Full Wild Hearts guide and everything you need to know
Wild Hearts is the new monster hunting game from Koei Tecmo and EA, with big bad wolves and kaiju kodiaks.
This Wild Hearts guide tells you everything you need to know about monster hunting, with tips and tricks on all kinds of gameplay details. Wild Hearts is all about battling giant monsters called Kemono, using a variety of weapons and special devices called Karakuri. However, while you can reach enormous power, that doesn't mean anything if you don't know how to use it properly. With that in mind, we'll explain everything you need to know about Wild Hearts below.
Wild Hearts review
Want to know the ins-and-outs of the game on a deeper level? Our Wild Hearts review covers every element of the game, and will either help inform a purchase, or maybe help gain a deeper appreciation for the game itself!
Wild Hearts release date, time and platforms
Wild Hearts' release date and time varies depending on your platform:
- PC (via Steam, Epic Games and the EA App): February 16th, 7AM PT/10AM ET/3PM GMT
- PS5/Xbox Series X/S: February 17th, Midnight in your region and time zone
Players can currently preorder on any of the associated storefronts, and most of them feature a countdown showing exactly how long it'll be until the game is playable. Of course, for those who can't wait...
Wild Hearts free early access demo
Right now a Wild Hearts demo - known as a Play First trial - covering the first few hours of the game is available, with everything leading up to your arrival in the game's hub town, Minato. That demo is available to those have an EA Play Subscription, or a Game Pass Ultimate membership, at this link.
Is Wild Hearts free to play?
No, Wild Hearts is not free to play, with the exception of the aforementioned trial above for those who have the right subscription services. Wild Hearts is a full game release with both single player and multiplayer options, so it makes sense to be priced normally - in fact, it's not even going to have further paid DLC or microtransactions at time of writing, with the developers stating that the numerous planned content updates will all be free!
Is Wild Hearts cross platform?
Yes, Wild Hearts is cross-platform, though it doesn't feature cross-save abilities, so no hopping into your saved game from a different type of console. Players on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S will all be able to team up together, with multiplayer supporting teams of up to three who will all go against AI monsters (there's no competitive element in Wild Hearts, beyond the bragging rights of who's got the biggest sword).
Tips and Tricks
Though more accessible than other, similar games, a set of Wild Hearts tips will definitely help get you off the ground. In the case of all the ziplines and giant fans, we mean that literally. Check our page for an assortment of useful factoids and basic explanations to help you avoid early frustration.
Best weapons and tier list
We've got all the Wild Hearts weapons listed here - and not only that, we've gone through them all to work out the best of them, and even made a full tier list! And if you want to get all the weapons and work out how to upgrade them, well, we explain that too. Basically, there's nothing here that you can't make use of if you're interested in the best weapons in Wild Hearts.
Multiplayer with friends
To play with friends, our Wild Hearts multiplayer page will help you put it all together, as well as simply leaping into the games of strangers to help them beat up some beasties. Online isn't too complex once you understand it, but between campfires, Hunters' Gates and Assistance Requests, it's not the most fluid system.
Fast Travel
A Wild Hearts fast travel is something that you'll definitely want early on, as the large maps and slow waddling speed of hunters can be a little bewildering. Don't worry, there is a way to fast travel, and more methods besides for generally fast exploration. Check our guide for fast travel, and how to links to the Tents in your Dragon Karakuri menu.
Kingtusk
There's a lot of beasts to battle, but the Wild Hearts Kingtusk is the first big wall that players are likely to hit - or pig wall, we should say. This giant boar with flaming tusks and tree roots along its body is the first major challenge that players will hit, and can be frustrating if you don't know how to handle it. That's where we come in - check out our guide and you'll have piggy back in his sty before long.
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Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and raconteur with a Masters from Sussex University, none of which has actually equipped him for anything in real life. As a result he chooses to spend most of his time playing video games, reading old books and ingesting chemically-risky levels of caffeine. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at USgamer, Gfinity, Eurogamer and more besides.
- Josh WestEditor-in-Chief, 12DOVE