Kotaro Hirata & Takuto Edagawa Interview: Creating Wild Hearts

screenrant.com:

is a unique monster hunting title set in a fantasy feudal Japan, where players will use a combination of weapons and crafting to take down elemental creatures. After gaining the ancient power of the Karakuri, players will set off on a quest to protect the land of Azuma from Kemono, strong beasts who leave nothing but destruction in their wake. The game comes from Koei Tecmo and EA Originals, and is slated for release later this month, February 2023.

The premise of is a unique new take on monster hunting, necessitating the use of both the game's eight weapon classes as well as the art of Karakuri. Karakuri come in a myriad of forms, from crates that can block attacks or be jumped off of for devastating air strikes to traps which stop the Kemono in their tracks. Players can choose to hunt alone or with up to two others, with supporting online play at launch — however, it's not necessary to progress in the game.

Related: How Wild Hearts Can Prove It's More Than A Monster Hunter Clone

Directors Kotaro Hirata and Takuto Edagawa sat down with to discuss designing the game's Kemono, inspirations behind the Karakuri system, and what makes the game stand out within the monster hunting genre.

Screen Rant: Can you guys talk a little bit about the inspiration behind the Karakuri? I know it has some real historical origins to it.

Kotaro Hirata: Yeah, I think when we look at Wild Hearts, we had an idea within our development stages here that we wanted to incorporate a crafting element to it. But then when we think of the world that we've created, it's a very Japanese-style hunting action game, and how we incorporate this crafting element was really something where there's a lot of trial and error over as we tried to figure out how