Since Capcom seems reluctant to bring Monster Hunter Wilds or even World to Nintendo Switch 2, Omega Force and Koei Tecmo are more than happy to pick up the slack for them with Wild Hearts S, a new version of their monster-hunting action-RPG that’s (as of right now) exclusive to the Switch 2.
You might assume that Wild Hearts getting a new version with its own title treatment and exclusivity on Switch 2 would denote a whole array of new features and additions to the base game to justify the new release, but the changes are mostly under-the-hood stuff, like balance adjustments to weapons and armour that optimize equipment for difficult fights against high-level beasts (or “kemono,” as the game calls them), as well as the pacing of some fights in regards to when bosses flee once they’ve taken enough damage.
That being said, while those changes are valid and help make the gameplay smoother, especially for solo and duo players, Wild Hearts S crucially adds an extra player, with four hunters able to band together against the game’s many bosses. This especially helps against some of the trickier later-game bosses that require more than two people to bring them down.
You see, going into Wild Hearts, I had assumed it was an entry-level monster hunting game for those intimidated by Capcom’s juggernaut Monster Hunter series for whatever reason (gameplay mechanics, UI, amount of content, etc.), and that’s primarily what attracted me to this game in the first place.
So, is that what this game is? Well, yes, and no. Wild Hearts is much more about the hunt itself than building up your character and crafting your equipment to ready yourself for the game’s many monster battles like the Monster Hunter games generally are. Wild Hearts S is definitely more approachable in that sense, since there’s less micromanagement with crafting and upgrading gear overall than in Monster Hunter World, for instance.
That doesn’t mean you can just steamroll through all the battles with whatever gear looks good for you, however. Like the games that inspire it, Wild Hearts S requires investment and commitment to stay on top, with a modicum of grinding along the way. Granted, that’s not as strenuous a grind if you’re just wanting a few basic abilities for a selection of your most-used weapons, but if you wanna start filling up those weapon trees, you’d best take to the game’s four zones to hunt and re-hunt their respective kemono for the appropriate parts.
What sets Wild Hearts S apart from its contemporaries most is its Karakuri system. Very basically, they’re an ancient form-changing technology developed for hunters’ use with multifarious effects. They can be used for traversal, defence, and offence, and break down into three categories: Basic, Fusion and Dragon.
Basic Karakuri are your standard kit that can be used for any situation; things like crates, springs and torches, where you’re not restricted in their use, and can apply them whenever you need. Crates are useful for an extra boost to climb a particularly tricky rock-face with limited stamina, springs are useful for dashing around a combat arena to get the jump on a kemono, and torches, beyond their normal use, can add a fire effect to your weapon to deal extra damage during battles.
Fusion Karakuri are offensive and defensive and used exclusively in battle. There are over a dozen of these across the game, with some that are of course more effective than others, depending on the kemono that you’re facing. For melee-centric kemono, you can deploy a bulwark to temporarily get a breather while you apply healing items, or a pounder to deal major stun damage to an enemy with one hit. For aerial foes, you can take them down with a crossbow or use a chain trap to bind them to the earth when they temporarily come in to land.
Finally, Dragon Karakuri are purely for recreational and quality-of-life use. Things like hunting towers help you narrow down the locations of all the kemono in a given area, and flying vines provide you with ziplines to help traverse great distances and over elevated areas that are otherwise a chore to get to.
You’re never limited in the options at your disposal during battles or leading up to them, and there’s usually a way around whatever kemono battle you’re struggling with, or to streamline a tedious task you’re on to upgrade a certain type of gear, or to hand in a fetch quest. The Karakuri system might sound overwhelming but Wild Hearts S is surprisingly good at doling these things out to you gradually as you move through the story, so you can at least get some familiarity with a few of the upgrades before you’re given the next ones.
All told, I was certainly more comfortable with the way player onboarding was handled in Wild Hearts S than in Monster Hunter World or Wilds, but perhaps that’s just me.
