Wild Hearts, the new hunting game from EA and Koei Tecmo, can be quite tricky. MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus has already played it before release – as a complete newbie. You can now learn from his ignorance and take away tips that would have greatly eased his entry.

Today, on February 16, 2023, Wild Hearts is released for PC and a few hours later for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. I have already invested over 14 hours into the game before release, but without much preparation.

As someone who has played more Dauntless than Monster Hunter, some systems were new to me. But even the players who played the 10-hour demo in advance were quite surprised by some systems.

I died to some monsters multiple times, and I took down others much slower than I want to admit. To ensure you don’t make the same mistakes as I did, I will explain what would have helped me during my initial play.

My first impression of Wild Hearts is really positive, even though there are a few points of criticism. You can find a summary of the gameplay here:

1. Don’t get too distracted – Play the story!

The gameplay of Wild Hearts is dangerously fun. I spent a good portion of my playtime just hunting the first gigantic Kemono in the world.

While I was able to collect some upgrades, cool armors, and improved weapons, I missed out on a lot. Many contents are locked behind progress in the story, such as:

• 3 new weapons: Claw, Staff, and Cannon
• New Karakuri, i.e., building elements that can also make fights easier
• Additional areas with more enemies and new materials for even more weapons

Sure, I could have thought of that, but my hunting instinct was too pronounced. If I had known beforehand what cool new weapons and enemies awaited me, I would have focused more on the story.

One downside: If you simply follow the story, you may not find all Kemono, i.e., monsters. Some are just out in the world and can be found much earlier than the story might suggest.

Wild Hearts starts with 21 different monsters. You can find all of them here in the list:

More on the topic

Wild Hearts: List of all monsters and their characteristics

von Dariusz Müller

2. Use the building system and improve Karakuri

Wild Hearts uses a Fortnite-like building system as a unique feature, which distinguishes the game from the genre classic Monster Hunter. However, the system is not just a gimmick but is essential if you want to play well.

Even the basic Karakuri like boxes and especially springboards help you dodge attacks or execute stronger attacks. Moreover, they can be connected or “fused” for stronger effects in combat.

Using the Karakuri and learning how to use them is just a small hint. The actual important thing is: Improve your stuff! You can distribute points over a huge skill tree that you collect during hunts on Kemono.

There, you can find upgrades for various Karakuri that you can build in combat or in your camp. It’s best to take a close look at this tree and consider which upgrades you want the fastest. I spent way too long just collecting upgrade points…

A fight where you will definitely use Karakuri: the icy wolf from the tutorial:

3. Take a close look at the forge

In Wild Hearts, there are 8 different weapons, all of which you can craft at the forge for just a few materials. This allows you to quickly craft and easily try out the basic weapons.

However, they only become really strong through upgrades that you can unlock by hunting monsters. The skill tree is the same for each weapon, so it’s worth taking a look at everything at first.

What I failed to do, however, is utilize the system correctly. You can undo invested upgrades in weapons for a small price of gold. You will get all upgrade materials back.

Since each weapon uses the same tree, you can easily switch, for example, from the katana to the umbrella and continue playing with the same upgrades. Or you build the same weapon with different effects. This is also important because…

4. Read the darn manual! Seriously, take a look at the monster entries

This is something I didn’t even figure out until I started researching for guides. Wild Hearts offers a kind of bestiary that lists every monster.

In the encyclopedia, you will find numerous useful information about each of the available Kemono, such as:

• Which body parts can be severed and what loot you get
• Which elements, damage types, and effects are strong or weak
• How the Kemono change when they get angry

This not only helps you decide which weapon to take with you but also assists you in gathering specific materials that you need for upgrades.

The encyclopedia also provides information about small Kemono and creatures that you need for other crafting.

The tips would have certainly helped us in co-op to defeat the nasty wild boar more easily:

5. Look for Tsukumo and improve him

Easily found early in the game is a small, round wooden robot: Tsukumo. This is your hunting companion when playing solo. You should definitely engage more with Tsukumo than I initially did.

