Hunted: Demon's Forge

[sorophx]

I've spent a couple of days with Hunted. here's a review by moi, for those of you who are on the fence whether or not to buy this game.

 

 

generally speaking, Hunted is a copy of Gears of War, only in a fantasy world. the plot takes you and your companion on a quest to save humanity from a horde of ork-like creatures called Wargar, that live deep underground and for some strange reason have been raiding towns on the surface, taking prisoners, which isn't their usual behavior. the levels are straightforward, go from room to room, clearing them of all enemies. both characters have melee and ranged weapons, there's a cover system to help you dispatch groups of archers. no saving allowed. and it's of course playable in co-op. from time to time you have to fight huge mutated creatures using stationary weapons and parts of the environment.

 

but saying it's an exact copy of GoW would be lying. the game expands on GoW's ideas, improving the formula.

 

first of all, the game is friggin' huge. at least that's the impression I had gotten from playing it, I still haven't beaten it, and am currently on the 6th chapter (which seems to be the last). the levels are well designed, with a crapton of secret places for you to discover. I have missed at least one third of all secret areas (not sure if it was due to bugs or just me not being attentive), most of them are easy to spot, and the puzzles you have to solve to get to/through them are fairly simple, yet varied; but from time to time the game expects you to stop, pay attention and think a little.

 

the areas are built with great care, and the pace at which the scenery keeps changing doesn't let you get bored. I had encountered a couple of graphical bugs and glitches which forced me to reload, though. usually my char would get stuck in the wall while trying to find a place I could interact with.

 

a lot of actions require two characters to work together, if you're playing alone, the AI companion can be told where to stand/what to shoot (in case of Elara) or push (if it's Caddock). most, if not all, puzzles require you to use your characters' abilities.

 

oh yeah, you control one of the two characters: Elara, the elven archer or Caddock, a human warrior. the difference between them, aside from health/mana pools, is what kind of weapons they can use/will be finding throughout the game. Elara rolls with bows, while Caddock prefers one-handed axes, swords and clubs. and here lies the first feature that I personally can't approve of. switching between characters is only allowed in special locations. and those are very scarce. so most of the time you'll be using the same character. actually I'd suggest picking one and sticking with him, because they play completely different and take some time to get used to. more on that later.

 

all maps are broken into small sections divided by "doors". these are one-way passages, and usually serve as checkpoints, so once you go past one, there's no going back. that means if you miss a secret area, or a chest, or some other thing, getting it will have to wait for your next playthrough.

 

the interesting part is the "leveling" system and the plot-related ability to "see into the past of the dead". everything (I mean it) in this game is broken onto dozens of pieces for you to collect. and while you're collecting it, you're working towards making your character better, or uncovering parts of the game's story. I'll give you a few examples.

 

the game keeps track of the things you do/find (like number of kills, combos, executions, found items, found secret areas, solved puzzles, saved prisoners etc.), and every time you reach a milestone (10-20-50-100 kills), you get a new ability/power (like the ability to keep two main weapons, or additional slots for potions).

 

now, this is a very interesting approach to character development in a game like this. depending on the designer's goal, he can virtually control when the player reaches the next "level", controlling the pace of the game and allowing designers to create interesting encounters.

 

I won't say the word "groundbreaking", but it felt like a breath of fresh air after the endless string of Diablo clones.

 

the game's story gets told through dead bodies scattered all over the game (but not only through them of course). and you might miss an interesting part if you don't find a particularly well hidden corpse.

 

every time you find something of interest, your journal gets updated, and you can check how much progress you've made. the story elements don't get unlocked in a linear fashion, so you'll have to play the game to the end to find out all the twists and turns. I'll tell you one thing, the writing is very good (both Diablo and Gears of War are weeping in the corner), and the game will keep you engaged.

 

the biggest problem with Hunted is crappy balance. let me explain. each character has a main weapon and a secondary weapon (bow/sword - sword/crossbow), weapons and armor can be found everywhere, it is randomly generated, but what kind of weapon you get depends on what character finds it (there are weapon racks all over, when you break it you either get a weapon, a quiver of arrows or nothing at all). most of the time you find all kinds of weapons for your main slot, and oftentimes weapons you find lying around while walking from checkpoint to checkpoint are a lot better than stuff you get for solving a puzzle or defeating a particularly tough monster.

 

while you can change your type of weapon at will, you secondary is very weak (for example my main weapon currently deals 450 damage, secondary - 90), you basically either go all out on bows or swords. and here lies the biggest problem, this games throws a ton of shooting enemies at you, that's why I feel that playing as Elara is a lot easier than as Caddock (who can't even take advantage of the cover system).

 

as for battles, they are usually over before you break any sweat. there are some tough spots where you really have to pull everything together in order to win. all in all, playing on Normal, the game feels challenging enough not to become frustrating.

 

a few words about magic. both characters can use it. you find crystal shards on enemies or in containers, 4 shards make 1 crystal. and you use crystals to "buy" and improve spells and abilities. spells are the same for both characters, abilities reflect their main weapons. Caddock is a barbarian type of guy, his abilities are mostly buffs, while Elara focuses on enchanting her arrows, giving them AoE properties (like explosive arrows, freezing arrows etc.). one other confusing thing is you can only set up spells and abilities at certain points (pretty much at the same spots you switch characters), so once you leave that point, you're stuck with your choices until the next one.

 

that's pretty much it. my thoughts on the game.

