According to Raptr*, I’ve logged 7 hours into Hunted now. I’m going to assume what I’ve seen is what the game has to offer, so this will probably be my last post on it, unless for some strange reason I finish it.

Last night was really more of the same. Frustrations with 1-way doors in level design (even if sometimes the “door” is a ledge you jump off of and can’t climb back up) and logic inconsistencies (I needing a flaming arrow in a room with several burning lamps sitting in holders about 5 feet tall, but I can only set an arrow alight from a fire burning on the ground), but combat that’s actually pretty fun, and (the highlight of the game for me) puzzle crypts to explore (found 3 of these so far, of 8 in the game).

The “Secret Areas” piss me off the most. So far I’ve found 1 (of 32) and I need to find 6 to unlock the 2nd weapon slot. And when I said “found” I mean “get access to so the game gives me credit.” I’ve seen a lot of them but apparently suck at figuring out how to get access. Generally it seems to involved shooting something with a flaming arrow, and see above re: finding a place to set an arrow alight. I’ve also left some behind via hitting a 1-way level chokepoint and losing access to the secret area before I’ve even started trying to solve it. I guess I could “Reload from last checkpoint” but that’s not really my style.

Last night I had to quit because I was getting queasy in a motion-sickness kind of way, just from all the constant camera spinning I’m doing as I look for ways into these secret bits. I’m not a really big puzzle person to begin with, and in an action game I just want to keep the action going, not stop and ponder a puzzle for 10 minutes (this seems like a really odd design decision given that co-op play is such a big emphasis for the game).

I’ve also decided that while having dungeons and crypts that have no light sources is much more realistic than what you encounter in most games (where you discover ancient burial chambers with merrily burning torches waiting), it really isn’t very much fun. I spend more time squinting into the darkness in this game… often I’ll get E’lara to light a flaming arrow just so it’ll act as a feeble light source. There will sometimes be an unlit torch in these areas, but in order to pick it up I’d have to drop my shiny magic sword, and fight with the torch. Again, realistic, sure. Fun? Not so much.

Anyway, so that’s my Hunted: The Demon’s Forge story so far. And that may be the end of things for me. I’m not feeling particularly compelled to go back to the game. It’s just not very good. At least not for me. It could have been, I think. It just feels like a game that needed another 6 months of development for level design (and other) polish.

*Editor’s note: This URL is shady. Go there at your own risk. [5 Dec 2018]