Hunter Path Analysis

Get to know nature in depth and its curiosities thanks to Way of the Hunter

This isn’t the first time I’ve been faced with a review of a hunting simulator, and every time I start writing about it, the same unfounded prejudices that many gamers will have come back to mind. I understand that this hobby can be controversial, dividing opinions into two very different camps. But we are dealing with a video game, and therefore, we have to see the nature of the hunt with different eyes. Indeed, we will verify that in Way of the Hunter, the act of shooting is the icing on the cake of a long and elaborate process who will demand the best of ourselves to obtain our trophy. And it is that, although it seems contradictory, in this proposal we will have to immerse ourselves in nature and understand the behavior of animals to achieve our objectives.

The hunting ground opens

From the hand of Nine Rocks y Games Nordic THQ Way of the Hunter arrives, a title that wants to compete directly with other very similar proposals such as The Hunter: Call of the Wild or Hunter Simulator 2. It must be said that all these titles share a very similar vision of this hobby, betting on a calm and peaceful experience that will require a good knowledge of the terrain and the animals that live there.

This time there will be a story that serves as a thread to everything we do. Our uncle has fallen ill, and that’s why he’s going to ask for our help to maintain the hut and the affairs that concern it. We will have to keep control of the species, kill what it asks of us, or even obtain another animal for the restaurants dedicated to seasonal hunting cuisine. All within an ethical and moral framework that will make us understand it at all times. Of course, you can dissect animals that serve as trophies in your cabin, which is far from moral and ethical…

United States or Europe?

We will have two slots available do our hunts in Way of the Hunter. Like him Pacific Northwest as Transylvania itself they will have plenty of square miles to explore by car or on foot. Both in one area and in another, we will have to be careful to locate our future prey. We will have to be very careful, use all our senses and be patient in order to get our reward.

It’s not an easy game. Not even in its minimum difficulty. If we don’t know how to keep up with their pace, we’ll probably go around the pitch and get nothing in return. In fact, there will be many times that if we make a lot of noise with the car or with our gun, the animals of the region will flee to the mountains. At that point, with some resignation, it’s best to return to the cabin and try to shoot them down the next day.

Detective Mode ON

To make hunting more accessible, Way of the Hunter has a hunter mode which magnifies our senses. If we activate it, we can see on the screen where an animal sound comes from, where it ate or even the trace of blood if we killed it. In reality, following the trail of blood here is much more difficult than in other games of the genre, and there will be many occasions when our animal will flee or give us our track as impossible if we are not with a thousand eyes on the ground.

Put on your best clothes in Way of the Hunter

Despite this fiction with the vision of the hunter, the game is quite realistic. I would even say that sometimes it becomes too realistic. You can easily go around in circles for half an hour without pulling the trigger. The hunt itself becomes an exercise in reconnaissance and stealth in search of the perfect moment and position. At least we will have a little more leeway in small game, where we will leave the gun to aim a shotgun to shoot down rabbits, ducks or pheasants. Speaking of small game, I miss the figure of a dog that helps us pick up the killed animals or follow the scent in the middle of the vegetation.

On the other hand, there are other elements included in the game and it made me particularly fun. Apart from a huge amount of telescopic sights and weapons to equip, there will be accessories to make our hunt more fruitful. Among these elements, the deer Claim, which becomes a kind of whistle that we can blow so that they come to our call. It is also worth noting the weapons and the sound they emit, very powerful and precise.

Analyze the blow

While in other games you have to ask for licenses to hunt a particular animal, here we will ask permits to hunt in specific areas. I have not seen at any time that the game penalizes for killing an animal that was not part of our objectives, although it is true that if we do it inappropriately (like running it over with the car), the economic benefit that we will obtain from its skin and meat will be minimal.

Speaking of enjoying our hunt, there’s one element I really liked about shooting and killing an animal. As in Sniper Elite we will have a kind of kill cam with which we will see the trajectory of our projectile, the organs our shot hit and the damage it may have caused to our target’s skin. With this we will know the value of our prey in the market, in addition to being a very visual element if we want to take advantage of our shot.

pixel hunting

Despite all this similarity which reaches Path of the hunter When it comes to putting yourself in the shoes of a hunter, there is something that does not quite convince me. The visual system is somewhat out of phase, and not just because of some shaking on the screen which is especially noticeable when using binoculars. The very movement of our protagonist, the physics of the car and the behavior of the animals leave a lot to be desired.

The study tried to give a naturalness and a real behavior to the animals that roam freely on stage, but the truth is that it does not stop curdling. There are times when they get stuck staring at infinity doing nothing, the animation they perform when running around isn’t particularly good, and when in a group they all behave in one oddly similar way. Nor did I feel safe from the scenes, and the forests you can roam through don’t offer that haven of peace and quiet that other competitive games do. I think that in these situations, apart from a slightly less elaborate graphic part, there is a lack of improved lighting, especially in areas with lots of trees and undergrowth.

Conclusion of the hunter’s path

Nine Rocks Games and THQ Nordic want us to bring out the hunter in us and enjoy the landscapes and mechanics their game offers. Like other titles of the same genre, we are facing a very slow proposal that will require an action protocol before we can achieve our goal. Positioning yourself correctly, choosing the right distance and waiting for the best moment to pull the trigger is not easy, and the most impatient users may see it as an impossible task.

Is this game better than its competitors? It is difficult to answer this question, because Way of the Hunter has its strengths and weaknesses. It contains a narrative thread that can catch our attention, its animal tracking is more realistic, its hunter mode is not as augmented as in other games, the kill-cam is very impressive… On the other hand, the visual section, the animations and animal behaviors are far from plausible. The light and dark that go more into personal assessments and our criterion of raising hands with according to chess. For my part, I think there is room for improvement, and I hope that all these flaws will be corrected with patches and updates.