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Hunted The Demon's Forge |OT|

cleveridea said:
I imagine reviews will be similar to First Templar or Venetica or any other low production value Action-RPG type game. For me, I love the genre and appreciate something different than the usual clones of FPS etc.
Please stop. This is not the game to be hopping on top of a soap box about being generic/clone.
Instead, try telling us what you liked about the game.
 
truly101 said:
How is the First Templar anyway? I loved Venetica, just got to the Doge's palace so I shouldn't have too much left.

a mixed bag, I really like the combat system once you unlock skill tree talents. I particularly like critical hits which required timing each attack properly though its a little clumsy in between combo chains. Levels are similarly mixed, with a nice looking forest area that I thought looked awesome, and now I am on a horribly boring sewer with lever pulling "puzzles" which I hate and bland boxy walls. I hope I have the patience to get through this section because I am otherwise enjoying it.
 
Mr. B Natural said:
Please stop. This is not the game to be hopping on top of a soap box about being generic/clone.
Instead, try telling us what you liked about the game.

nah that wasnt the point, I am not into the COD games but I can tell they are very high quality. same with puzzle games, just not for me.

It was more a point that this game does something DIFFERENT. Low production values yet for me I like something different even though it has a lot of problems.
 
I'm not seeing anything offensively bad from the videos and streams that I've watched and I like this style of gameplay. I'll get it off Steam on Friday I think. If anyone wants to co-op then and doesn't mind that I don't have a mic then I'm up for it.

Edit: Having said that I did just see the AI character get completely stuck in a wall!
 

Seventy5

Member
cleveridea said:
its a shame that you cant alternate characters on the fly, as it gets boring doing just ranged attacks with the female and there aren't any weapon skills to use to make melee more interesting for her.

also, as the guy, melee seems a tactically worse decision most of the time so I end up using the much-less-satisfying ranged attacks and wishing to alternate to the female.

Has anyone made it past the second chapter? The intro showed some interesting locations, I am hoping for some color versus the VERY dark second chapter.
I just got into Chapter 3, it's set in a forest with ruins all over the place. It's pretty green there. Well, greyish green. And brown. It's a nice departure from the second chapter though. The first two chapters took me quite a while to finish, I'm guessing this is going to be a 20+ hour game.
 

Totobeni

An blind dancing ho
amrod said:

3 and half stars out of five.

Where Hunted stands apart from Epic's chainsaw-shooter is its unique approach to co-op. Rather than relying solely on flanking tactics or concentration of gunfire, success in Hunted demands the clever utilization of the game's two protagonists: Caddoc, a melee fighter who can survive in the thick of a monster swarm, and E'lara, an extremely powerful (and preposterously scantily clad) archer who splits her foes' wigs with Legolasian gusto.


Despite the game's flaws, that handful of brilliantly executed ideas makes Hunted a difficult game to ignore. Role-playing/shooter hybrids aren't a new invention by any stretch of the imagination, but most of those hybrids simply borrow and juxtapose the best elements of their amalgamated genres. For better and worse, Hunted eschews those benchmark components, creating a unique, exciting and promising genre of its own design.


it sound flawed but also very solid.

I Will keep an eye for more reviews.
 

.hacked

Member
boo to the coop.

wtf no vertical split screen coop like in Portal 2 and Left 4 Dead.

This sucks.


Playing the PS3 version, does the Xbox 360 support vertical split screen, take advantage of my big screen.
 

RobertM

Member
Drinky Crow said:
this game is gross. besides being a sloppy take on gears co-op gameplay in a banal gothicky fantasy universe, the elf chick wears no underwear yet simultaneously lacks a muff texture -- her crotch is nothing but an uncanny valley of absurd geometric intersections. i wouldn't care, but the camera and the sexually dysfunctional art staff feel the urge to show this to me every five seconds and it is a euclidian kinda icky i'd never expected. what's wrong with an underwear texture, freaks? WHAT IS WRONG WITH PANTS AND JUNGLE TROMPIN' BOOTS
Lol, it's funny but I never actually looked down for some reason and jeez, it looks like a black bar going across her crotch and cover an inch of ass. I guess you can call that her "underwear".
ivkxt.jpg


Well chapter 3 wasn't bad. I do like how the game is self aware about the poor design choices; like raising hundreds of doors as one character points out: "at least it isn't another door" or questioning environments geometry by talking about how they were here before and going in circles. I did kind of start enjoying it a bit more once I unlocked additional weapon slot, it still boggles me how these unlocks are placed throughout the game. And that Spider boss...he was down after 4 hits, I really hope other main bosses aren't this bad.

