Don't say sayonara to these Wild Hearts yet

The world of Wild Hearts is getting even more in March. Koei Tecmo and Electronic Arts have teased a new Kemono arriving in Wild Hearts in March, alongside more content.

This new beast to hunt seems to be fire-based, according to the teaser posted on social media. The "torrid inferno" and volcano emoji certainl??y brings to mind some smoldering concepts for a new Kemono to hunt through Azuma.

//twitter.com/pl?a?yWildHearts/status/1631090551645667328

More content is expected to arrive in March, though today's teaser doesn't specify if that means more Kemonos or other content. Regardless, it does look like speedy Wild Hearts players will?? have even more to tackle in th??e coming month.

Hearts young and wild and free

It hasn't been all that long since Wild Hearts landed on newer consoles and PC, back on February 17. Still, it sounds like players have mostly enjoyed Omega Force's return to t?he monster-hunting format, with lots of building and action to go around.

With content already slated for March, it looks like support will be here for at least the short term. For the hunting fans at home, I hope it's a sign of a decent lifespan on this game. February was an absolutely stacked month, with way too many games for any one person to get around to. But Wild Hearts certainly seems like it's been worth it to check ou?t, for anyone who likes to take down big mo?nsters and gradually gear up as they do so.

The post Wild Hearts teases a?? new Kemono and more t?o come in March appeared first on Destructoid.

Wild Hearts will stir up your PC

Wild Hearts will be a current generation-only game, meaning that you'll need a hardy rig to get the game running on PC. These Wild Hearts PC system requ?irements ma??y need you to open up your wallet and upgrade your gaming setup.

If you don't have the specs and are strapped for cash and have a console at hand, you should be happy to know that there's full crossplay between all systems. Regardless, below you'll find all of the Wild Hearts PC system requirements and recommended settings that publisher EA Originals and d??eveloper Koei Tecmo have published.

Wild Hearts PC system requirements

[caption id="attachment_361932" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via EA / Koei Tecmo[/caption]

2023 seems to be the beginning of the end for those who have a PS4, Xbox One, and ultimately an outdated PC. More games like Wild Hearts and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will be leaving earlier platforms in the dust. This means that you may need to beef up your PC if you want to play this epic monster-hunting game. Here are all the Wild Hearts system requirements you'll need:

• OS: 64-bit Windows 10
• Processor: Intel Core i5-8400 / AMD Ryzen 5 2600
• Memory: 12 GB RAM
• Graphics: GeForce GTX 1060 (VRAM 6GB) / Radeon RX 5500 XT (VRAM 8GB)
• DirectX: Version 12
• Storage: 80 GB

You'll also need a stable internet connection to get into the chaos of Wild Hearts and join y?our buddies in their fight ??against these beasts.

Wild Hearts Recommended Hardware

[caption id="attachment_361935" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via EA / Koei Tecmo[/caption]

To experience Wild Hearts in all of its graphical glory, you'll need an impressive graphics card and 16GB of RAM. Let's go over all the recommended hardware that should be in your PC for the best performance of Wild Hearts.

• OS: 64-bit Windows 10
• Processor: Intel Core i7-8700K / AMD Ryzen 5 3600
• Memory: 16 GB RAM
• Graphics: GeForce RTX 2070 (VRAM 8GB) / Radeon RX 5700 XT (VRAM 8GB)
• DirectX: Version 12
• Storage: 80 GB

On the Steam page for the game, EA and Koei Tecmo recommend you also use a surround sound system or headset to get the most immersive experience possible within Wild Hearts. It might be worth the expenditure if our preview is anything to go by.

Related: Does Wild Hearts have Haptic Feedback? �Answered on Prima Games

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Paradise Lost

This week sees the launch of Electronic Arts period-piece adventure Wild Hearts, the mythical action-RPG set within the age of feudal Japan �Developer Omega Force, of Dynasty Warriors fame, has released a new trailer introducing players to the village?? and people of Minato, located deep within the beautiful overworld known as Azuma.

