Koei Tecmo revealed a lot of small details for their upcoming stylish hunting crafting game, Wild Hearts.
The conceit behind Wild Hearts is that all these giant monsters, named the Kemono, are running lawless in the very Japan-like world of Azuma. Your entry into Azuma changes everything, as you can hunt these Kemono down using an ancient, craftable, technology called Karakuri.
When Wild Hearts launches this February 16, 2023, to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows via Steam, it will only have twenty Kemono to hunt. These are expected to be large and difficult battles for each Kemono. After all, this game is in the same genre as Capcom’s Monster Hunter. That’s still less game than fans were probably expecting for a full retail release. But, there’s good news attached to this, as was revealed in the official Wild Hearts AMA on reddit.
The good news is Koei Tecmo is making all the DLC coming after its launch free. What this means is that Koei Tecmo planned for Wild Hearts to be the kind of game that would keep growing and growing after launch. This design will definitely reward the earliest players for playing first and getting farther than everyone else. But this also encourages other players to join via word of mouth, as it eventually builds a community.
It’s definitely a pleasant surprise as Wild Hearts’ publisher Electronic Arts had to have signed off on this. It should be noted that it is launching with some DLC. The Karakuri edition comes with these extra items, all Karakuri:
- An exclusive Emote (Ferocious Kemono)
- 5 exclusive Chat Stamps (Poker face, Just woke up, Praying, Besties, Sleepy)
- 2 full armor sets (Karakuri Samurai + Karakuri Ninja)
- A Decorative Tsukumo Lantern
- 3 Emotes (Fighting Spirit, Grovel, Conch)
There is also this pre-order content:
- Emote (Ferocious Kemono)
- 5 Chat Stamps (Poker face, Just woke up, Praying, Besties, Sleepy)
Wild Hearts developers did make it clear that they will not be adding microtransactions to the game after the fact. There will definitely be more Kemono after launch, but their priority here is quality over quantity, so Koei Tecmo may drop new Kemono once in a blue moon.
As implied in the trailer, the Kemono do fight each other but it isn’t a common occurrence.
There are other gameplay elements that Koei Tecmo still hasn’t revealed to the public. For example, there are eight different types of weapons, and elements will have a huge role to play in the game. The weapon types were apparently balanced out so that they are all equally capable of meeting any challenges you come across in the game. They will be sharing more details on these things in the weeks leading to launch.
There is a solo mode for the game, and it is only this mode which will allow you to pause. You can also play the solo mode completely offline.
Azuma itself is made of four areas, but the world map is dynamically created. In fact, it will expand and shrink in accordance to how many players join a session at one time.
Sadly, Wild Hearts will not be officially supported on the Steam Deck at launch. That doesn’t mean that the game will not be playable on the device, but if it doesn’t work for Deck players upon release, they may have to wait for a fix, either from other players or from Koei Tecmo themselves.
