Is Wild Hearts open world?

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We discuss whether Wild Hearts is open world and free roam, and the limitations of that world.

Wild hearts open world and tower
(Image credit: EA)

Is Wild Hearts open world? Yes, though it's not as simple as being nothing more than a singular realm or unbroken region that you can explore freely, as the general layout of Wild Hearts' open world is more about unlocking sections. Broken up into islands, continents, regions and more, Wild Hearts effectively permits you to explore sections of the map free roam, and unlocks more sections over time. Read on for more details about Wild Hearts' open world and how you can make it work for you.

Wild Hearts open world explained

Wild Hearts minato village and NPC

(Image credit: EA)

Wild Hearts' open world is broken up into five regions, plus a hub town - Minato Village - but they won't all be somewhere you can go from the very beginning. Each of the five regions unlocks as you progress through the campaign, usually when the player reaches a new chapter, and contains its own unique monsters and resources to make use of.

However, those regions are themselves open worlds - as in, they're huge; each one a massive island or section of land that players can freely explore, looking for new items, secrets or targets. Walking across one without aid or the use of Wild Hearts fast travel can take a very long time, so we heavily recommend judicious use of the Wild Hearts Karakuri Building system, to create ziplines, vehicles and bases to help you get around.

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To get between the regions themselves, just go to the map and press R1/RB to go to the world map, where all the regions are shown. At that point you can select any of the tents you've got set up in those regions to head straight there.

Joel Franey
Joel Franey
Guides Editor, GamesRadar+

Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and Very Tired Man with a BA from Brunel University, a Masters from Sussex University and a decade working in games journalism, often focused on guides coverage but also in reviews, features and news. His love of games is strongest when it comes to groundbreaking narratives like Disco Elysium, UnderTale and Baldur's Gate 3, as well as innovative or refined gameplay experiences like XCOM, Sifu, Arkham Asylum or Slay the Spire. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at Eurogamer, Gfinity, USgamer, SFX Magazine, RPS, Dicebreaker, VG247, and more.