Wild Hearts Review (PS5) | Push Square

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Let's get the boring paperwork out of the way quickly. Yes, Wild Hearts is a lot like Monster Hunter: World. The similarities are plain to see, both structurally and conceptually. However, far from being a Monster Hunter clone, thanks to mostly fantastic creature design and splendid, fast-paced combat with an emphasis on ad hoc building, it manages to differentiate itself and stand on its own two feet as a viable alternative.

The gameplay loop in Wild Hearts is broadly the same as Monster Hunter, but for the uninitiated, we'll sum it up as succinctly as we can. You create your avatar using the excellent character creator and then you're introduced to the town of Minato. It's a peaceful settlement in the Azuma region of Japan during feudal times. Minato is your base of operations, and it's there that you prepare for hunts by forging weapons and armour with the blacksmith, peruse wares at the shop, talk to the locals and pick up side-quests, or take a restorative dip at the local bathhouse.

Once you're fed, watered, armed, and dangerous, you head out into the wilderness to track and hunt monsters known as Kemono that pose a threat to Minato. Maybe some fisherman got chomped by a giant rat, or perhaps merchants are struggling to secure a trade route because a fire monkey is battering anyone that treads upon its territory. There's always a reason you have to go out there, be it in the main story moments or one of the not-quite-as-fleshed-out side-quests, and it always ends with you having to fight a big monster.

The Kemono themselves are, for the most part, wonderfully designed. They're based on real, recognisable animals, only grown to an absurd size and fused with nature in a most unsavoury way. There are wolves that can