Team Omega Force and Electronic Arts have shared a new story trailer for Wild Hearts, explaining the backstory for Team Omega Force’s take on the hunting genre.
Wild Hearts is set in one vaguely Japanese village called Minato. The narrator describes the appearance of the Kemono, giant monsters that ravage the village and harm the villagers who live in it, as a catastrophe.
We also meet a few of the main villagers, who do replicate the way the village and villagers are laid out in Monster Hunter, but this time, we have real names and personalities behind each villager.
Natsume is described as “the blacksmith forged by love and loss.” It seems she is being set up as one of the most important characters in the game, as she features prominently in the trailer. Of course, you will be going to her if you need help with your weapons.
Ujishige Daidouji is “a former soldier forced to confront his past.” Seren is a person “whose loyalty holds the whole town together.”
Finally, Suzuran is “our resident scientist.” With that role, it seems she is pegged as the villager you go to to get help for your Karakuri. There is one more character shown in the trailer but not named there. They are named in the website, as Mujina. Not much is known about Mujina, it seems they may even be hiding their identity behind a mask. But the trailer does show them holding what appears to be a partly opened cube with light emanating from it. Is it a puzzle? Is it related to the Karakuri?
If you’ve followed the previews of the game, you may already know that the Celestial Thread is the mysterious Macguffin that powers both the Kemono you hunt and the Karakuri weapons you hunt them with. This trailer describes your actions as “restoring the Celestial Thread that binds us all.” It seems that in the Wild Hearts universe, the Celestial Thread is similar to the Chinese concept of ki energy.
The trailer also describes the Kemono as noble beasts, whose Celestial Thread the villagers must take to “weave to our own purposes.” It all seems to suggest that there’s an even bigger story behind this, that takes the game farther than Monster Hunter’s basic “hunt for food and clothing” premise. Are the Kemono being controlled by something else? What do the villagers know about Celestial Thread?
The Kemono are also described as “evolving.” So is there something or someone changing the beasts themselves? And is that power something the villagers can eventually use themselves? It’s all quite mysterious but also compelling.
Wild Hearts will be releasing on February 17, 2023, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. If you have Game Pass Ultimate, you also get a free ten hour trial via Game Pass. You can watch the trailer below.
