Wild Hearts (video game)

Wild Hearts is a 2023 action role-playing video game developed by Omega Force and published by Electronic Arts under its EA Originals label.

Players assume the role of a nameless hunter, who must embark on quests to hunt down massive monsters known as Kemono in the world of Azuma.

The Hunter finds a small piece of Karakuri technology from a mummified corpse before battling a large, ice wielding wolf kemono.

This however attracts the attention of a gigantic Kemono called Earthbreaker, who hungers for the town's concentration of celestial thread after it was diverted from its territory.

While out on a mission with Ujishige in the Natsukodachi Isle the duo notice that the environment, normally rocky and aquatic, has become completely frozen over and spot the same ice wolf kemono that nearly killed the Hunter, now called Deathstalker; deeming it responsible for the drastic environmental changes.

Ujishige reveals to the Hunter that he was once a retainer for the daimyo who governed from the Fuyufusagi Fort until kemonos led by the Deathstalker turned the area into a frozen wasteland.

The Hunter and Ujishige further confirm Surazan's findings after discovering that other power kemono variants are migrating far from their usually habitats and are drastically altering the natural environment.

Mujina arrives and warns the Hunter that the kemonos’ increasingly aggressive and desperate search for scarce celestial threads is sending Azuma into chaos.

[5] The team did not make Wild Hearts an installment in the Toukiden series because they felt that the game had its own distinct presentation and combat mechanics.

[10][11][12] Rock Paper Shotgun enjoyed the title's building mechanics, saying it made the player feel "less of a mythical superhero and more of a desperate inventor", but criticized how poor performance was on Windows.

[28] Eurogamer praised the game's feudal Japan-inspired world, "it's beautiful stuff – and even more impressive once rampaging Kemono start smashing it to bits".

[30] NPR praised the game's monster appearance and power design, saying "stunning and enormous animals superpowered by primal nature".

[31] The PlayStation 5 version of Wild Hearts was the second bestselling retail game during its first week of release in Japan, with 26,905 physical copies being sold across the country.