Wild Hearts will present players will a fresh take on the... well... the Monster Hunting genre that has proven especially popular in recent years. The player will take up the mantle of a custom hunter, and team with the people of Minato on a quest to track and defeat a menagerie of behemoth beasts known as "The Kemono" ?�utilizing each creature?'s soulful "Celestial Thread" in order to renovate and rebuild the province of Azuma before it is lost completely.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=_grFGQ2oWUQ&t

As you can see from the trailer above, Wild Hearts will boast some amazing and awe-inspiring creature designs, while o??ffering up a selection of varied weaponry, gear, and elemental skills in order to aid our hunters in their battles with these incredible land gods. From the village of Minato, the player will enlist the help of various arts, from alchemists to healers, blacksmiths to guides, in order to best prepare for the long and hazardous journeys that lie ahead.

Hone finely crafted skills of the "Karakuri" in order to build a variety of environmental traps and defenses, and experiment ?with a wide arsenal of weapons in order to best equip you and your party for the hunt. And looking at some of the monsters on display in this preview, you're probably going to need all of the help you can get. I mean, I'd come with you, but I've got a bit of a bad back. There in spirit, though.

Wild Hearts launches February 17 on PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X. Be sure to check out our own Chris Carter's initial thoughts in his Review-in-Progress.

The post Wild Hearts trailer introduces the village and people of? Minato appeared first on Destructoid.

Hopefully it stays fun

When we last checked in with Wild Hearts, I was pleased at how unique the game wor??ld was, and how it differentiated itself from the rest of the hunting genre. Four months later with the final build in my hands and the launch swi??ftly approaching, I feel roughly the same.

[caption id="attachment_363055" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

For me, the main draw of Wild Hearts is the setting. Taking place in the constantly changing and mysterious land of Azuma, it feels like pretty much anything can happen. An ice wolf can drop by and change the arena into an arctic setting. A creature can breathe fire and wreck havoc in an idyllic? forest. Of course most of these sequences are scripted and deal with the introduction of big bosses (the subjects ??of the hunt), but it's still exciting in the context of a first-time playthrough.

It also has a good Koei Tecmo action core to boot. The key to all this is the Karakuri system, which are basically magically conjured tools, adding a bit of construction into the hunting formula. The very first Karakuri you acquire is a platform, which can also be used as a spring board to launch you into enemies. Slowly but surely, you start to realize the additional use scenarios for Karakuri, like pla??????????????????????????cing platforms to block attacks and create a makeshift barrier, and so on.

On performance mode, everything plays out smoothly, amid the vibrant visuals. While the story hasn't grabbed me yet (despite being a chunk into the game), the world is driving me forward, and I don't have any major complaints about the action sequences yet. The additional of a "sliding dodge" (triggered when pressing the dodge button while sprinting) feels comically over the top at ??first, but really helps the player character avoid some of the crazier attacks from bosses.

So far, I have been able to experiment a bit with online multiplayer; and in the pre-launch period, things have been going swimmingly. The game will ask me if I want to call for help whenever fighting a big hunt target, and I'll always just hit "yes" just to see what happens??. Every other fight someone joins in and answers the call, usually with a completely different main weapon and Karakuri setup.

[caption id="attachment_363057" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Seeing all of the different weapons work in tandem is how Wild Hearts really comes tog??ether. As I generally brave close combat situations and serve as the bait, other players use combos of ranged and hit and run weapons, bringing in Karakuri synergy of their? own. I've had a blast trying out new strategies and loadouts too on lower priority targets, as it feels like there's just enough weapons to do that without things getting too overbearing.

We've he??ard from Koei Tecmo for months that the game is supposed to be 30 hours long, and hopefully it keeps up the pacing I've experienced throughout that runtime. But most impor??tantly, hunter genre fans are going to want to know if this game is going to be a flash in the pan, or something they want to invest in for months on end.

Even if it doesn't meet those expectations (and some post-launch patches and DLC never arrive), I'm glad I took the plunge and played through everything I've seen so far. This is a gorgeous game, and as a purely atmospheric action romp, it's hitting a lot of good notes. Expect our full review of Wild Hearts closer to launch.

The post Review in Progress: Wild Hearts appeared first on Destructoid.

