As a long-time gamer, I have been fascinated by the Monster Hunter series for years. However, it was not until Monster Hunter World that the genre truly clicked with me, and I keep returning to this year’s Monster Hunter Wilds. I usually play it with friends, slaying giant dinosaurs or dragons while catching up. So, when I was asked to review Wild Hearts for the Nintendo Switch 2, I was excited to try out another developer’s take on this gaming niche. But will Koei Tecmo be able to keep up with Capcom and claim the title of the go-to hunting game on the Switch 2? Let’s find out together.

Welcome (back) hunter

Wild Hearts is an action RPG developed by Koei Tecmo’s Omega Force and published by EA. It was originally released for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC in February 2023. This new version of the game sees the franchise venture into new territory: the Nintendo Switch 2. For those unfamiliar with the franchise, Wild Hearts is a hunting game. Players must hunt big game to harvest resources, upgrade their weapons and armour, and repeat this cycle. If you are now thinking, ‘Oh, like Monster Hunter!’, then you are correct.
The game takes you to the Land of Azuma. A land mostly inspired by feudal Japan. Samurai roam the land, but they aren’t the most important social class in this game. It’s the hunters that matter. The land is also home to fearsome Kemuno beasts who threaten the lives of the locals, and it is your job as a hunter to keep them in check.

When it comes to your hunt, you have two major assets at your disposal. First and foremost, you need a weapon. There are many different options, but here is a brief summary of them all:

• Katana Karakuri: This katana lets you unleash a flurry of wide blows and slashes.
• Bow: One of two ranged weapons. You need to aim and fire arrows from a distance with this one.
• Nodachi: A giant sword that is slower than the katana, but hits much harder on impact.
• Maul: A slow but heavy-hitting hammer that specialises in blunt attacks.
• Bladed Wagasa: A parasol that lets you block monster attacks, boosting your damage, and jump through the air to attack from above.
• Karakuri Staff: A versatile weapon that changes shape during battle.
• Hand Cannon: The second ranged weapon. It shoots celestial thread drawn from the world around it.
• Claw Blade: A small bladed weapon that allows you to attach a thread to the beast, facilitating a wide variety of attacks.

Each of these weapons offers a different gameplay style. Would you prefer to get up close and deal a lot of damage with a series of small stabs, or keep your distance and shoot your target? The choice is yours.
However, all hunters have one thing in common: the ancient technology known as Karakuri. This power enables you to construct objects during your hunt. You can even combine them to create larger contraptions. For example, you could build a wall to stop charging beasts or a hammer that recoils back and deals major damage when it hits. The Karakuri system brings a breath of fresh air to a game that wears its influences on its sleeve. It mixes a gameplay mechanic that I can only describe as Fortnite building with traditional hunting gameplay, and it’s great for traversal and movement during hunts.

Upgrades

But what’s new in the Land of Azuma? Unfortunately, not much has been added to this game: all the monsters and weapons are the same as in the base game. There are no new additions to the roster. In other words, the game comes with everything that was later added to the original Wild Hearts, but it brings nothing new to the table. Only some balancing updates have been made regarding difficulty and weapon damage.
However, one thing has changed in the S version. The maximum number of players per party has increased from three to four. Whether this will be seen as a significant improvement remains to be seen, but I’m curious to see how long-time players will respond to this change.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

So, what do I think of this game, which tries to incorporate so many of the concepts I like? Let me start by listing the things I like about Wild Hearts.
I find the setting very interesting and immersive. The Japanese influences don’t seem out of place. Even the occasional switching between the English and Japanese names of beasts doesn’t bother me. The historic old towns, overgrown by nature and reclaimed by Kemono, are beautiful, and getting lost in the overworld is a joy. It also puts its story front and centre in the opening hours. Although it didn’t immediately captivate me, It sets up some intriguing mysteries and makes this strange world seem all the more believable. Even the beasts themselves, giant creatures overgrown with plant life, look like real-world species (even if they are sometimes freaks of nature).

As I mentioned earlier, the Katakuri objects that you can summon provide a wide range of gameplay options. This is true in their impressive combined states and in their smaller forms. For example, it’s fun to jump at a monster from a stack of Katakuri boxes or launch yourself forward on a spring.
That being said, there is still a lot that needs improving. The fundamentals of hunting are sound, and each weapon has its strengths, but some feel much more powerful than others. I started the game with the Nodachi, but after trying out all the weapons, I switched to the Bladed Wagasa. This weapon felt more original to me since the Nodachi is clearly Monster Hunter’s greatsword, the maul is the hammer and the Katana is the longsword. The Wagasa felt unique, and it was great fun to play with. However, after moving to the second area of the game, I suddenly hit a wall. My hunts usually took around 15 minutes alone, but this flying squirrel-based Spine Glider took almost an hour. Eventually, I had to switch to the hammer to smack it enough to make it stay down. I may not always be the hunter who carries the party, but even with my experience of the genre, I thought it was unfair.
After this experience, I decided to go online. However, I found that there were no other players. I managed to do a group hunt twice. On both occasions, there was one additional player, but never a fully stacked party. It’s a shame, because I played during launch week and expected more players. What’s more, there is no cross-play for this game, so friends who already have it on other platforms can’t join your hunts on Switch 2.

Last but not least, I wanted to mention this game’s graphical performance. I am by no means a purist, but it doesn’t quite meet the basic standards. For example, my character’s clothing would sometimes glitch after a cutscene. Some textures in the game also look muddy and dated, despite the extra power of the Switch 2. It seems they prioritised the frame rate over everything else, because I also struggled to get the HDR balancing right on my TV, and I’ve never had a problem with that monitor before, even with other Switch 2 games.
The biggest graphics-related letdown for me was when I hunted the giant boar Kingtusk, the apex predator of the first area in the game. It’s a large creature, but during the hunt, when I got up close, I could see more of the inside of the beast than its well-designed exterior. Perhaps it is because of these graphical issues that Koei Tecmo decided to use the PS5 to capture gameplay footage instead of the Switch 2 for their promotional material. I think this game needed more development time, and it seems to me that they just released it to beat Capcom’s Monster Hunter to the console.

Conclusion

Wild Hearts S is Koei Tecmo’s first hunting game to be released on Nintendo consoles, in this case the Switch 2. While it has a promising start with varied monsters and weapons, as well as its own original building mechanics, the game is hindered by difficulty spikes and occasionally unfair fights. Although the world is beautiful and immersive, the graphics are sometimes lacking, with muddy textures and a camera that often shows the inside of a monster rather than where you are hitting it. If you want to try the game, I suggest buying the cheaper original version on other platforms or playing the demo before purchasing it on Switch 2. However, if you’re set on a Japanese-inspired hunting experience on your brand new Switch 2, I’d recommend waiting for a bigger franchise to arrive or playing Monster Hunter Rise via the Switch 2’s backward compatibility.

6/10

Reviewed on Nintendo Switch 2