I think there is much more strategy at play if you play the game co-op. In single player you don't worry too much about archers or dying when your AI partner rarely dies and is able to revive you every time. So that's where experience might differ for the few, but I can't turn a blind eye on the graphics, poorly lit environments and lighting in general, the one button interactivity, arena style environments, lack of combos, and nonexistent story line.
 

JaxJag

Banned
aegies said:
We (IGN) don't have a review up because we weren't sent review copies. Our reviewer is at Gamestop right now picking up PS3 and 360 copies for review. Make of that what you will.
So you aren't doing the review?

I guess I'll give it a read then.
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
I love how elaborate the side areas are. You find a secret door and instead of being a room with a couple of gold and some treasure you get huge dungeons wings with elaborate multi stage puzzles that take upwards of an hour to clear, all for a side passage.

I'm *really* digging this, it's got that dungeon crawler feel down pat.
 

Produce

Member
After playing for a couple of hours, I am quite enjoying the game. The graphics are solid and the banter between the two leads is pretty cool.

Yet during several set pieces the partner AI only reaffirmed the need for a co-op buddy. It does a decent job, but not enough to scream out 'Where the fuck is Caddoc!?'

Oh, why the hell do I get the feeling of Quantum Theory? :S
 
Drinky Crow said:
this game is gross. besides being a sloppy take on gears co-op gameplay in a banal gothicky fantasy universe, the elf chick wears no underwear yet simultaneously lacks a muff texture -- her crotch is nothing but an uncanny valley of absurd geometric intersections. i wouldn't care, but the camera and the sexually dysfunctional art staff feel the urge to show this to me every five seconds and it is a euclidian kinda icky i'd never expected. what's wrong with an underwear texture, freaks? WHAT IS WRONG WITH PANTS AND JUNGLE TROMPIN' BOOTS

I put the game away after 5 minutes and never played again. I guess i will give it a second chance.
 

rSpooky

Member
.hacked said:
boo to the coop.

wtf no vertical split screen coop like in Portal 2 and Left 4 Dead.

This sucks.

.
This bugs me too.. what is it with this horizontal split crap , especially sine they try to keep the wide screen aspect ration and you now you miss so much of perfectly good usable screen. Why are some dev's so reluctant to use vertical split screen?
 

rSpooky

Member
Sinatar said:
I love how elaborate the side areas are. You find a secret door and instead of being a room with a couple of gold and some treasure you get huge dungeons wings with elaborate multi stage puzzles that take upwards of an hour to clear, all for a side passage.

I'm *really* digging this, it's got that dungeon crawler feel down pat.

That maybe true, but unless I am missing something there are some designs flaws int hat as well, fr instance one passage my wife and me found needed to be solved with a fire arrow, it doesn't tell you how to make a fire arrow but she figured it out, however in the second part of it
when you shoot the stone face in the eye
she was out of magic/mana and no recharge or vial in sight to solve it.
So we explored more and were cut off from that section, that sucks.Like I said maybe we missed something, but it was very unclear, and the small split screens didn't help.

Note we did put gamma all the way up, but every time we died and went back to a checkpoint we had to redo the gamma change.. weird.
 

TimeLike

Member
rSpooky said:
That maybe true, but unless I am missing something there are some designs flaws int hat as well, fr instance one passage my wife and me found needed to be solved with a fire arrow, it doesn't tell you how to make a fire arrow but she figured it out, however in the second part of it
when you shoot the stone face in the eye
she was out of magic/mana and no recharge or vial in sight to solve it.
So we explored more and were cut off from that section, that sucks.Like I said maybe we missed something, but it was very unclear, and the small split screens didn't help.

Note we did put gamma all the way up, but every time we died and went back to a checkpoint we had to redo the gamma change.. weird.

This totally happened to me. I am still really pissed off about it. I was doing some side mission where I had to collect like four items. I found two of them, then stepped through a door and BOOM! I got a main storyline checkpoint back from which there was no going. The door closed behind me and you can't open it. Side quest abandoned.

I almost quit playing right then and there. I am such a completionist whore at these types of games, that carrying on without solving that side mission and seeing the reward for it was nearly too much to bare.

I'm still loving the game, though, and am recommending it to anyone who will listen.
 
Game is growing on me, kinda reminds me of deathtrap dungeon from the ps1 era with the dark lighting and underground dungeon stretching for miles and miles. All it needs now is a dinosaur.

It's also pretty cool when you run into big archery fights and there's arrows cracking and splintering everywhere.
 

Grisby

Member
Yeesh, this second chapter is so dark. The first part was cool but its dragging its ass a bit near the end.
 

jtrov

Member
Ken said:
Not sure if posted but Giant Bomb has their Quick Look up:

http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-hunted-the-demons-forge/17-4193/

After watching the Quick Look, the game doesn't look all that bad. There was something about it that looked very interesting and fun. It does look rough, but the sound design (only heard that of the QL), graphical style, and enemy designs all seemed rather interesting. Definitely looks like a game in which I could enjoy, so I may decide to pick this up.

