Wild Hearts S is the Nintendo Switch 2 port of the 2023 action game, developed by Dynasty Warriors team Omega Force, and this time published in-house at Koei Tecmo. No longer an EA Originals title, Wild Hearts S has been given a chance to shine on Nintendo’s new hardware. So how does it fare?

Well, performance and visuals are a mixed bag. Wild Hearts S targets 60 frames per second (fps), but unfortunately rarely meets that goal. Instead, frame rate can fluctuate wildly, especially in busy, visually dense areas. Graphics on Switch 2 are also noticeably worse than the original PS5 and Xbox Series X|S release, with greatly simplified textures and geometry. Thankfully, the kemono (Wild Hearts’ term for monsters) still look and animate fantastically, as does your player character.

Thankfully, it never reaches a point that I’d call outright unplayable. If you can get used to the performance and presentational downgrades, Wild Hearts S is a solid port of an underrated game that was never able to leave the long, wyvern-like shadow cast by Capcom’s Monster Hunter series.

Far from being an uninspired clone or quickly-made cash-in, Wild Hearts brings plenty of its own ideas to the monster-hunting subgenre. Its karakuri system is fantastic, as it lets players quickly place down contraptions that are useful for both combat and traversal. Its roster of weapons is interesting, too, with each category falling squarely in that satisfying ‘easy to learn, hard to master’ stable.

It’s a game that I strongly believe doesn’t get enough credit for the things it does right. But that’s not to say there aren’t some frustrating elements. Overall movement can feel a bit stiff, the camera can be your worst enemy, and even early game kemono punish new players hard by hitting like trucks.

But if you’re willing to overlook its shortcomings - and a relative lack of polish compared to Capcom’s flagship franchise - there’s plenty to love about Wild Hearts S.

Real face

The main drive of Wild Hearts is that you’re a hunter from a distant land, trying to find a new purpose away from the chaos of the world. You’re drawn to a land ravaged by deadly beasts - known as kemono - and decide to help the town of Minato rebuild and fight back against the threat these creatures pose.

The story is as basic as it gets, but it’s certainly not offensively bad. It’s very much a vehicle to guide you from monster to monster, location to location. What is neat, though, is that the four main areas outside of Minato are massive, and each is inspired by a different season of the year.

After a brief tutorial, which introduces you to some basic combat against smaller monsters and the awesome karakuri system (more on that soon), you’ll have a chance to create your character. If you’ve done character creation in other Koei Tecmo games, like Nioh 2 or Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, it’s very similar here with plenty of options to customize your appearance, hairstyle, and cosmetics. Definitely one of those where you can literally spend your first hour perfecting your look.

Threads of fate

Your initial run of hunts in Wild Hearts will gradually introduce you to the karakuri system, which is easily my favorite part of the game. Karakuri are wooden, mechanical contraptions that you can spawn instantly from a quick-select menu, and there are tons of different types that aid you in both combat and traversal.

The most basic of these is a stackable box, which can either help you climb to high ledges or allow you to jump into the air for a plunging attack. Springs, meanwhile, can propel you over gaps or let you lunge at a monster for a surprise attack. These and more have multiple uses, providing a good amount of depth to the game.

That’s kind of a running theme with most karakuri devices - they’ll almost always have more than one use. The game doesn’t always spell out the uses to you outright, either, so there’s plenty of room for experimentation.

Furthermore, some karakuri can combine into larger, more powerful devices. Stacking six boxes creates a bulwark, for example, which can stop charging beasts dead in their tracks. Elsewhere, three torches stacked together create a firework that can ground flying beasts.

Naturally, these hybrid karakuri are more expensive to spawn (the system has its own ‘currency’ called thread, which you can gather from rocks, trees and so on), and outside of tutorial moments introducing you to their uses for the first time, it’s largely up to you to figure out when best to deploy them against specific monsters.

Maybe what I love most about karakuri is that you can place them literally anywhere on the open map. Struggling to locate a monster? Pop down a radar tower to scan the surroundings. Need to cross a large swath of land? The flying vine can zip you over there in a flash. What if you need an extra fast travel point? You can set up a base camp and various amenities anywhere you want. It’s an impressively fluid and dynamic system, and one that can help you shape any hunting ground in your favor.

Hunter monster

Wild Hearts’ core objective of hunting large monsters may sound part and parcel for the subgenre, but its pace is decidedly different from that of Capcom’s Monster Hunter series, especially. In Wild Hearts, there’s nothing in the way of item management, and food buffs can be applied at any time, just while you’re out in the field.

That may disappoint some looking for something a bit more slow-paced and preparatory. But Wild Hearts does make up for this in its fast-paced action, aggressive monsters, and its interesting take on build variety.

To start, Wild Hearts handles weapon categories pretty differently from what you might expect. The karakuri katana, for example, is perhaps the easiest to understand. It builds meter as you attack, and when full, it can transform into a whip-like weapon with a powerful, modified move set.

