New to the genre and starting to like this game!

Update: Can't stop playing it! Haven't been excited for a game like this since... Dark Souls 3. Fucking love it! Hope they make a sequel

I've never really played the monster hunter games before. Tried MH:Rise very briefly and couldn't get into it. Didn't like the art direction, too much on the screen, long tutorial, slow/clunky combat. All put me off pretty quickly.

Fast forward to today. I just installed Wild Hearts because when I was browsing GamePass and WOW! I'm so pleasantly surprised!

I LOVE***** the art in this game. Large, open areas, beautiful colors*****, beautiful UI (everything on screen, the map, etc.), decent accessibility options (could improve though) and overall a "feel-good" game.

*******My only gripe with the art/colors is how bright they can get (not the color palette but the actual gamma). I think it's a bloom issue. Wish I could turn it off on xbox but it's not too bad. Lowering the brightness slider did help but it makes nights way too dark so I changed it back to normal.

I loved how short the tutorial was and I could skip the cutscenes. Though I wish there was a single button I could press to skip the whole segment not just every sentence. Still, much better than MH:Rise's long intro.

In summary,

+ I loved the art. liked the weapons. The feel of the combat. The monsters. Cross-platform and shared co-op progression is awesome too!

- I don't like grinding for materials, resource management for camps, monsters running away mid-fight (even though you can grab them but still annoying if missed), me having to run around the map, and the cursed camera positioning

So yeah, pretty cool! I might actually keep playing this. These are just my first impressions but there might be something here for sure! I just wish there was a game exactly like this without the survival/crafting/management elements. That would be perfect. Maybe I'll try Wo:Long next. Anyone played that Wo:Long and can compare? I usually like Souls games.

And one more thing, how long do you think this will stay on GamePass? Should I buy it for $15 on sale rn or will it be there for a while?