Wild Hearts review – fantastic beasts and where to fight them

Playstation 5, Xbox Series, PC; EA/Omega Force
This wonderfully weird creature-hunter has an unending supply of memorably unhinged, massive foes; it may not be an all-timer but it's fun while you're fighting

There's something undeniably cool about Capcom's ongoing creature-hunter series Monster Hunter: in our world of mundane capitalism, it offers a return to violent, heroic days of yore, where it's just you, monsters and a great big sword. Yet try as I might to heed the call of the hunt, my heroic ambitions are consistently foiled by walls of text and hours of slaying the same embarrassingly tiny lizards. I thought Monster Hunter and its ilk just weren't for me - but then I played EA and Omega Force's wonderfully weird Wild Hearts.

An eyebrow-raising collaboration between the publisher of Fifa and the creators of Dynasty Warriors, set in the land of Azuma (inspired by feudal Japan), it's like a fever dream. This realm is ruled by giant mythical beasts known as Kemono, coated in moss and flowers, and these once-peaceful creatures have inexplicably become enraged. The hapless Azumians aren't having a great time with these skyscraper-sized rapscallions, and it falls to you to sort things out.