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It took Wild Hearts no time at all to become one of my favorite action games of all time.
If you've played any Koei Tecmo games (especially on PC) you know what flavor of action to expect, but will also know that it's going to be extremely taxing on your computer due to unoptimization. I loved the game enough that I upgraded my memory to mitigate leaks that were causing crashes--I even had to do the final boss twice when the game shut down during the final cutscene.
It follows the same gameplay loop as Monster Hunter, albeit a bit less grindy: kill monsters called kemono, use their parts to make stronger weapons and armor, move onto stronger kemono. You can either be assisted by a CPU-controlled wooden ball creature or by up to two player-controlled hunters. In addition to your normal weapon, of which there are some interesting classes like a staff that mutates between various ninja tools, a maul whose handle extends and increases in damage if you time attacks correctly, and a claw-and-chain that latches onto kemono and allows you to swing around them while attacking, you're given access to various tools like crates, springs, and torches that can either be placed individually to give you movement options and power up your attacks, or placed in specific configurations to create shield walls, giant cannons, or misters that heal you and allies. There is a lot of verticality involved in combat and even when exploring the gigantic maps compared to KT's previous games.
Multiplayer is pretty hassle-free, cross-console, and it's easy to find sessions. You can drop in at any point in a hunt by either searching for them on the online menu, finding gate-like structures scattered through the world that show a list of nearby hunters that requested assistance, or simply starting the desired quest on your map and opting to join an existing session. Friends can even join a long-term session and accompany you through the entirety of the story mode if they wish.
The world is a surreal take on Japan. Kemono look like they're straight out of the movie Annihilation, being essentially mashups of animals like foxes, wolves, boars, and rats and nature like wood, stone, fire, and even fungus. They have a sort of grotesque beauty to them. Everything is scored by Masashi Hamauzu of SaGa and Final Fantasy fame, and honestly the music alone is worth the price of admission. The soundtrack fits perfectly and has the same "otherworldly Japan" identity that the art direction has.
This game oozes with the love the developers, artists, and even voice cast put into it and it's a shame it never caught the favor of the masses presumably due to its performance issues and early abandonment. If you like action games, coop, hunting grandiose monsters, and Eastern aesthetic, Wild Hearts is entirely deserving of being given a chance, especially now that it's on sale for as much as 70% off.