Hunted: The Demon’s Forge

Preview: Hunted 2011 PC: The Demon’s Forge

Magic, violence and a world plunged into darkness. Epic fantasy and cooperative.

If a classic game of dungeons you add the experience in the role of Bethesda, contrasting work inXile Entertainment, and legend Brian Fargo, the result is a game that not only ensures quality, but also a unique gaming experience filled with many magic, fantasy and two characters involved in an epic adventure.
New from Bethesda Softworks brings back the magic, fantasy and dungeons of the past under a new example of the dungeon crawler, little use for the current generation of consoles. Powered by inXile Entertainment , studio founded by Brian Fargo (The Bard’s Tale, Baldur’s Gate, Fallout), Hunted: The Demon’s Forge we intend to return to the roots of the genre with a degree of cooperative third-person action that draws on recent exponents of the genre but with this property.

In Hunted: The Demon’s Forge will enter a world of fantasy and magic were in the dark after the arrival of underground creatures that are wiping out the population. The kingdom of Kala Moor can only count on the talents of two heroes mercenaries motivated by money, each with different objectives, but must collaborate with each other to exit life dungeons, forests, plains, villages and castles full of skeletons , spiders, orcs, wolves and a full cast of creatures that have emerged with the advent of darkness.

Strength or dexterity: Two ways to kill
The demo that we’ve been enjoying has taken the first steps of the game. We can embody one of the two protagonists are available: a beautiful archer called E’Lara, or a burly warrior Caddoc name. Each of the characters has a unique skill set, and choosing one or the other will determine the success of the adventure.

E’Lara is a very agile and shrewd elf equipped with a bow as main weapon, ideal for ranged attack. But also have a sword to attack and a shield to defend himself, having also the ability to perform magical attacks. With the girl we can solve puzzles that require agility, magic and also some puzzles that require the use of the bow. We saw during the demo that required us E’Lara light a series of candlesticks with their arrows to open a door, or play with a series of colorful flames to reveal a series of hidden symbols were not visible to the naked eye.

Moreover Caddoc is typical muscular warrior can use his brute strength to knock down enemies, but also has mental strength can levitate enemies. In addition to weapons such as sticks, swords or shield, also owns a piece of metal for long-range attacks, but unlike the arc that carries the elf, he may not play with fire arrows stage because they can not burn.

Both characters have two shots : the lightweight and strong, but also with the ability to cast spells of all kinds. We saw the use of Dragon’s Breath , a kind of magic that dazed and burned to the creatures. In the game we set the use of magic to the crosshead directional, always paying special attention to our mana bar , which may be filled with orbs that appear to kill certain enemies or destroying certain structures. This is also equivalent to life, which can be filled orbs or helping find the other character has been defeated once.

Always together
Hunted is focused on the cooperative , although a single player can also go into the adventure. If we choose to play alone, the CPU will take care of another hero, and can give simple commands and even take turns with him in points qualified for it. If we play with another player, always online , the title will be somewhat easier because we will not have to be so aware of what makes the other character. The game allows us to use voice chat to communicate with the other player, thus facilitating both might be performing different tasks simultaneously and have understanding with the puzzles that require coordination.

However, losing one of the two actors means that the game is over. For this fact there is not annoying enough checkpoints in levels, thus avoiding having to get really back into the game, in fact the progress we make with the puzzles are preserved if we are eliminated. If a character falls in battle will have a limited time to go to his rescue and save, so it is advisable to always play close to our partner.

As expected in any RPG, there will be increases in level and improvement of the characters. When we have achieved certain crystals allow us to climb a set of skills that are divided between skills and magic weapons of combat. Each skill requires a certain number of these crystals, and each group will have a range of skill levels, so we can concentrate on well blow up the same magic on several levels, or distribute these points among various skills. The magic can be assigned to the D-pad direction, while the specifics of weapons are added automatically, allowing for example to trigger a series of combos that could not previously perform.

The puzzle will have a huge role in Hunted, favoring cooperative component of the queen in the game. The game’s director, Maxx Kaufman, told us to be simple puzzles (those that advance the story) and some very difficult (to get extras). This not want the player to get stuck in their progress, but you enjoy it, but in turn also claim that more experienced players can get weapons or exclusive areas that offer the possibility of side missions away from the main line of argument the game. Thus we find from simple puzzles to light candles or play with the flames, others where you must push walls down with heavy weapons structures anchored to the floor, or find secret symbols.

Dealing with creatures and the camera
The control of the players is very simple and the use of magic is intuitive thanks to the crossbar, but the game will suffer when multiple simultaneous enemies populate the screen. Besides, there are the camera , which is controlled freely with the stick right at all times, and that the game automatically chooses the best view in the game.

At certain moments where the camera is positioned so over the characters (similar to what we saw in Resident Evil 4), we lose visibility of field to know where they come from enemy attacks. Point when we enter a first person view where we see only the gun. Usually works pretty well targeted when we had to attack the enemy located at different heights. We will also have moments of Quick Time Events, especially in certain endings, and also much interaction with the stage, always using the shortcut button (B in the version of Xbox 360) when we needed.

The scenarios we have seen were generally linear, but require you to retrace your steps several times to solve puzzles, something to be welcomed. We confirmed that there will be alternative ways for players to solve certain situations, and will serve to open missions “second order”.

The game has several difficulty levels that can be chosen at the beginning of the game, which has been designed so that any player can enjoy. In fact we can always choose to have the game tell us the following way forward through a halo of blue light can activate by pressing the right stick.

Customizable fantasy
Hunted: The Demon’s Forge comes alive thanks to Unreal Engine 3 which provides environments extensive, varied, with some crisp textures, and modeling of the characters unique, especially the main heroes, who show their good animations in different parallel talks the progress of history, undertaken with the game engine itself. We could play an abundance of rain, thus ensuring the inclusion of weather during development, although it appears to not be dynamic.

The soundtrack includes the classics of this style dungeon games and role, accompanied by sounds of the enemy footsteps, sighs, screams and broken stones and bones that help acclimate the game. In addition, Bethesda has confirmed that the game will come entirely in Castilian to our country.

In the English version Hunted: The Demon’s Forge has the voice of Lucy Lawless (Xena: Warrior Princess) to Seraphin, the girl who challenges the players during the game, and Graham Mc Tavish (Zoran Lazarevic on Uncharted 2: The Kingdom of Thieves) will Caddoc voice.

The programming team has included a dungeon editor customizable called The Crucible, which will allow us to create our own levels as the gold standard we have achieved over the game’s campaign. We promise to give more details before the launch.

Hunted: The Demon’s Forge does not add many new elements to the genre, but manages to carve their own path through the attraction of the cooperative game, the level and number puzzles, and the large cast of spells and moves, easy to perform. The campaign mode can exceed 20 hours of gameplay if done all primary and secondary missions and solve all the puzzles. If we add the level editor and fun cooperative experience, we are assured a title representative to consider in the coming months, and taking back to Bethesda and Brian Fargo overseeing the project.

The game will be available on June 3 in PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.