Hunted: The Demon's Forge Previews

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Written by BuckGB on March 15th, 2011

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The idea is to switch between the two characters, but you don't have to. The game director, Maxx Kaufman, told me I could conceivably play the entire game (save the tutorial) as just one of the characters because you can always call your partner character over to complete an objective. But the game is designed for players to switch back and forth using magic obelisks so that they can use the elf's fire arrows on some puzzles and the human's man-shove-things powers on others.

Jumping out of the tutorial and into our first mission, was what put me and my partner together that I played with. The nice thing about this 2 player co-op is that you don't always have to play as a certain character, as the developers have creatively made obelisks every so often where you can switch to the other character as will your partner do to, if you both choose to. I thought that aspect alone was a unique feature that really made the game more interesting especially since each character has their own separate abilities they must use for the game to progress. However that is far from the peek of the innovation we saw in the game when it comes to the co-op aspect. First of all, Hunted: The Demon's Forge is heavily based on the co-op and what I mean by that is, you are not simply playing the game along side each other, but you actually need each other most of the time in the game, whether it is to heal your partner or have them use a unique attribute to progress in the game. The developers, inXile, though were keen enough to make it so that you don't have to be standing right beside your partner to play the game, although it doesn't hurt. You can heal your downed partner from nearly across the map by hurling a magical ball of energy, reviving them. Many puzzles as well as collecting things can be long distance oriented really adding an edge to the co-op that I have never seen before.

After spending our gathered upgrade crystals on new spells at a handy portal, we venture forth into the viper's nest, where Wargar units begin pouring in left, right and centre. Finding a raised plateau of ground, we manage to lay down some covering fire with arrows, before wading in to support Caddoc with our sword and shield. There's a huge ballista tower firing bolts at us too, so with a bit of teamwork, Caddoc flanks the Wargar operating it and brutally carves him up. Soon, we find our way into a heavily fortified tower where the town's Lord Mayor is holed up, surrounded by his ill-gotten gold and riches. He asks us to save his daughter from the clutches of the Wargar, but we're not doing it without first naming our price. He offers 10,000 gold. We suggest 20,000 gold. Each. He reluctantly agrees to our terms, and so it's into the dungeons of the keep where more danger and traps await.

There were a few moments when E'lara had to use her arrow to light a flame and open a door. At other times, we had to fetch an item that only Caddoc could get to by using his strength to push a wall. This was one of the more tedious movements in the game. You'll have to repeatedly tap the button for what seems like forever to get the wall to move.

A lot of the ads for the game depict it as an action/adventure game, but this is an RPG. You get loot, you level up, and you gain new abilities. Brian Fargo, the founder of inXile Entertainment, is not new to making RPGs. He's the guy behind classic Interplay titles like Fallout, The Bard's Tale, and Wasteland. These guys know how to make an RPG world that is rich and detailed, and it looks like Hunted will be one of those.

Magic, along with other abilities, can be purchased using crystal shards hidden throughout the levels as well as collected after defeating enemies. Weapon and shields can also be upgraded by picking up new weapon equipment from fallen enemies as well as smashing armament racks. When standing over a potential new item, the stats of the currently equipped weapon or shield as well as the upgrade are displayed. This allows the player to quickly make a decision on whether to swap weaponry or just move on.

The co-op factor of the game is what really made it fun. Working together as a two player team was much more effective than trying to take on all the baddies alone. Caddoc the male character was much more effective in melee so an effective strategy would be to have him take all the heat and slug it out in melee while I sat back and ripped faces off with the bow. If a player character was downed during a fight your teammate has the opportunity to revive you; with a press of the B button the character still standing would throw what looked like a health potion onto the downed ally which would immediately bring them back to their feet and back in the fight. Co-op was one of the main drawing factors of this game and the essence of strategy and teamwork in combat is emphasized greatly here and with good cause because players are at a disadvantage if they would be thrown into it without a partner (AI or human).

Hunted's gameplay, on the other hand, does set itself apart from the pack. The enemies don't have obvious weaknesses guys with big shields who should obviously be attacked from the rear or elemental baddies who will be easily killed with hit with their counter element. Each encounter is simply a test of your skills against your opponents. That might sound kind of bland to be a selling point, but it's far more rare in gaming than you'd think. The bottom line is Hunted: The Demon's Forge isn't going to break the bank with originality, but it knows what it is and how to get the job done. If you love to kill things without extraneous non-combat gameplay sequences, then Hunted is going to be right up your alley.

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