In a way, the whole system feels vaguely reminiscent of the building options in Death Stranding. This also means that things like boxes and springs will still be there, continuing to give you more traversal options during combat. This means you can reliably establish shortcuts, or put up helpful items like signs to help guide yourself. What’s really interesting is that all the Karakuri items you place are persistent, and won’t reset when you travel back to camp or anything. Across the map, you can find “Dragon Pits” that can be improved using resources, in turn letting you place more crafting items. On top of combat items, you also unlock a wide array of camp items that can be crafted, like a forge to create new equipment, a campfire to cook meals, or a rope caster that can create zipline shortcuts. In order to use the Karakuri, you need to gather “Karakuri Threads,” which can easily be gathered off of items in the environment or enemies. Karakuri builds are all persistent in your world, meaning objects and shortcuts you erect will stay there. For example, building a three-by-three grid let me erect a barrier that could stop a charging Kemono in its tracks.

Even further, you can actually build additional devices based on how you stack the boxes or other Karakuri items you build. Near the end of the demo, I also unlocked a torch that I could run through for a fiery slash attack that also lit my weapon, letting me cause extra damage. There’s also a springboard you can use to avoid enemy attacks, move quickly through the environment, or launch into a combo. The Karakuri gives a wildly dynamic edge to combat, letting you conjure boxes that you can stack, climb up, and use to launch yourself into a devastating aerial attack. Think something like the Runes system from Breath of the Wild but in a hunting game format. This mystical tool lets you instantly conjure items, both in and out of combat. Where Wild Hearts gets really fascinating is with its robust crafting system, using an ancient device called Karakuri. In some cases you can also jump onto monsters and climb up them, using a powerful attack on a weak point to cause huge damage and stagger the creature. To balance the experience, you do have a stamina gauge that depletes over time.

There’s a distinct verticality to a lot of the environments, and you can grip and climb up cliff walls and some other objects. While you have a jump button, your character will automatically vault over things like logs and rocks. Just like Nioh, Wild Hearts gameplay unfolds at a snappy pace, and there’s a big emphasis on traversal.

Wild hearts ea game