The Hunter

[Skybird]

Does anyone know this online hunting game/sim?

http://www.thehunter.com/pub/

It's free, they say, and checking screenshots and videos from their site, it looks stunning, and - beautiful.

If you know it, how is it? Any bad stuff they try to get onto your system? How's gameplay and realism?

[Arclight]

Yeah, I stumbled acoss that before, seems legit. It's free but you're limited to 1 rifle and only 1 type of animal to hunt. Getting more then that requires membership.

If you're afraid of spyware, I'm willing to serve as guinea-pig. Wouldn't mind stalking through a forest hunting "mule deer".

IMHO the whole thing is just too detailed to be a scam of sorts. Just check out that quick-start guide.

[Rilder]

I thought it only had one rifle and animal to hunt because it was in beta?

[NeonSamurai]

No, they say i think in their faq that you are limited to 1 gun and one land area. If you want more you will have to pay a monthly fee.

[Arclight]

So I've been playing this for a week now, and not only is it legit, it's addictive. So much so, that I signed for a 1 year membership (45 bucks, only gets you 3 months of WoW!).

The forest looks awesome, best I've seen in any game. You'll need a beefy card to run it at max detail though (with 16xAF & 4xAA), I'd say 8800GT minimal.

Even if you don't plan on playing much, the free account with just 1 rifle and 1 species offers enough to remain fun for a long time. If you enjoy stalking through forests, keeping hidden and taking out the "enemy" with a well placed shot, you'll enjoy this. If only they made sniper games to this formula.

If you become a member before May 1st, you get "warden" membership, which has a few perks over regular:

Includes standard membership benefits:
- Hunt Mule deer, Whitetail deer and Turkey
- 3 free weapons
- Free ammo for all 3 weapons
- Extra clothing items
- Server priority
PLUS by becoming a member in the launch phase:
- Special 'Warden' status: receive a free 1 month licence for ALL new animals and firearms as they are released!
- Free Elk licence, when Elk are released
- 15 months for the price of 12!

Basically 1 month trial for new guns and species, after which you'll have to purchase the weapon/license. Trial starts when content is released; if you're on vacation for a month, you're SOL.

Free license to hunt elk, for as long as you're a warden. You'll remain one for as long as you maintain your membership; letting it expire and signing up again makes you "just" a member.

1 month free for 3 month subscription, 2 months with 6 months subsciption and 3 with 12 months subscription.



Anyway, here's the site.

And here are some gameplay videos, to give you an impresion of the game.

Oh, and the community there could definitely do with some of that SUBSIM charm.

Hope to see you there, feel free to ask some questions.

[Syxx_Killer]

Great videos, Arclight! I couldn't believe you could actually play Breakout on your GPS! I sure wouldn't want to miss that trophy buck, though, because of Breakout. Anyway, the game looks fantastic. It's about time a hunting game uses current graphics instead of the dated graphics you find with current hunting games at the store. I might try it later on. The only thing I don't like is the subscription system. I'd much rather be able to buy a physical copy from the store with no subscription system.

[Arclight]

It's the fact that there is no DRM involved that convinced me. Client download is free, guest account is free and all your stats are online; you can reïnstall/unïnstall all you want, install it anywhere and play anywhere. I couldn't resist, just because of that.

What I don't like though is having to buy additional weapons and licenses eventualy, but I'm quite happy with the content I have now and it should get better as time goes on. You're not forced into buying additional stuff.

Playing mini-games to pass the time is great, but now there's only Breakout (or Breakthrough as it's called in-game). Fingers crossed for Pong.

Really, the quality on youtube doesn't do it justice. I packed 5 of those in an archive and am trying to put it on Filefront. It's not coöperating.

[porphy]

That looks interesting. Will check it up. I would like to stalk another hunter, the ultimate trophy...

[Arclight]

That'll have to wait. MP isn't in yet, but it's coming.

Uploaded another vid, 6min long to better demonstrate gameplay. Blame youtube for the quality, I do.