A dark room and big screen in a London hotel is where we’ve been invited to by Bethesda for a first look at Hunted: Demon’s Forge, an action-cum-RPG title inspired by classic fantasy and the dungeon crawlers of yesteryear, harking all the way back to 1974 with D&D and the text-based MUD (Multi-User Dungeon) games of old.
Lead by Bard’s Tale alumnus Brian Fargo, InXile has a fantastic RPG pedigree spanning over twenty-years of role-playing that includes the likes of the original Fallout and post-apocalyptic stablemate, Wasteland, while at the same time, Hunted is something more immediate and accessible than the retro titles it draws influence from.
InXile’s presentation begins in the game world, right in the middle of a muddy village street flanked by burnt out buildings on either side. Hunted might be an RPG at heart, but after an extensive hands-off demonstration, it’s evident that there’s more to InXile’s game than initially meets the eye.
Hunted: Demon’s Forge is third-person co-op focused action adventure that takes traditional Tolkien-esque fantasy tropes and transplants them into a Gears of War-style gameplay mechanic complete with dynamic cover system. Hunted is what InXile are calling “co-op at a distance”, which means each player can happily go off and explore without fear of leaving their partner twisting in the wind if they should happen to run into trouble.If you or your partner should become low on health, you can use a regenerative vial to heal one another regardless of your proximity. You’re also able to combine spells to take down enemies and heroes Caddoc and E’lara – a male and female pairing – each boasts differing abilities that give you numerous tactical options to employ during battle.
Apart from the simple fact that variation comes from Caddoc carrying a short sword and shield where E’lara packs a bow and arrow, you’re also able to ‘Battle Charge’, which makes you both temporarily invincible and doubles the effects of your magic. Being able to freeze an enemy with an ice spell before smashing them to pieces with a well-aimed arrow is just one such (rather basic) tactic you might choose to adopt, but there are plenty of other strategies at your disposal thanks in part to the ability to switch characters at designated checkpoints.
The very definition of chalk and cheese, the pair enjoy a relationship tinged with sexual frisson and frequent exchanges of sarcastic dialogue. E’lara is a bloodthirsty warrior who uses her bow and arrow to puncture skulls from range whereas Caddoc is a more introspective, thoughtful character, who nonetheless still relishes the opportunity to unleash strong melee attacks on his foes. They might not particularly break the mould as far as fantasy characters are concerned, but there’s something intrinsically likeable about the duo, which is a very good thing as you’ll be spending the duration of the game with them.
In battle, Caddoc’s shields degrade and can be broken, so he has to keep collecting new ones on his travels, although there are plenty dropped by the savage orc-like Wargar creatures the duo face in the demo. E’lara meanwhile, needs to keep a supply of arrows, which she can pull from the punctured flesh of a fallen enemy and light in any nearby fire source or imbue with magic to create frost arrows for instance. Regardless of which character you play as however, the combat is always suitably brutal and bloody with your character being caked in a layer of gore as they cleave their way through the monstrous hordes, performing violent finishing moves while receiving wounds that can result in permanent battle scars.
Centring upon Caddoc and E’lara’s quest to collect crystals for the powerful, ethereal spirit known as Seraphim, the story deals with aspects of sacrifice and addiction as the Wargar are obsessed with an infectious liquid substance known as ‘sleg’ which when consumed, turns them into even more twisted and violent versions of what they already are. Whether you can choose to drink sleg yourself might be a decision you have to face at some point in the game.
During the narrative, there are plenty of opportunities for exploration and challenging – though mostly optional – puzzles to overcome that grant extra rewards such as more crystals that grant new spells as well as gold and other loot. You might even find captive townspeople, who you can either rescue or execute as you see fit, which can bring about varying consequences. In the demo, the duo save a grateful prisoner who then runs into the waiting jaws of a gigantic beetle creature, but had he been killed by Caddoc or E’lara, the outcome could have been quite different.
Designed entirely around the co-op experience, Hunted includes multiple routes that enable you to experiment with various approaches, which will apparently be adapted to by the intelligent AI in single-player, which will know when you’re trying to go with a certain flanking method or plan of attack and will help accordingly. Low on health? Then the AI will sort you out with a health vial before going into Battle Charge to help reduce enemy numbers. Sounds pretty smart to us.
Online, co-op is a drop in/drop out affair complemented by a robust matchmaking system that ensures you can play with your favourite character, who remains your character even if you choose to switch at a checkpoint. You needn’t worry about another player tinkering with your skill points or ruining your custom abilities and items as they simply won’t be able to just as you’ll be unable to mess with another character’s abilities. Loot and other items are shared between players and remain persistent between your single-player and co-op campaigns, which you can almost seamlessly switch between.
Hunted has an incredible sense of scale and impressive attention to detail in its environments, with rocky caverns leading to faces hewn into the rock, choked by enormous vines and overgrowth. Claustrophobic, winding subterranean tunnels give way to vast exterior arenas or interior chambers, wherein large-scale encounters take place such as a frantic Wargar assault, which is countered in the demo by toppling enormous stone columns that fall like dominoes, crushing any enemies in the way, including a meddlesome catapult unit hurling flaming projectiles.
Elsewhere, we see a huge fire demon arise in a deep cave, which provides an increasingly staunch challenge for the pair that reinforces the need for teamwork as Caddoc and E’lara combine spells to send the hellspawn packing. After a few arrows, devastating magic spells and Battle Charge attacks, the demon is weakened, ready to be tackled with a God of War-style QTE that sees Caddoc stab the skeletal monster in the neck, dispatching it in a satisfyingly gory fashion.
After a thorough presentation, we’ve still only seen a fraction of what Hunted: Demon’s Forge has to offer, but the potential is clearly evident in the game’s well-realised dark fantasy remit, bolstered by rough and ready combat, thoughtful puzzling and some good, old classic dungeon crawling. Hunted looks as though it’ll provide a happy mix that InXile hope will satisfy both the devoted players raised on traditional fantasy and the bloodthirsty action gamers looking to shoot a slow-motion arrow straight into their enemy’s eye
