I think this game is a fine MH like, Rise really didn't grab both because of it being on the switch and it because all the new movement systems just add nothing for me in a game where I'm usually standing still swinging a big bonky weapon. In contrast all of the mechanics in Wild Hearts make me feel like more of enviormental master. On top of that giving a reason to actually explore the well crafted maps makes building on to them feel like a good use of time. It's not perfect, it's not as good as MHWorld is now, but it's definitely as good or better than World was at launch. If you don't at least try MH alternatives we will quickly end up back in a sitation where there is only MH and it becomes lazy.

Was poised to give this game an 8 after 10 hours of play, but completing it around 50 hours it feels like another unfinished game. There's not enough to do and everything is starkly underwritten, with conversations being boring and forgettable through at least half the story. But the main thing that drove my personal rating down was the ending, both narratively and in terms of missions design it's just a bad time all around. And what the game seems to expect of you in terms of NG+? What is the point ! It's not like you can play even 2 drastically different runs.

I may go back to this game in some far flung future where massive dlc updates have added a lot, but I have 0 interest in playing anymore right now.

Still way better than Fallout 4!

My opinion flipped on this game a few times during my approximately 45 hours with it - so I like the art direction that's basically Fantasy Doom? Well sometimes yes - especially when you can actually make out what the enemies look like. How about the RPG mechanics? Well also sometimes, it's about what you would expect from a souls game with some builds being a lot more powerful than others, but most being viable. Anything I bring up for this game almost seems to sit on the edge of goodness in my heart. I don't think I died more than twice to any boss, with simple patterns and seemingly low damage - but every once in a while I would just get locked in a knock down combo where every hit was gonna send my ass to the floor no matter what I did. A combination of a weirdly long distance dodge and a strange feeling parry window usually made single enemies no threat, but any group of two an overwhelming challenge. The game has the same floaty and unfocused energy of Dark Souls 2, and I feel like if you're a DS2 fan you would probably feel at home playing this. It's never great, it's usually ok, sometimes mediocre, all of which land it a very middling score from me. I don't regret my time with it, and if they drop an expansion I'll probably even go back, but I'm not likely to recommend this to any of my friends.