The karakuri staff is a bit more interesting. It morphs between four forms - each with its own move set - with a carefully timed press of ‘ZR’, and these morph attacks build meter when connecting with a monster. At full gauge, you can morph the weapon into a comically large buster sword, unleashing diabolical amounts of damage. It’s a very risky weapon, though; the sword combo is slow and locks you in place, while knowing the best time to morph the weapon is a learning experience in and of itself.

The bladed wagasa is similarly risky, rewarding successfully-timed parries with massive damage. However, my favorite has to be the claw blade, which has a hook you can embed into a creature before swinging around and towards it like a deranged, combat-ready George of the Jungle.

The way you go about upgrading weapons and armor is really interesting, too. Each weapon type has a universal skill tree, which branches off into weapons you can create from various monster parts. While you can beeline from the start of the tree to your desired weapon, it actually can pay dividends to plan out a route on the skill tree that provides unlockable traits which you can carry over to the final build. You don’t need to worry about wasting materials if you mess up or change your mind, either, as you can reset the tree at any time for a small gold fee, refunding all materials used.

Armor is a similar story, most featuring unique skills like increased health or dodging distance while out on a hunt. The key thing here, though, is a gauge that tilts in either a ‘human’ or ‘kemono’ direction depending on which pieces you have equipped. This is important as certain skills will only become active if you’re in the right spot on this gauge, either on the human or kemono side. You can also make human or kemono-inspired versions of armor sets after crafting the base piece, to further influence the gauge.

It’s a really interesting approach that reminded me of how Monster Hunter players craft hybrid sets that target specific skill activations. In Wild Hearts’ case, you may have to sacrifice some defence or elemental resistances in order to get the skills you want, again bringing an element of risk-versus-reward to gameplay. It’s cool.

What's the 'S' for?

So what are the big differences in the Nintendo Switch 2 version of Wild Hearts? Well, the game now supports multiplayer for up to four players, an increase from the original release’s three. It’s unfortunately not crossplay, though, which makes Wild Hearts S an independent experience that’ll live or die on the Switch 2’s player base. Another slight downer is that the game doesn’t support voice chat, so you’ll need to rely on GameChat or an app like Discord when playing with friends.

Wild Hearts S does pack in all of the original’s post-launch support from the get-go at least. That includes additional kemono and quests, though there isn’t anything brand new or exclusive to this Switch 2 version that you wouldn’t have seen in the original 2023 package.

Aside from four player multiplayer, then, it’s all sounding like a bit of a downgrade so far. And if you were hoping for a fresh, transformative experience compared to the original release, you’re going to be let down. What doesn’t help here is that the game on Switch 2 does look noticeably worse in the visuals department, and performance can be rocky at the best of times.

Wild Hearts S does at least boast some pretty impressive load times, and quality-of-life features have been implemented. These include buffs to certain weapons and armor sets, as well as a reduced frequency of how often kemono will flee to another area (which was a huge gripe I had with the original).

Otherwise, while the port itself certainly leaves a lot to be desired, Wild Hearts S is still a great and more affordable version of the original at retail price. There’s a ton of content to sink your teeth into here, especially if you’re looking for something different in the lull period between Monster Hunter Wilds patches. It’s definitely not as polished or long-lasting as Capcom’s game, but there are plenty of fresh, fun ideas in Wild Hearts that absolutely make it worth checking out.

Should you play Wild Hearts S?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility

There’s a healthy amount of accessibility options in Wild Hearts S, which could be a knock-on effect of Koei Tecmo working with Electronic Arts for the original release. EA is typically on point when it comes to accessibility options, too, so to see them maintained in this Switch 2 version is great.

You’re getting a suite of colorblind options here for the game’s user interface - protanopia, deuteranopia, and tritanopia - as well as subtitle customization including size, color, and background opacity. You can also change the size of in-game text in general, alter how long you need to hold a button down for certain prompts, and force monophonic audio from all sources.

How I reviewed Wild Hearts S

I’ve put 15 hours into Wild Hearts S on Nintendo Switch 2. Having played through the original release on Xbox Series X back in the day, I was already greatly familiar with the game, and I enjoyed it as much now as I did back in 2023. That said, the Switch 2 version doesn’t offer much in the way of substantial additions or improvements, so the overall experience is very similar.

I largely played in docked mode on an LG CX OLED TV, using the Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller as my go-to gamepad. I also spent some time in handheld mode, but performance is predictably worse here, so I stuck to TV play as much as I could.

Even though I didn’t love anti-grav racer Fast Fusion as much as I wanted to, I still think you should absolutely buy it. Its $14.99 / £13.49 price tag on the Nintendo eShop is quite frankly a steal, and a very fair price considering what you’re getting from this Switch 2 launch game. There’s not a metric ton of content here, and it is an experience you can get the most out of in around 10-12 hours, but that low cost of entry is worth it for the presentation alone.

