Posted by Zach Quest follow him at @okayquest
TheHunter: Call of The Wild (developed by Avalanche Studios of Just Cause fame) is a game that exists in a very odd niche in the world of gaming. Rarely do we get to see a game in the hunting genre truly do something innovative and fun for the genre. My experience with hunting games is honestly little to none, the only time I remember playing any hunting games is on a family members old PC where we were hunting down bears to no avail and in the game Oregon Trail. What theHunter: Call of The Wild does bring elements from other open world games and fits them together to make an atmospheric hunting game.
This game is actually quite gorgeous to walk around in. The sound of nature punctuates the beautiful silence as you walk through the forest, twigs snapping under your feet or in the mountains with snow crunching with every step. The world is very atmospheric and engrossing. Not every game needs to have an epic story line, sometimes games can be ones you play for a few hours then put down. TheHunter: Call of the Wild is definitely the sort of game that you’d buy on a Steam sale and not regret the purchase.
What the game succeeds at is the environment and sound design, but beyond that the game is actually pretty chill and can be quite fun. There are times in this game where you are walking through a forest, tracking a deer or another animal and you can hear a bear give you a growl. What the game tells you to do is get into the prone position and wait until the bear is no longer agitated and then continue on. I had an encounter where the bear slowly walked right by me and It was actually a very intense and fun moment within the game play. The game play hook besides the encounters in the game are just you hunting animals in this environment and trying to get one bigger than the last one that you killed and score more points. The game wants you to do quests and missions that are given to you through your cell phone, doing missions like finding camps or places where I certain agitated animal was found and killing certain big animals will net you points. These points that you obtain are then used to purchase more equipment so you can go out and hunt the animals even better, score more points. That’s all this game has to offer at , which is honestly not too bad for what the game is. TheHunter: Call of The Wild at the end of the day is a hunting game and it really does live up to that potential. Sure, the game doesn’t hold a candle to any shooters or other games within the open world genre, but it does shine in the hunting game genre, an albeit destitute genre with no competition whatsoever I think people who are fans of the hunting genre will absolutely love TheHunter: Call of The Wild and be happy with their purchase and I think if someone who isn’t a fan would have a few hours of fun with the game and might walk out with a bit of appreciation for this niche game.