 

between the inability to backtrack, the heavy lean towards ranged combat and the general linearity I've found Hunted to be very entertaining even playing solo. the game seems to have a second layer tied to online play (for example there's some mysterious mode called Crucible, which is available only through GameSpy, and a lot of unlockables seem to be available only in that mode; I still can't figure out what to do with gold, the game keeps count of how much you've gathered, my menu says I'm only 1/3 through content, which is pretty confusing; maybe it's for a New Game+ mode though). again, the story is engaging, the maps promote exploration, interchanging puzzles with combat keeps you from getting bored, new enemies are introduced at a steady pace, and the areas look nice enough for you to occasionally stop to enjoy the view.

 

graphics wise it's not a lot better than GoW, too much bloom for my taste, but the models and animations are decent to say the least.

 

verdict: a must have for any hack'n'slash fan. if you don't want to pay full price for it, grab it at the first Steam sale.

[Morgoth]

Sounds like I'd want to pick up if it's cheaper.

 

Is it true the game only saves after you finish a chapter?

[sorophx]

no no, the game saves every couple of steps, usually after big fights

 

edit: like I said, the game is huge, it can take you a whole evening to get through one chapter. I had tried to search for every hidden spot (there's no map of any kind), and it took me around 20 hours to get to Chapter 6.

 

I may sound too excited, that's because I didn't expect a game of this quality from inXile

Edited June 9, 2011 by sorophx

[HoonDing]

I already had an inkling from watching a few videos that the archer would be more fun to play.

 

Does the AI controlled melee character survive long enough, though?

[sorophx]

on Normal he died 2 times, gnerally he seems indestructible. I died twice too, he managed to get me up, so I didn't have to reload. the only problem, when ou are revived, you get a full set of potions, which kinda takes away the challenge...

[sorophx]

a small update.

 

Crucible is an editor that lets you build arenas for you to full around in. the gold in the game is used to unlock creatures and objects to populate/build your arena with. so if you're bored and want a challenge you can do a lot of fun stuff with it. I managed to gather 30000 gold in my first playthrough, it's a little less than 50% of what you need to unlock everything. so you'll have to beat the game at least twice to unleash Crucible's full potential.

 

there *is* a Game+, and there are extras after you beat the game (unlimited arrows, regenerating mana, perma stonesking etc.). also, beating the game unlock a fourth difficulty mode (called Old School )

 

as for the last chapter, while the story is good, the last dungeon and final boss left me unimpressed.

if you've played ICO, you already know how the final boss looks in Hunted

 

 

there were some moments that hinted at very interesting things, but they either were only that - hints - or I somehow managed to miss it.

for example there's this liquid that makes you very powerful, you get 4 chances to use it to defeat your enemies. I never did. after you defeat the final boss you get told that you are f***ed because you drank it, to which my characters only laughed. what I'm wondering is: could it be that there are multiple endings?

 

[Morgoth]

Are you playing the retail version? Does it use Steamworks?

[vault_overseer]

I guess I'll go and rent it from redbox tonight

[sorophx]

mine is a retail version (I guess), cost me 499, which is roughly ~17 dollars. so I don't know how Steam version works

[HoonDing]

I've played through three chapters of the game and I don't really get the generally low mainstream reviews. This game is pretty great fun and highly addictive.

 

Chapter 1 is pretty boring and plays exactly like Gears of War with bows, but once you hit the dungeons proper it becomes really good. I really like the puzzles and riddles.

 

That said, though, Caddoc sucks. There's really no reason to play with him in single-player, unless you like watching Elara stealing all your kills (seriously, it's like she's wielding an AK-47 and bazooka rather than a bow)... which brings up a complaint: those arena sections where you need to fight waves and waves of enemies aren't really well suited for the single-player when you are burdened by the pretty bad AI of your companion. I had to

drink the evil liquid to get past the waves of minotaurs in chapter 3, which I presume will screw me over. I could easily survive the first 3 or 4 waves, but after that mana potions didn't respawn fast enough and I was eventually ground down.

 

 

The main characters are surprisingly likeable and well-voiced as well, and have some pretty good interactions. I like how Caddoc looks like the clich

Edited June 18, 2011 by virumor

[sorophx]

I had to

drink the evil liquid to get past the waves of minotaurs in chapter 3, which I presume will screw me over. I could easily survive the first 3 or 4 waves, but after that mana potions didn't respawn fast enough and I was eventually ground down.

you can one-shot enemies if your companion boosts you (attacking magic can be used to boost your damage instead of hurting enemies, you need to hold the magic key intead of tapping it), Caddock would charge me up before every tough encounter. that and your skills (if you're playing as Elara) are devastating, if you use the Crit hit arrow (don't remember how the skill exactly works), it only takes 2-3 arrows to kill a minotaur.

[HoonDing]

I used explosive arrows to clear all the filler mobs and used Lightning on the minotaurs because according to their lore entry, Arcane magic was their weakness. Problem was, a few charges of lightning costs a lot of mana.

[sorophx]

by then you should already have 3 slots for mana bottles, and the grunts tend to drop those fairly often. just move around the arena and take full advantage of your skills

 

but it's interesting to see what ending you'll get. mine was:

heroes break the death stone, banishing that Seraph chick, and leave

 

Edited June 18, 2011 by sorophx

[HoonDing]

Well, finished it. Worst ending ever.

Elara kills Caddoc and becomes the new servant of the sleg. And just because I had drunk the sleg only once? I didn't have any problems clearing the much harder arena sections in chapter 5 and 6, so I guess the joke's on me.

 

 

The game is fun enough to replay for the good ending. Also, Laura Bailey > Jennifer Hale.

Edited June 19, 2011 by virumor

[sorophx]

so it does have multiple endings, cool