Hunted: The Demon's Forge Preview and Interview
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That's not to say that Elara and Caddoc's roles can't cross over- Caddoc has a crossbow that can be used, in a pinch, to strike distant enemies, whilst Elara can resort to a sword to batter away nearby foes. Each can bolster the other, using the '˜battle charge' feature, which enhances the abilities of the other character; handy in a pinch. Through the course of the section we get to play a series of encounters with delightfully Jason and the Argonauts skeletons amidst crumbling ruins we get to see quite a bit of how the two can work together. Indeed, the level design seems smart, tailored to give each character a chance to shine in most encounters. The final section, which squares us off against a skeleton manning a ballista, particularly taxes our ability to work together, though the resulting victory (which ends up with the ballista-manning skeleton in a heap, dangling off the edge of the platform hilariously) is one we feel a pride in earning.
The unique abilities of the characters come into play later on in the game, we're reassured by game director Maxx Kaufman (look out with an interview with him coming later). Caddoc, for instance, can push and pull blocks and obstacles, handy for puzzle-solving, whilst Elara can set her arrows ablaze in order to light the way in darker areas. Other puzzles some completely optional, intended to challenge dedicated players without hinder progress for the less hardcore will also require the duo to work together in creative ways. The meat of the game is action, but there'll be plenty of chance to explore and uncover challenging new areas.
And then a little something from the Q&A:
Gameshard: So you can swap characters during a single player campaign?
Maxx: Absolutely! So whether you are playing single player or co-operatively it's still the adventure of these two characters and you either have an AI partner or an actual partner. That's also the unique thing about Hunted, you're not just levelling up one character you're levelling up your other one and you have the opportunity to swap. The other cool thing about it is that when you level up that partner of yours who plays with you, say you wanted them to play a certain way you would put your abilities on the skill tree toward that direction. Let's say [Caddoc's] levitation, and I like playing E'lara, I like it when Caddoc levitates guys, so you would take [Caddoc] and put all your points into levitation now he's going to use that a lot and you don't have to play him.
Gameshard: So it changes the behaviour of the AI.
Maxx: Exactly. It gives the AI a behaviour that's customised by you.
Gameshard: So there's no other programming like Dragon Age style, setting up trees for AI or anything like that? It's purely automatic based on where you allocate the points?
Maxx: It's automatic, the only thing where you control the AI in the game is if you're in single player and you get into exploration, Caddoc has certain stuff that he can and E'lara has stuff that she can do. He can push things she can't, so what we do is we use the '˜look at' system and basically you get to a point, look at it, and Caddoc is (Got it!) That's kind of how we broke their skills up.