I also did not know about the "Crucible" mode in the game, and that seemed rather interesting as well. It looked like a nice distraction for quick co-op sessions.

Are any retailers having any type of deals for this game?
 

Seventy5

Member
TimeLike said:
This totally happened to me. I am still really pissed off about it. I was doing some side mission where I had to collect like four items. I found two of them, then stepped through a door and BOOM! I got a main storyline checkpoint back from which there was no going. The door closed behind me and you can't open it. Side quest abandoned.

I almost quit playing right then and there. I am such a completionist whore at these types of games, that carrying on without solving that side mission and seeing the reward for it was nearly too much to bare.

I'm still loving the game, though, and am recommending it to anyone who will listen.
Click the right stick in before you go through doors if you're doing a side mission. If the Fairy Dust GPS Navigation goes to the door, don't go through it.
 
Halfway through Chapter 3 now, the game has grown on me a bit more, the colour palette in the third chapter makes it a bit more enjoyable. The optional dungeons, if you choose to grind through those, makes the game feel much more satisfying.

However, it's hard to consider this an as a loot game or an rpg. The path is fairly linear, and without much choice to do anything. The money system also makes very little sense, as it doesn't seem to matter in the main game, only unlocking stuff in the crucible.
 
Seventy5 said:
Click the right stick in before you go through doors if you're doing a side mission. If the Fairy Dust GPS Navigation goes to the door, don't go through it.
This. Basically, if you are in a room with 2+ exits, use the "fairy dust gps", and do everything opposite to it.
 

rSpooky

Member
ced said:
What's the split screen like? Just a horizontal split or is it those offset windows like RE5?
the former
horizontal, but it is not stretched all the way through,s o you are not using your whole screen.
 

Stallion Free

Cock Encumbered
I really love the sense of atmosphere in the dark dungeon bits where you pretty much have to have a torch. I have really been enjoying the co-op.
 

AiTM

Banned
Anyone have any idea on the length? Got this from Gamefly and hoping I can gangbang this thing out before monday...
 

Grisby

Member
AiTM said:
Anyone have any idea on the length? Got this from Gamefly and hoping I can gangbang this thing out before monday...

I haven't been playing much each day but each chapter has been a nice length so far. I'd say a standard 8 to 10 hours, a lot shorter if you just followed the main path.
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
AiTM said:
Anyone have any idea on the length? Got this from Gamefly and hoping I can gangbang this thing out before monday...

If you do the exploratory sections, probably 12-15 hours. Maybe 8 if you just follow the magic pixie dust trail and blow through the story.
 
Sinatar said:
If you do the exploratory sections, probably 12-15 hours. Maybe 8 if you just follow the magic pixie dust trail and blow through the story.
Just finished. I'm clocked in around 12 hours. Every branch I saw I attempted, with various successes (some of the items were absurdly hidden). This does not include the crucible part of the game, and I'm still trying to figure out whether my items/stats from the main game carries over to the other parts.

As a general final review: it's grown on me a bit. I'd agree with the average range of 6-7. I don't know how I feel about it as a full price game.
 

Totobeni

An blind dancing ho
AlphaTwo00 said:
Just finished. I'm clocked in around 12 hours. Every branch I saw I attempted, with various successes (some of the items were absurdly hidden). This does not include the crucible part of the game, and I'm still trying to figure out whether my items/stats from the main game carries over to the other parts.

As a general final review: it's grown on me a bit. I'd agree with the average range of 6-7. I don't know how I feel about it as a full price game.

In the end do you feel it was Gears with swords? ( it's not a bad thing if it was like that) or a game that has it's own taste and style?
 
Totobeni said:
In the end do you feel it was Gears with swords? ( it's not a bad thing if it was like that) or a game that has it's own taste and style?
I ended up blasting through the game as E'lara focused entirely on shooting. I think you can kinda of play it like Gears, and it'd be ok. The magic does make it a bit different. The swordplay didn't feel that interesting to write home about.

Bonus: There's a gatling gun, with arrows. Go figure.
 
My first attempt of playing this game ended up with me hating it. Really felt like such a shit game.

Luckily I gave it another shot and now I feel it starting to actually grow on me. Starting to understand a few things I misunderstood and now that I have "leveled" a bit it is much more fun.

Been playing as the archer. Going with exploding arrows and fire magic.
 

