An engrossing tale of light and dark set in a gorgeously detailed world, equally matched by a unique, riveting gameplay and design.
The Wild at Heart is a game about a boy that wanders into the deep woods and stumbles on a fairytale-like world of spritelings and witches and dark things. He encounters people in the woods that need his help to keep the corruption from escaping the deep woods. But he’s not alone. With unique spritelings at his side to form a horde, he’s able to direct them to do things he cannot, to solve the unsolvable and reach the unreachable. And maybe, actually keep the world safe.
Starting out with a fair pace and going through their integrated introduction to the game, I was struck by how artfully crafted the environment is. Reminiscent of storybooks as they did promise, the animation never felt out of place and suited the whole aesthetic. Music and sound effects complete the whole immersive experience with a fantasy forest appeal.
The lore starts out simple, enshrouding itself with mystery with little effort. As the story goes on, it retains the mystery as our enigmatic horde is sent out on seeking missions in different labyrinthine places.
The interaction of the map and mechanic and the story meshes incredibly well. It starts with a basic first map, which unlocks three biomes. These three biomes, once the first phase of the quested story is complete, get expanded on as the player unlocks more spritelings and capabilities. There isn’t a new map unlocked for these areas per se, but the current maps that the player could access become transformed and interacted with in new ways.
Gameplay is fantastically crafted with a horde of different spritelings at your employ. Every feature provided played skillfully into the puzzles and other tricky areas. Progression places emphasis on exploration and puzzle solving skills, with a bit of quick-thinking and reflexes required for dealing certain mobs and other tricky parts. The difficulty satisfies with incredible precision for me personally, as I’m not left lost for too long, with exacting eureka moments.
For a very art-heavy and complex game, The Wild at Heart is simply wonderful to interact with. All interactions were smooth and had almost no issues. I did encounter a bug however, regarding the number of spritelings that would follow me. I would find myself suddenly gaining to twice my limit of spritelings, and they wouldn’t despawn when I try to put away the ones I don’t need. I suspect it’s part of an actual part of the gameplay that’s not intended to happen that way.
Their openness to accessibility is warm and considerable enough, as they provide an option where the players can choose a less challenging way to play through the game. As well as other options for easier visuals, concentration, and button control support.
Controller support is highly intuitive and felt very natural. Button placement and quick switching between different tools and sprites were well-thought out.
With the story in largely two phases, the lengthiness of the entire game feels just right, and more than worth for its price in my opinion. As more areas are opened up to the player, the gameplay increases in complexity, but never strayed from the core mechanics. Each area felt like it had its own story to tell, its own sorts of junk and environmental effects.
I really enjoy how the music plays well with the day and night mechanic. As darkness falls, malevolent shadow-like creatures materialize in the dim to harm the player and the horde. Along with the sunset plays an unforgettable soundtrack that thrillingly ramps up as the ‘time out’ comes closer, and as it does, it suddenly releases into the night soundtrack like a sigh. The visuals and lighting balance beautifully into this as well, with the day being bright and quite joyous as a forest is wont, yet the night as mysterious and glittering with danger.
Postgame content consists of achievements and finding the last collectibles by solving the more complex parts of the map. If my save file wasn’t ruined when I moved it from Xbox Game Pass to Steam, I would have aimed for the 100%. Maybe later on.
Overall, an absolute joy to play, soak in, and wander.
Game Version 1.1.6