it, it is the key to solving everything that’s going wrong here.
In its most fundamental state, Wild Hearts is a hunting game. You gather Karakuri, take on a Kenomo (beasts of the game, forge and upgrade your weapons, and armour, and upgrade your Karakuri. Rinse and repeat.
At the same time, there are many layers to Wild Hearts so far that make me want to go back into this world. There’s a lot to explore and make use of. Karakuri creates workbenches, travel camps, Kenomo trackers and so much more, all that out of thin air. I also found a pet in the game and I’ve given him a name the moment I found out it was even possible.
Coming back to the serious stuff, I took on the game’s early beasts which are Ragetail, Sapscourge and Kingtusk. While the starting two weren’t much of a problem to deal with, Kingtusk is when things got a little challenging. With each battle, you realize how crucial Karakuri really is for battle and that mastering it is not just key to victory but satisfying as well. A variety of combat styles opens up with the use of Karakuri in battles.
So far, Wild Hearts is shaping up to be great fun just on my own. Wild Hearts has multiplayer functionality and allows players to team up with two more friends. Cherry on top is the crossplay feature and once again, that will create even more ways to take down the Kemono in Wild Hearts.
