Wild Hearts: Explaining Karakuri, the Unique Monster-Slaying Crafting System

While new monster-slaying RPG adventure Wild Hearts gives you an extensive arsenal of weaponry to play with, its most unique system is based around Karakuri, a collectable resource that allows you to craft tools and structures to deploy both in battle and around the world. Here, we’ll dive into how to get started with Karakuri, what it can do, and how you can use the skills to take down monsters in creative ways.

Karakuri is an ancient technology coursing through the land of Azuma, and you have the power to harness it. Karakuri can be used to build structures, coordinate attacks on vicious prey, and unlock more skills and tools that will help you take down the mightiest beasts. It will appear frequently along your journey as a glowing green substance detected with your Hunter’s Vision. You’ll need to stop and collect the resources in order to keep crafting objects that will help you take down the Kemono, the monsters overrunning the land. That ancient power also runs through your AI companion, which can aid you in battle and collect threads of Karakuri from your surroundings.

You’ll not be able to take on the treacherous battles ahead without grasping the fundamentals, so we’ve compiled a guide that will help you get started on the hunt.

Traversing The Wilds with Karakuri

Azuma is a vast, intimidating landscape, and the Kemono lurking within it move great distances. To make your hunts easier, Basic Karakuri can be used to craft items to get around, such as crates that can be used to climb to higher points, and springs that allow you to leap across broken bridges and cavernous chasms.

As you progress, Karakuri will unlock different ways to navigate and explore the world. Karakuri abilities give you the ability to craft Hunting Towers, which reveal Kemono hiding in the immediate area. The Flying Vine is a contraption that creates a zipline, allowing you to soar across great distances on a zipwire, perfect for scaling a cliffside or crossing a river.

Later on, use the Karakuri skill tree to harness even more useful upgrades, like the Wind Vortex to glide high into the sky, the Glider which can be used to gain vantage over an area, or the Launcher, which can fire smaller Karakuri objects (our yourself) into the distance.

Powering Up Your Camp

Karakuri can be used out in the wildness of Azuma to craft camps. When you discover a Dragon Pit, you can awaken it and turn the surrounding area into a camp. These spots serve as permanent resting points in the open world to gear up for a nearby battle, and a handy quick travel point in case you need to return some other time.

Here, Karakuri can used to whip up a few useful resources. A Hunter’s Tent lets you get some much needed rest before or after a figh while a Campfire helps you to plan your next hunt, and wait for fellow adventurers to join you if needed.

If you’re in need of a brand-new weapon or an armor upgrade, you can build the Field Forge, and immediately craft whatever you need for the fight ahead if you have the right materials, whether it’s poison-resistant gauntlets or a giant hammer. The Drying Rack can be used for food, and the Ingredients Chest will allow you to store resources gathered along the way.

Taking Karakuri into Battle

Your Karakuri powers can also be wielded to gain advantage over Azuma’s colossal Kemono. Swiftly place six crates together to form a Bulwark, which can serve as a wall between you and your foe or stun a charging Kemono out of their attack, leaving them open to be damaged.

Use Fusion Karakuri to awaken the Pounder, a powerful hammerhead that can unleash a punishing blow on any Kemono, and destroy any offensive objects it may spawn during an attack. Fusion Karakuri can also unlock the Elemental Lantern, a device that can protect you from the effects of any deadly elemental hits that your foe may strike with.

Your Flying Vine can also be used offensively with the Impaler upgrade; instead of zipping to solid ground, fire the contraption straight into a Kemono to injure them as you move in. All of your basic Karakuri can be crafted in battle too, so be sure to make the most of the mysterious technology in every scenario. Over time, all of your Karakuri resources can be powered up in order to take on bigger, stronger and more rewarding Kemono located all over Azuma.

With that, you should be prepared to embark on your own epic hunts and get to know your prey when Wild Hearts is released for Xbox Series X|S on February 17.

WILD HEARTS™

Electronic Arts

☆☆☆☆☆

★★★★★

WILD HEARTS™ is a unique twist on the hunting genre where technology gives you a fighting chance against fearsome beasts infused with the ferocious power of nature itself. Take on these creatures alone or hunt with friends in seamless co-op.
No one remembers why the Kemono began their rampage through a once prosperous Azuma. Fueled by desperation, they wield the power of primal nature at its most destructive. For a while, it seemed that none could stand against their overwhelming might. But hope arrives in the form of a formidable hunter, armed with deadly weapons and ancient technology called Karakuri that could turn the tide of battle.

HUNT GIANT NATURE-INFUSED BEASTS
Survive their attacks, learn from their behaviors, and use your Karakuri and your weapons in combination to cut these creatures down to size.

CRAFT YOUR HUNTING GROUNDS
You are the only one in Azuma able to wield the Karakuri technology. This ancient tech enables you to adapt your environment into creative hunting grounds ideal for taking down the giant Kemono.

HUNT IN A PACK, OR BE A LONE WOLF
In WILD HEARTS™ you can face the Kemono alone or unite with up to two friends (or fellow players) to stalk and hunt your prey.

GEAR UP TO HUNT, HUNT TO GEAR UP
The more you hunt, the more you progress. Create your character, then gather materials from each hunt and build an array of armor and weapons to bring down even bigger beasts.

EXPLORE A FANTASY FEUDAL JAPAN
Experience four season-based hunting grounds – each region with its own beautiful landscapes and dangers.

Developed by Omega Force, the Japanese studio behind the DYNASTY WARRIORS franchise, WILD HEARTS™ takes you on an epic adventure set in a fantasy world inspired by feudal Japan.

Conditions & restrictions apply. See ea.com/wild-hearts/wild-hearts/disclaimers for details.
©KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD. All rights reserved.