Wild Hearts has smaller player groups than Monster Hunter for a good reason

Wild Hearts allows a maximum of three players to join together in co-op hunts, unlike Monster Hunter's parties of four.

In a new interview with IGN, Koei Tecmo co-director Takuto Edagawa explained the reasoning behind the cap in Wild Hearts. Apparently, giving players constructive devices called Karakuri means groups of four players would simply be too powerful, and a bit chaotic.

"Originally, we considered having four players for cooperative play," Edagawa said. "However, during development, we realized that due to the power of the Karakuri, three player combat provides the best balance for maintaining a sense of tension and cooperative combat," the co-director continued.

If you're unfamiliar with the term, Karakuri were introduced in the debut trailer for Wild Hearts that arrived earlier today on September 28. The devices come in many forms, allowing players to quickly build towers to escape attacks, hammers to crush monsters, or even bombs to lure enemies into.

It's easy to see why these destructive devices could've proved a bit much when letting four players loose against one monster. Finally, Edagawa said that it's simply easier to get three online players together for a game, which factored into Wild Hearts capping out at three players joining together.

This player cap is notable because it's lower than rival Monster Hunter's player parties of four, but as Edagawa points out, it's the Karakuri that factored into the decision, something that Capcom's series doesn't really have. 

Today's new trailer also revealed a release date of February 17, 2023 for Wild Hearts. The new game, which is actually a collaboration between EA, Koei Tecmo, and developer Omega Force set in feudal Japan, is only launching across PC and new-gen consoles, becoming one of the rare EA-published games to be new-gen exclusive.

Read up on our new games 2022 guide for a list of all the titles you can expect to play between now and Wild Hearts launching.