The Karakuri system in Wild Hearts, a fresh addition to the monster-hunting genre of games, is an incredibly interesting concept. Players are heavily incentivized to build all kinds of absurd machinations,on-the-fly, while also avoiding attacks from these Beast x Nature fusions called Kemono. A lot of comparisons have been made calling it Minecraft x Monster Hunter or Fortnite x Monster Hunter, but it's truly a system and mechanic unique to this game.
And, a lot of the best weapons against the Kemono in Wild Hearts are the Fusion Karakuri, so let's talk about how exactly they're unlocked.
How Fusion Karakuri Are Unlocked In Wild Hearts
To put it simply, for players to unlock new Fusion Karakur i, they'll have to go up against new and powerful Kemono. Each Kemono in Wild Hearts has its own unique gimmick and most of them have direct Karakuri counters (some of them a bit wackier than others).
In a battle against these Kemono, players will find sudden flashes of 'Inspiration' when a Kemono is winding up specific attacks that allow them to craft the perfect machine to stop/counter that attack. To put it simply, players fight Kemono, make sure their feet are touching the ground during specific moments in the fight, and wait for the 'water drop' sound effect to pop signaling this 'Inspiration' mechanic is being triggered.
How Inspiration Works
Now, here's what people need to know about Inspiration, it's very easy to miss. There are a variety of factors that can cause players to either miss the window they're given or for the mechanic to not trigger at all during the fight entirely.
So, first off, keep an ear out for that 'water drop' sound effect and the slow-down that happens right after. When this happens, players should see whatever Input brings up their Karakuri Menu pop up on the screen, press this to start the Inspiration building mini-game. Then, players will need to press the inputs that pop up on the screen (which differ based on the Basic Karakuri setup) to complete the new Fusion Karakur i. And, after that, the Fusion is permanently unlocked for the player.
Problems With The Inspiration Mechanic
While this system is a pretty natural and unique way to introduce new Karakuri throughout the course of the game, like many other aspects of Wild Hearts, it has its fair share of issues. To give a few examples:
- If players aren't on the ground during the moment Inspiration would normally pop, it just doesn't trigger. This means weapons that have a lot of aerial attacks, AKA the Clawblade, will end up missing these windows quite often.
- It seems to be random as to whether the window for Inspiration will be given to the host or their ally in multiplayer. Of course, if the ally already has the Fusion Karakuri, then no problem. But, there have been plenty of instances (and complaints) where the host's Inspiration is literally stolen by some random person that joined the hunt.
- While the time it gives players to follow the prompts isn't super short, it isn't very long either. If it's hard to see or players are caught off guard by the inputs that pop up, they can 'fail out' of the Inspiration minigame and will have to wait until it triggers again.
General Tips For Triggering Inspiration
And lastly, let's go over some general concepts to keep in mind for Wild Hearts players so that they don't miss their moments of Inspiration whenever possible:
- Missing the moment in a story-based hunt isn't a big deal, the Fusion Karakuri is tied to the Kemono, not that story mission, so just hunt the Kemono until it shows up again.
- On the actual Fusion Karakuri nodes found in the Karakuri tab of the pause menu, there should be an icon for the exact Kemono it's locked behind. And, in the description of this node, it'll show what Basic Karakuri the player needs to have equipped for the Inspiration to even trigger at all.
- A lot of these Fusions are optional, and the best ones are used often by players online, so players shouldn't feel 'forced' to grind these hunts until the Inspiration appears if it's hurting their experience, as they can just rely on other players to have the Fusion Karakuri (don't rely on this too heavily) or just ignore that Fusion for a while.
And that's about all players should 'need' to know about Inspiration and unlocking Fusion Karakuri in Wild Hearts. Just keep in mind that, more often than not, it happens while the Kemono is winding up a gigantic attack, and this tends to happen directly after they enter their Rage state.
Wild Hearts is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.