For everyone missing the big beasties of Monster Hunter, Wild Hearts can certainly fill that void. It’s a game where you use tech to fight superpowered creatures rampaging across the landscape. As you play, you have a wide variety of regions to explore and find different little monsters. However, how do you interact with this world? Is it a deliberate path or is it an open world ready to be explored?
Is the world of Wild Hearts open?
Yes and no. Wild Hearts’ world, Azuma, is a wide-open landscape. However, that sprawling landscape isn’t completely open to you all at once. The different regions of Azuma only become available to you as you play through the story. You’ll eventually have a huge open world, but it won’t start out that way. During the end-game content, though, you should be able to explore all the different regions at will.
Related: How co-op works in Wild Hearts
How do you unlock new regions in Wild Hearts?
As you play the game, you get new missions and adventures throughout different chapters. While it isn’t an exact science, generally as you finish a chapter, a new region opens. In Wild Hearts, inspired by Feudal Japan, there are four different major zones: Fuyufusagi Fort, Harugasumi Way, Natsukodachi Isle, and Akikure Canyon. Each region represents one of the seasons. Fuyufusagi is winter, Harugasumi is spring, Natsukodachi is summer, and Akikure is fall. Each region has different monsters, called Kemono in-game, that you have to hunt down and defeat. The Kemono of each region do reflect their specific zone, so expect the creatures of Fuyufusagi Fort to have quite the icy bite to them.
In the middle of all these zones is Minato, your central hub village for all things monster-hunting, including crafting the best new weapons. It’s based on classic Feudal Japanese cities, so keep an eye out for guilds, stewards, bathhouses, and beautiful traditional architecture, creating a dazzling, monster-less place all its own.
