By exploring the game's hidden forest, the runaways encounter several characters known as Greenshields that will help them in their battle against the darkness that is trying to take over the world.

[4] Early development began in 2017/2018 with initial art style, characters and story concepts being completed by Moonlight Kids, a small team spread between Portland and Atlanta.

[6] A demo was shown at the ID@Xbox event at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco; it featured a young boy named Wake walking through a dreamlike environment before getting dropped into a fantastical world full of monsters.

[10] Kyle LeClair of Hardcore Gamer rated the game 3/5 points, calling it fun and whimsical but criticizing its "excessive mechanics".

[5] The Wild at Heart was officially selected during Day of the Devs 2018, and Indie Mega Booth for both GDC 2019 and PAX 2020.