Yosuke Hayashi of Koei Tecmo gave us a bit of background on the project too

Recently, press were able to attend a Wild Hearts hands-on session, and the game is shaping up to turn some heads when it arrives on February 17, 2023.

Here's how things are shaking out so far, with a bit of background from Koei Tecmo producer Yosuka H?ayashi, and executive producer of EA Originals, Lewis Harvey.

Koei Tecmo says it has "unfinished business in the hunting game genre"

Hayashi kicked things off with a pre-recorded message, and specifically brought up the Toukiden series up (which had releases in 2013 and 2016) as part of Koei Tecmo's his?tory with the genre: and noted that the company had "unfinished business" with hunting games.

Wild Hearts is very much inline with his thesis for what he wanted another hunting game to be about: "an action game everyone ca??n play together." "Four years in the making," this hunting game brings Kemonos (monsters) front and cen??ter, with "animal and nature" fusing together (in many cases, literally) to form the setting.

Before heading out, Hayashi noted that EA has the "?global experience Tecmo Koei lacks," so the partnership was a good fit for them.

[gallery link="file" columns="2" ids="347010,?347009"]

Here's how EA helped Koei Tecmo with Wild Hearts

As fo??r what help EA gave explicitly, the "full force" of the partnership was employed; things like "user research" (testing/data to fine tune the game), and reaching a "broader, more western audience," wi?th "tutorialization, onboarding, and clarity of UI and mechanics."

You can really see this in action when playing the opening moments of Wild Hearts, as the tutorial involves a straightforward hunt that showcases the game's dynamic environments and some basics. There's a lot going on with this game (especially with th?e traps), and most of it is clearly communication on-screen.

"You can climb any [monster] in the game"

Following up on Hayashi's focus on the Kemonos themselves, Lewis Harvey calls them the "stars of the show," as giant nature-infused beasts. They'll apparently represent a "tremendous challenge" for players, with an emphasis on?? craft?ing to gain more of an edge. Crafting will "take enemies down while traversing the world, to build it back up."

Crafting is also baked into the lore, as you're apparently one of the very few people who can actually create new technology to take on the looming and out of control threat from the Kemonos. This includes magic-like building of structures, giant walls an enemy can smash into, or huge hammers that can stun. Ziplines, camps, human catapults, an umbrella gliding tool, and more are talked about and showcased in the Wild Hearts demo.

Harvey explains that there will be "over 200 variations for weapon loadouts," when putting crafting into mix, and you can change up your weapons and armor with some form of a transmog system (where you can alter the app??earance of your armor). Weapon types teased include a blade and shield combo, a bow (with an ultimate charged shot ability), and a staff that can transform into five different weapon types (the demo starts you out with a katana).

The Kemono modifying themselves based on the environment, which is very impressive looking (as you can see in the trailer below). An enraged king tusk boar-like creature, a lava back gorilla, and a giant hawk were all rattled off, among the ones we've seen so far. "You can climb any Kemono in the game," Harvey says, and brings up a comparison to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but I see shades of Shadow of the Colossus in there too.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbJPkCD9ZTs

Friends can "party up at camps and play through the entire game"

As for multiplayer, Harvey explains that although Wild Hearts was tested with different player counts, three players in total is ultimately where they landed from a balance perspective. In terms of scaling, Wild Hearts will "dynamically scale its difficulty," including scaling for solo play; and will ratch??et up or down as people join your session.

One big element of the multiplayer system is going to be the traps, and mixing and matching strategies and different builds. You'll also get to "party up at camps and play through the entire game," which includes every facet of Wild Hearts. During a demo of multiplayer, we saw that you'll be able to op?en the world map? and select a monster, then matchmake into a hunt. You'll also see local hunters in your area. If you're alone, you'll have a companion.

Harvey clarifies that "every player gets their own rewards/loot," so no one is going to get screwed out of drops. Full cross-play is also reconfirmed across the announced PC, PS5, an??????????????????????????d Xbox Series X platform??s.

