Yesterday, Omega Force released a performance patch for the PC version of WILD HEARTS. The developers claimed that this patch would greatly improve CPU performance, however, it appears that the game is still a technical mess. WILD HEARTS currently suffers from some of the most annoying stutters we’ve witnessed in any game, and you should stay away from it.
For starters, the game requires EA’s Origin even when you’ve purchased it via Steam. The game also suggests downloading and using the EA app. So basically, there are two launchers running alongside the EA app and the Denuvo anti-tamper tech. This is hilarious, and, solely for performance comparisons, I’d love to test a version that doesn’t have any of the launchers (and the Denuvo anti-tamper tech).
Due to EA’s Origin and Denuvo, the game also locks you out of the game for 24 hours after making three hardware changes. While this won’t impact most of you, it’s a pain in the ass for us. Basically, we’ll need three days just for our GPU benchmarks, so good job EA and Omega Force.
The aforementioned issues are mere inconveniences though and nothing more. The major issues of WILD HEARTS begin once you load the game. For starters, the game suffers from shader compilation issues. Not only that, but there are numerous other stutters that occur randomly. Below you can find a video showcasing these stutters. The game is unplayable due to these stutters. Seriously, as we’ve showcased, people have exaggerated the stuttering issues in other games like Final Fantasy 7 Remake or Elden Ring. In WILD HEARTS, the stutters are worse than those of Hogwarts Legacy and Dead Space Remake combined. It’s THAT bad.
As always, we used an Intel i9 9900K, 16GB of DDR4 at 3800Mhz, and NVIDIA’s RTX 4090. We also used Windows 10 64-bit, and the GeForce 528.24 driver. In the video above, you can clearly see that our Intel i9 9900K was under-used. So yes, this is yet another game that suffers from major CPU optimization/multi-threading issues.
Moreover, the game does not let you change your resolution while playing. In order to do so, you’ll have to head back to the Title Screen. What the hell? Why can’t you change your resolution in-game (which is the easiest thing that you can change in any game)? Oh, Omega Force.
Lastly, the game’s graphics do not justify their high GPU requirements. I would have shared some screenshots but I wasn’t expecting EA Origin to have locked us out for the next 24 hours. WILD HEARS looks and feels like an old-gen game, yet it runs way worse than other current-gen games. Hogwarts Legacy is a next-next-game compared to how WILD HEARTS looks and runs.
All in all, we suggest staying away from WILD HEARTS. We also don’t know when we’ll publish our PC Performance Analysis (thank the EA Origin restrictions for that). WILD HEARTS is easily among the worst optimized PC games of 2023, so GG Omega Force!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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