Combat, on the whole, is certainly more fast, flashy and frantic than it was in any of the Monster Hunter games, and that definitely drew me into it more than anything else. You wield eight weapons in total: six melee and 2 ranged. Besides your standard katana and bow, you can eventually wield a clawblade, a light weapon that certainly exemplifies that “fast, flashy and frantic” sensibility more than any of the other ones, enabling you to grapple onto enemies and overwhelm them with sweeping spin attacks before retreating.
If you prefer the more slow and tactical approach, you can eventually wield both a nodachi and a cannon. The former looks more like Cloud’s buster sword from Final Fantasy VII and its attacks take more than a few seconds to hit, but will, of course, deal bigger damage per swing than any of the other weapons. The cannon is similar in that it won’t necessarily be useful on the faster flying enemies, but with some teamwork and/or the right use of some Karakuri traps, it can help dispatch grounded and stunned foes with an almighty blast.
However, since you can only carry one weapon with you at a time into battle, you’re forced to familiarize yourself with the weapon of your choosing. This decision is actually a boon for Wild Hearts S since, while it helps simplify the combat and makes it easier for you to pick a favourite out of the game’s arsenal, it also makes teamwork a lot more viable when fighting with three other players. Some weapons are more effective than others, so everyone has their part to play in each of the battles.
Many times in online games, lower-level players getting matched with high-level players can be intimidating and frustrating, often feeling as though one is clearly putting more effort in and getting more out of it than the other. Not necessarily here, though. With each of Wild Hearts S‘ kemonos having specific weaknesses, a lower-level player with a more effective weapon against a certain boss can easily contribute just as much, if not more so, than the high-level player in the party.
You don’t even need to worry about using the weapons if you lack confidence in your given skills and abilities. Thanks to the Karakuri system, you can easily play the supporting role by putting down armaments and defensive structures, or traversal tools to help the attacking players avoid damage. Wild Hearts S truly shines best as a four-player full party kemono-hunting experience.
So where does Wild Hearts fall short? Well, unfortunately, it’s mostly thanks to the (as of now) Switch 2-exclusive Wild Hearts S edition. In my opinion, there’s just not enough here to justify the designation of an all-new edition, separate from the base game version. Yes, you can now squad up with four players as opposed to three, and that’s certainly no small thing. There are also a couple of balance adjustments to help make earlier fights against high-level beasts easier.
However, that’s essentially it. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful for what new additions there are here, but the four-player change being new for this Switch 2-exclusive version means there’s no crossplay multiplayer, so you’re stuck with the player base of this system. Koei Tecmo has yet to release data on the sales numbers, but I will say that there were only a handful of times where I was able to get a full four-player party throughout the roughly 30-hour campaign, which isn’t ideal for a game with that as its key selling point.
Besides that, the visuals are fairly dated here, despite the new hardware, looking closer to the base PS4 version of the game than anything later. Wild Hearts S can be a very pretty game under the right circumstances, so it’s a shame that it’s not able to look its best on Switch 2. Not only that, but be prepared for frame drops galore here, with a relatively steady 60 only being achieved in the smaller hub areas. Otherwise, it bounces all over the place. It’s definitely playable still, but if you’re a stickler for uneven frame-rates, you’ll really struggle with playing this at times.
There are a couple key issues that are holdovers from the base game, like the largely shoddy English voice performances. For every character that sounds decent, there are a couple more that sound very unnatural and phoned-in. It may well be down to mismanaged voice direction, but if you’re playing Wild Hearts S purely to experience its so-so story, it could take you out of your immersion at times. Otherwise, if you’re looking to play this as a strictly solo experience without dipping your toes into multiplayer, and you’re not a Monster Hunter series novice like I am, you may wanna open yourself up to partying up with others, as these kemono fights are no slouch.
Overall, I do like Wild Hearts S as a faster and flashier alternative to the games that inspired it. It may not be as newcomer-friendly as Monster Hunter Wilds seems to be, but it’s still a fun time, especially if you’re coming off of that game and looking for something slightly different. It’s a shame that this new Switch 2 version doesn’t offer quite enough to justify the purchase, but if you’re looking for a fun, yet flawed, Monster Hunter clone to play on the go, there’s enough here to scratch that itch.