So far, Wild Hearts has a lot of promise

Kicking things off, the aforementioned tutorial really let me become acquainted with the visual style, and I'm going to love exploring this world. It looks fant??astic, and nearly every character/enemy model I've seen so far is pronounced. Even little critters are fully of personality, and the "four seasons" approach is a genius way to automatically meld some style into the universe.

Mechanically, Wild Hearts feels tight (inline with the action focus Hayashi mentioned), and a key component involves free movement, with a dodge governed by a meter (which can be swapped to a running slide dodge, which slides a ?a sufficiently over-the-top character-action distance). You can climb on certain surfaces and bigger monsters, but you'll need to physically press a grab button (RB/R1) to latch on.

Wild Hearts quickly shows off the important of elevation. Early on you can conjure up crates (hold LB/L1 and press X), which can be stacked, and trigger a little plunger to push you up at the top. Not only do you need them to get from place to place (especially when cliffs are involved), but you can also adapt new combat strategies with them. I started to pick up on creating vantage points, which I could leap off of and quickly trigger a lungi??ng attack. The combo system seems rewarding and deep enough so ??far, especially with how elegantly the dodge mechanic is woven into everything.

So how big will the game be? While H?arvey said that there's more info coming, it will take "30 hours to get through the story, with a hell of a lot more content throughout." Omega Force apparently has an endgame concept in mind that won't get grindy, but future support is "TBD," officially. Harvey? notes that all of this is currently a work in progress, and they'll announce "what they know when they can."

Wild Hearts looks gorgeous, and the action-centric focus does it a lot of favors. It's also great to see Omega Force get out of their rece??nt wheelhouse, and ideally, the EA partnership gave them a chance to work with a bigger budget and extra time to smooth things over. Given how long this has been in development for, and how it plays already, I have good feelings about? this one.

We deserve ?some real competition in the hunter genre space.

The post Hands-on: EA and Omega Force’s Wild Hearts looks fantastic so far appeared first on Destructoid.

"An epic adventure set in a fantasy world inspired by feudal Japan"

Just a few weeks ago we learned that Wild Hearts was now in the mix: an action game from the minds over at Omega Force and...Electronic Arts? Hunting games are rising in popularity even more so thanks to the success of Monster Hunter World and Rise, and now more companies are getting back into the genre that once flourished on platforms like the PSP. Thanks to its debut trailer, we now have a better id??ea of wh??at to actually expect.

Described as "the land of the beast," the game's world (Azuma) seems to be fairly varied, with several different biomes. We see that the area is "fraught with danger," as the player character fights giant monsters (Kemono, which were once peaceful) with unconventional weapons like umbrellas and wooden helicopte?r tools; in addition ?to more traditional kits like katanas.

Building traps and structures seems to be a big part of the gameplay in Wild Hearts. Multiplayer capabilities are in too (to add "up to two friends" with cross-play), and the building mechanic lends itself well to multiple people creating things in tandem and working together. When I said "giant monsters" earlier I meant it too, as the footage shows off some huge ones, almost Shadow of the Colossus style. Based on the style and the building concept, I'm intrigued! It doesn't look like a Monster Hunter clone to me.

After the stream we were sent a brief explainer from Yosuke Hayashi, executive VP of Koei Tecmo, on the philosophy behind the game: "Wild Hearts opens up a vibrant fantasy world to players that’s as untamed as it is beautiful. With Wild Heart, not only did we want to showcase the evolution, infusion and real threat caused by Kemono, but we also wanted to create a game where crafting was at the core of the experience, redefining what can be possible in a beast hunting game. We have placed great care in designing our Karakuri to fit within the combat, and we’re excited for players to use these powerful mechanisms to fight giant beasts and traverse the world.�/p>

More info on Wild Hearts is coming on October 5

Wild Hearts is out on February 17, 2023 on current-generation consoles and PC ??(Steam and Epic Games Store are both planned for launch, as well as Origin) for $69.99 (yep, we're at that era now). English, Japanese, French, Italian, German and Spanish voiceovers are confirmed.

Surely we'll learn more before then (potentially on the official site) beyond this two-and-a-half-minute debut trailer.?? EA is already teasing another October 5 "extended gameplay reveal."

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxcnwH8TPEg

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