Because the little guy gets stronger as you upgrade him. However, you need to look for other Tsukumo in the world that reward you with gears. Whenever you hear a wooden jingling, check your surroundings. Tsukumo often hides on cliffs or behind walls.

You can also search for Tsukumo via the hunting tower when it is upgraded enough. That’s why upgrading the Karakuri is so important. Here are some hints about upgrading Tsukumo:

• Tsukumo can specialize in damage, support, building, and “tank”
• Each upgrade in the same category costs more gears than the previous one
• Each upgrade also increases your limit of threads needed for building Karakuri in combat

Always upgrade what you can upgrade best instead of specializing too early. That way, Tsukumo becomes a true all-rounder who helps in every situation and, more importantly, you will have significantly more threads available. This even helps in co-op, where Tsukumo does not accompany you.

6. Use the shop and the fishing guild in Minato

Once you reach the city of Minato, some new areas will be shown to you, but not necessarily explained in detail. One of these areas is the Scarlet Treasure Chamber – a shop that offers all sorts of things.

Although you would gather most things yourself in a hunting game, you’ll find useful items here for crafting or consumption. More importantly: You can sell loot. Some items are only for sale. Items that have a coin as an icon should be sold regularly for gold. You can then use the gold for upgrades or to dismantle weapons.

The second important place in the city is the fishing guild at the pier down below. The guild master always offers you quests, of which you can have up to 5 active at the same time. However, these are not quests but things that can be completed on the side, such as:

• Collect X materials
• Kill X enemies
• Hunt X Kemono
• Hunt Kemono in a specific area or without dying

The rewards range from crafting materials to gold and do not require direct focus on the tasks. For faster progress, always have guild tasks active.

You also need to save Minato from a particularly nasty enemy:

7. Eat your food!

The last tip is more of a hint. Food, as I know, is important in Monster Hunter and I knew that you can cook somewhere in Wild Hearts. However, it is much simpler than I initially thought, as there are only 3 preparation methods:

• Drying
• Pickling
• Smoking

This happens through corresponding buildings in the camp, by simply processing the gathered food there and waiting. You then have the finished food in your inventory and can simply devour it, whereby each dish has a “nutritional value” – which limits how much you can eat.

Different foods can be combined and the effects stack. Everything can even be eaten raw. Keep in mind that you can only carry 20 different types of food at the same time – so throw things away, or, what would be better, eat heartily!

You can best implement my tips directly when you test Wild Hearts. For this, a demo is available for 10 hours:

Wild Hearts: Everything about the demo – Download, content and duration

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In Wild Hearts, you can equip yourself with a large selection of weapon types for your battles. Therefore, we will show you which weapons exist at release and how you can unlock them.

How many weapons are there in Wild Hearts? EA has created a total of 8 weapons for Wild Hearts that you can use against various monsters on Minato. The weapons include:

• Krallenklinge
• Bow
• Karakuri Katana
• Klingen-Wagasa
• Cannon
• Nodachi
• Hammer
• Karakuri Stick

We will now take a closer look at the details of each weapon, show you what they look like, what they can do, and especially when you can obtain them.

All weapons in Wild Hearts and how to unlock them

Each weapon in Wild Hearts offers a different combat style. Whether you prefer to smash everything with the hammer offensively and aggressively or shoot everything down passively with the cannon. There is something for every combat style preference. Let’s talk about the first weapon.

Krallenklingen

What kind of weapon is this? The Krallenklinge is, as the name suggests, a weapon with a short blade and a claw. With the aforementioned claw, you can latch onto monsters while you can leave cuts with the blade.

It is especially practical at short, but also medium range and can be used for quick attacks. In long-range, it is almost useless, but thanks to the claw, you can ensure that you always have your targets on a leash like dogs. This allows you to always pull towards them and attack them out of nowhere.

How do I get the weapon? Unlocked after completing Chapter 2.

