Is Wild Hearts Open World? – Answered

I'm all open for petting those critters

Wild Hearts is the newest contender in the “hunting” genre of games in which a single human overpowers mythical, ferocious beasts with just a small kick from technology. This alternative to Monster Hunter shares a lot of similarities with its inspiration, while still having a place for some originality. But does it share one of Monster Hunter’s biggest advantages: Being an open-world game?

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Does Wild Hearts Have an Open World? – Answered

Yes, Wild Hearts has a huge Open World for you to explore. While you won’t be able to check it out at the get-go, after completing a few tutorial quests and unlocking your first arsenal of weapons, you’ll get free access to the lands of Azuma, where it’s time to give you all to make yourself a well-renamed Hunter slaying those legendary beasts coming alive.

But just as you can also expect, not every area will be available right after the tutorial and are instead locked behind your own progression throughout the game. By the time you reach Chapter 4, which is basically the game’s closing act, you should have a free pass to every area on your map (and many means of reaching said areas too). 

Related: How to Get Giant Kemono Gems in Wild Hearts

Each area contains its own exclusive creatures and resources for helping you build new Karakuri tools, so you’re bound to travel a lot throughout the map. There are also lots of collectibles hidden around the areas, such as documents, Talismans, Tsukumo, and many more that will have you revisiting those areas over and over for quite some time. And it’s also very possible that more of them will be introduced with the imminent DLCs, so the map may get even bigger from here.

While the first performance patch has already hit the game, some of the problems for PC players are still persistent, so it might be a good idea to wait a little bit longer before committing to the hunt entirely. 


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About the Author

Patrick Souza

Patrick has been working for Prima since 2022 and joined as a Staff Writer in 2023. He's been interested in gaming journalism since college, and that was the path he took once he had his degree in hands. Diligently ignores his ever-growing backlog to keep raiding in Final Fantasy XIV, exploring in Genshin Impact or replaying some of his favorite RPGs from time to time. Loves tackling hard challenges in games, but his cats are still the hardest bosses he could ask for.