Fast Fusion is arguably the best-looking Nintendo Switch 2 launch game. It might not have the artful whimsy of Mario Kart World, but in terms of sheer graphical fidelity, developer Shin’en Multimedia has delivered in spades. To me, that comes as no surprise; I maintain that 2019’s The Touryst (also by Shin’en) is one of the most visually impressive games on modern hardware, and that’s definitely the case with Fast Fusion, too.

Another reason to buy the game is that its performance is basically bulletproof. Its Quality graphical setting, which I used for the majority of my play time in docked mode, holds 4K resolution at 60 frames per second (fps) at all times, even with some light ray-traced reflections enabled.

But even though Fast Fusion is certainly a looker, it unfortunately falls short as a racing game. While tracks look beautiful, they don’t offer much in terms of variety, usually boiling down to a handful of obstacles and one or two alternate shortcuts. AI drivers also employ an absurd amount of rubber-banding, sticking to your tail like glue even after an extended period of boosting.

I’m also not a fan of how the game handles progression, as unlocking new cups can require huge sums of currency. This has improved since launch, with patches increasing the amount of money you can earn in a championship, but you’ll still find yourself having to grind out an extra run or two just to have enough to unlock the next set of races.

Overall, Fast Fusion is a beautiful, ‘fun while it lasts’ racing game. A lack of online play definitely hurts its longevity, but given how cheap the game is at retail price, I can’t fault it too much for a lack of content, and I did have a decent time with it regardless. It's certainly not one of the best Switch 2 games, but it's hard to argue with the value on offer.

Double or nothing

Fast Fusion is a futuristic, anti-gravity racer, inspired by subgenre legends like F-Zero and Wipeout. The goal is simple: enter a championship, drive faster than your opponents, get money for more vehicles and events, rinse and repeat.

Your vehicle is capable of boosting and jumping - the latter to avoid obstacles and grab boost tokens floating in the air. Said tokens fill up your boost meter, so collecting them throughout a race is imperative - especially as they also increase the amount of in-game currency you have.

The swap mechanic from Fast RMX also returns, which lets you change between blue and orange forms in order to make use of the same-colored boost pads littered throughout each track. Finally, boosting into an opponent who isn’t boosting will cause them to spin out, hampering their race and netting you some more tokens.

While content in Fast Fusion is light overall, there’s still a decent amount of it to check out. The main championship mode features five cups of three races, split across three speed classes. Local multiplayer (including GameShare) and time attack modes are featured, too.

There’s also Super Hero Mode, which is an additional challenge mode that mimics the F-Zero series’ style of play. Here, your boost gauge is also your health bar, and crashing or running out of health retires you from the race. It’s a pretty thrilling side mode and quite challenging, adding some much-needed replayability to Fast Fusion.

Two become one

Easily my favorite part of Fast Fusion is its titular fusion mechanic. By accessing the Fusion Shop from the main menu, you can not only unlock new vehicles with currency, but also choose two to fuse together into one super-powered machine.

Every combination is accounted for, leading to an extremely impressive array of vehicles. They all have unique looks, liveries, and name amalgamation depending on your chosen two. Not all are made equal, though; the game will let you know how powerful the fusion is on a grading system. For example, a lower rank ‘C’ fusion will have worse stats, but cost less to fuse. Meanwhile, an ‘A+’ beast can get close to maxing out in performance, but will naturally cost more.

You’ll need to rely on the fusion system when tackling the game’s hardest speed classes, too. Not only do AI drivers rarely make mistakes, but they have some of the most egregious rubber-banding I’ve seen in a racing game in quite some time. You can fully maximize a track, hit every shortcut, and spend most of your time boosting, and you’ll still get at least two AI drivers zooming past you on the final lap.

And as I mentioned earlier, racing in general, despite being a futuristic anti-grav racer, feels disappointingly grounded. Vehicles are extremely grippy, and hitting a wall has practically no negative impact. Track design also plays it rather safe - there’s very little in the way of demanding corners like hairpins, meaning braking and tilting rarely get used outside of the final speed class. It’s a far cry from Wipeout or F-Zero GX, where you often really have to wrestle your machine around corners and you are heavily punished for colliding with walls.

Should you play Fast Fusion?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility

There isn't much in the way of accessibility settings in Fast Fusion. You can fully rebind controls in the options menu to suit your preferences, as well as enable tilt controls via gyro aiming should you prefer. However, don't expect anything in the way of colorblind settings or other visual options.

How I reviewed Fast Fusion

I played 10 hours of Fast Fusion on Nintendo Switch 2, clearing all Grand Prix and Super Hero Mode content across the three speed classes, while also unlocking most vehicles and playing around a good bit with the fusion system.

I primarily played the game in ‘Quality’ mode, which offers 4K 60fps performance while docked, as well as some basic ray-traced reflections. I also tried out the ‘Ultra Quality’ mode, which increases fidelity further at the cost of a 30fps frame rate. While this mode does look utterly stunning, I much preferred the smoother performances offered by other graphics modes.

For gameplay, my gamepad of choice was the Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller, while also using the Joy-Con 2 controllers while playing in handheld mode.