VIDEO GAME REVIEW: 'Hunted: The Demon's Forge' has flaws, offers different gameplay experience
Combining hack-and-slash gameplay with an effective cover system is evidence enough there is something going on in "Hunted: The Demon’s Forge."
While "Hunted" has its flaws, it is a unique, hard-to-hate experience.
"Hunted" tells the tale of Caddoc and E’lara, two mercenaries who are just out to make a living. The two find themselves mistakenly thrust into a conflict that is not their own and into the boots of heroes, even if those boots don’t quite fit. E’lara and Caddoc are hired by a spirit named Seraphine to rescue the people of Dryfed from a Wargin, humanoids that live in tunnels underground.
Both the characters have well defined personalities that play off each other in interesting ways. You won’t necessarily feel emotionally invested in either but they are fun and enjoyable protagonists for the 10- to 15 hour adventure.
While it is worth noting the voice acting throughout "Hunted" is spot on, the facial animations fall pretty flat. This is actually really disappointing, because a lot of the environment, lighting, and water effects look great. It’s not that Hunted can’t look better, but that it chooses not to. Overall, this is a minor issue that can be easily overlooked.
At its core, "Hunted" is a co-op experience. Player can control both Caddoc and E’lara and, while neither is limited in combat, they each have a well-defined role to fill.
"Hunted" gives players the choice to switch between Caddoc and E’lara at the start of each level; the fact you can’t switch between them at a whim makes the differences between the two stand out more. This is a good thing. Despite being a game designed with co-op in mind, players who are looking for a single-player experience shouldn’t shy away from "Hunted."
The ally AI is no real substitute for a human one, but it is smart enough to hold its own in combat and by no means needs babysitting. Most of the time I found myself dying more than the AI did, and this is due to both the skill of the AI and the defensive approach it takes.
While combat is the main draw to "Hunted," the pacing is mixed up by puzzles. They are made more interesting by riddles given before each one that hints to the method needed to solve it. The puzzles are not challenging, but they do require thought to solve. The end result is an experience that changes the pacing of the game without pulling the focus off the combat or losing the games excitement.
One of the most redeeming features of "Hunted" is the amount of replay value it has. Completing the game unlocks tweaks such as unlimited arrows and big-head mode, but it also unlocks the hardest difficulty. You’ll be encouraged to replay the game just to get more gold. Instead of being a form of currency, gold is used to unlock more items in Crucible mode, an easy-to-use dungeon creator.
In the end, "Hunted: The Demon’s Forge" is an adventure. The design and unique combat is solid and the story is interesting enough to keep you playing. In addition, the amount of playability here is incredible when you add on the Crucible mode. When everything is said and done, "Hunted" is just plain fun.
