I can’t recall how many times I’ve been suckered into a piece of media purely based on the artwork on the box/display. It’s how I got into an entire genre of music, and experienced such titles as TellTale’s The Walking Dead and Sayonara Wild Hearts. When I saw the art for The Wild At Heart, it was as if a switch flipped in my head that unveiled a mystic forest full of wonder and adventure. Does the full game live up to that?

The Wild At Heart starts out in the basement of the home of main character Wake. Specifically, in a picturesque dream room for a kid complete with pizza boxes, plenty of video games, and a comfy bean bag chair. The game makes it clear from this first screen that the environments will be filled to the brim with highly-detailed, vibrant areas to scour. There’s also a more somber tone established once Wake makes his way upstairs; his father isn’t a great man, and Wake wants to escape and meet up with his friend Kirby.

Unfortunately, I’ve seen this story before in The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit. Another title set in the woodlands with an abusive father (due to a lost mother) scrutinizing an undeserving child, the similarities removed my immersion for a bit. Nevertheless, this minute nitpick was easily forgotten once I made my way into the meat of The Wild At Heart, which introduced the game’s gimmick of working with small minion-like characters to reach your goal.

Indeed, the endearing characters that Wake comes across make The Wild At Heart worthwhile. With whimsical dialogue and ample presentation, interacting with everyone you come across feels like less of an obligation and more of a welcome option. Throughout your journey into “The Deep Woods” you’ll make use of spritelings, tiny helpers that can perform tasks like fight enemies, destroy objects, move large things with a combined effort, and much more as you traverse the woods.

Thanks to a bit of the game being locked off on almost every new setting you encounter, you’ll find yourself going to and fro on the regular in The Wild At Heart. Fast travel courteously makes this more simple, not requiring you to do too much in any given day before you encounter the night and the terrors that come with it. A greyed-out map that reveals itself upon your movement reveals just how much game is here. It’s not a short experience like most games I tend to cover here at Phenixx.

I typically get discouraged by longer games, as I have to maximize my free time these days, but I’ll be playing The Wild At Heart to completion. I keep coming back to it to find out what happens next in the story, what more I can unlock/accomplish, and a burning desire to fill out the map and say I’ve fully explored “The Deep Woods.” I’m shocked to see less than 100 reviews for the game on Steam, but not shocked to see a 95% approval rating. The Wild At Heart feels like the best-kept Steam secret of 2021 so far.

A PC Review Copy of The Wild At Heart was provided by Humble Games for this review.

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The Wild At Heart

$24.99

9

Score

9.0/10

Pros

• Charming Visuals
• Knockout Soundtrack
• Engaging Gameplay

Cons

• Premise Identical to Captain Spirit