Bow

What kind of weapon is this? This is a large bow with many ways to use it. You can either shoot weak arrows into the monster to mark it or strong arrows that deal high damage. Both can be used at will. However, if you combine both, the true strength of your bow unfolds.

So use the weak arrows first and pepper the monster with them. Then fire a final strong shot and let all previous projectiles lodged in the monster detonate. Additional firing modes, such as a volley or even a barrage, are also available, and with its agile moveset, you will be harder to catch.

How do I get the weapon? Unlocked after completing the tutorial.

Karakuri Katana

What kind of weapon is this? The Karakuri Katana is a beginner-friendly weapon. It mainly covers close-range but can also cover medium distances when you activate its second form. You can activate this when you have dealt enough hits to your target. The sword then transforms into a whip that delivers many quick but devastating cuts.

How do I get the weapon? Unlocked after completing the tutorial.

Klingen-Wagasa

What kind of weapon is this? The Klingen-Wagasa is an umbrella with blades. The weapon is simple and becomes stronger the more often you hit your target. Additionally, your umbrella can parry fired monster projectiles, making you stronger and giving you the chance to launch a counterattack.

How do I get the weapon? Unlocked after completing the tutorial.

Cannon

What kind of weapon is this? The cannon is not as agile as the bow but has devastating attacks if you know how to use it. The cannon has three firing modes and a special effect:

• Normal shot
• Howitzer shot
• Laser beam
• Ki zone

You can create five Ki zones with your cannon, which you can place or pick up on the battlefield as you like. Your Ki is important here, because for every shot fired, your Ki bar will be reduced until you can no longer fire any projectiles. With the Ki zones, your Ki will be continuously restored when you stand in them.

A small side effect of your continuous fire is the overheating of the weapon. When it starts glowing, you can fire a howitzer shot at your target. This inflicts damage and creates a red Ki field.

This red aura in the field can be absorbed with the cannon, activating a third firing mode, namely the laser shot. The laser shot fires a beam of pure energy that continually inflicts damage until your Ki is exhausted. You can extend the duration of the beam when standing in a Ki zone.

How do I get the weapon? Unlocked after completing Chapter 2.

Nodachi

What kind of weapon is this? The Nodachi is a large sword with special attacks that mainly unfold its true strength in close combat. You can perform normal attacks, but when you briefly put your sword in its sheath, your blade charges continuously. Once you have charged the great sword, you can deliver a final blow that tears up the surrounding ground.

How do I get the weapon? Unlocked after completing the tutorial.

Hammer

What kind of weapon is this? The hammer is a tool that is hard to master. You can easily crush your opponents nearby as well as at medium distances, but you need to adhere to given timings. After each successful hit, you can increase the weapon size thanks to an effect, but only if you adhere to the aforementioned timings. However, these are very short.

In the heat of battle, it’s easy to lose your rhythm and thus ruin your combo. So practice hard, and once you get the hang of it, every monster can be buried under your hammer.

How do I get the weapon? Unlocked after completing the tutorial.

Karakuri Stick

What kind of weapon are these? The Karakuri Stick initially appears to be a boring stick, but it actually hides a total of five weapons:

• Tonfas
• Great Shuriken
• Glaive
• Great sword
• Staff

The base form of this tool is the stick, but after each successful combo, you can transform this stick into another weapon. Once you have increased your attack bar after each type change, you can pull out a gigantic great sword with immense striking power.

How do I get the weapon? Unlocked after completing Chapter 2.

Can the weapons be upgraded? All weapons can be crafted and modified in the workshop. Additionally, you can assign different elements to your weapons that are meant to assist you in your hunt. Every monster has its weaknesses, and you can prepare optimally for each fight with various builds.

These were all the known weapons available at release. What do you think of the selection, and which weapon convinced you? Feel free to let us know your opinion in the comments!

Wild Hearts is the game for everyone who feels an emptiness after Elden Ring – There you don’t die as often either

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