Aaron

Member
Just got this game, and I think the key to enjoying it is to actually ignore the campaign at first, and jump into a random map in the Crucible. You get abilities much faster that way and really get a feel for what the characters can do. They don't even let you sprint in the campaign until you reach a certain point. It was a real bad move for them to so gradually doll out the best parts of this game. Because once you get a few abilities, the combat system really starts cooking, and especially with two players it comes a total blast.
 

Grisby

Member
Aaron said:
Just got this game, and I think the key to enjoying it is to actually ignore the campaign at first, and jump into a random map in the Crucible. You get abilities much faster that way and really get a feel for what the characters can do. They don't even let you sprint in the campaign until you reach a certain point. It was a real bad move for them to so gradually doll out the best parts of this game. Because once you get a few abilities, the combat system really starts cooking, and especially with two players it comes a total blast.

Man, that prologue level is so ugly compared to the latter half of the game. I don't know why they started with that.
 

Totobeni

An blind dancing ho
IGN Review 6.0

Gameplay
The core mechanics of Hunted: The Demon's Forge are fun, especially with a friend. Playing alone, however, is painful, and the overall lack of polish hurts the end product.


Again like the other reviews, solid and lack of polish.
 

Grisby

Member
Pro tip: DO not do a new game plus if you want to hunt down the rest of the collectibles as it resets the data.

Just go from the chapter select.
 
Played a little of this with a friend and quite liked it. Characters, voice acting and and story are all pretty good, with some nice dialogue here and there. Gameplay was just average, but so many games play the same nowadays that I don't think you can really fault it for not reinventing the wheel in that regard. The graphics are average but the sound design is really impressive.

All in all, it seems like a pretty decent romp, probably much better in co-op.
 
The fact that you unlock a bunch of cheats when you finish the game is a huge plus for me, so few games do it nowadays.

B73EB785EE47DDE5CFEC196ACDDDF3F68906007E


Even Big Head Mode!

Anyway, I had a lot of fun with the game first time through. I played as Caddoc and the first half of the game felt more like RE5 than Gears to me. Not as much action as something like Gears and quite a few (simple) puzzle sections. The last two chapters are pretty much all out action. The combat was serviceable. I enjoyed levitating a bunch enemies and watching the AI freeze then blow them up with an explosive arrow or just mowing through enemies with a Battle Charge. Voice acting is above average, even from the minor characters and I liked the friendship between the two main ones.

I've seen a lot of people complain about the graphics but I had no issue with them. Had everything maxed on PC at 1080p and ran at a flawless 60fps with not one single dip. Environments are reasonably varied and even though the textures aren't the best, the overall image quality is great which is generally what I look for.

Negatives are:

- Online is completely broken on PC. Getting into a game is nigh on impossible.
- While the voice acting is way better than most games, there needed to be more variety. You end up hearing the same stuff over again, especially from prisoners.
- I was taking cover very rarely as Caddoc but when I wanted to it could be frustrating. He'd just end up rolling instead of sticking to cover unless I had the angle exactly right. This was especially frustrating during the last boss where you need to be behind cover to avoid a very powerful attack and you get only a short time to get there. Speaking of the last boss...
- I probably would have had an easier time with it if I had been playing with another human. Unfortunately they decided to have respawning enemies flanking you constantly while you have to perform a button mash QTE. This is fine if the other character is taking out the enemies, but the AI wasn't quite up to the task so I was getting interrupted a lot.
- Bugs. I had a couple of times where I had to restart a checkpoint because an enemy had spawned somewhere I couldn't see and I needed to kill it to trigger the next event or my AI partner had become stuck in a wall or bit of, erm, floor.
- Chapter 2 is too dark! WTF!

Seems like a long list but I really did enjoy the game and am about to start my second playthrough as E'lara. It's a shame that a patch to fix the online for the PC version has practically zero chance of happening as I'd like to be able to play with other people without it taking an hour to connect to anyone. Hopefully developers will one day realise that Gamespy is garbage.
 
Ken said:
What other cheats are there?

Infinite arrows, regenerating arrows, one-hit kills, 10x longer Battle Charge, regenerating health/mana, spells cost less mana, Stoneskin (damage resistance) and little head mode.
 

Aaron

Member
Wow, does the splitscreen suck in this game. It's a horizontal split and set for 4:3 so you'll need a massive screen to see anything. If they just offered a vertical split like most games it would have been fine. Very, very disappointed to find this out. Ended up playing Portal 2 split (vertical!) instead.
 
Picked this up on the PC, wife and I just spent the evening playing it over Lan. Had an absolute blast, it's not perfect, definitely rough around the edges, but we were enjoying it. Once you get used to the controls and understand what the game is expecting you to do, it works really well. I also agree the interplay between the two leads is amusing, makes for a fun adventure.
 
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