Three weeks after Wild Hearts’ arrival, developer Omega Force has released the first free post-launch content update for its wonderful Monster-Hunter-like, this one introducing a new Kemono variant – the Hellfire Laharaback – plus a heap of balance adjustments and fixes.
Hellfire Laharaback is an extremely powerful variant of the base game’s Lavaback (it’s officially classed as a Volatile Kemono according to Omega Force, meaning it’s very much considered end-game content) and arrives as part of a new quest challenging players to “quell the torrid inferno before it reduces everything to ash, and restore tranquility to the island.”
Defeating the Hellfire Laharaback will reward players with the new Fire Fiend Appeaser title, and the chance to acquire the new Infernal Blow skill, which increases the likelihood of setting targets ablaze and boosts the power of attacks against burning targets.
Today’s content update arrives alongside a huge range of fixes, quality of life improvements, and balance adjustments, as detailed in publisher EA’s extensive patch notes. Sadly, it doesn’t appear to address Wild Hearts’ lingering performance problems, which, for me on PC at least, have steadily declined from tolerable at launch to a near-unplayable slow-motion slideshow with subsequent updates. Other players have reported at least some improvements across all platforms since release though, so perhaps you’ll fair better.
Some resolution to Wild Hearts’ performance woes would certainly be appreciated, though, because Omega Force has crafted an absolutely sublime spin on the creature-battling template popularised by Capcom’s long-running Monster Hunter series, as I enthused in my Recommended review not so long ago.
Today’s free update is, as it turns out, the first in what’s shaping up to be fairly regular post-launch release schedule for Wild Hearts. Omega Force has already confirmed it’ll be introducing the Grimstalker wolf subspecies on 23rd March, alongside a new quest with accompanying new weapon and armour models. It’ll also add a fresh selection of high-difficulty quests, three new emotes, and three new chat stamps.
And as for April, the developer is already teasing a brand-new Kemono (seemingly a multi-tailed fox based on the roadmap silhouette), new Karakuri, and more.
