theHunter

Let me be upfront about one thing:  when it comes to hunting, I am a complete hypocrite. I personally find the practice abhorrent, and yet I love my ham sandwiches, chicken, and steak. I have the luxury of living in an era where I can drive to the supermarket deli and approach the process of buying dead animal flesh as if my Virginia Baked Ham was magically created at the Ham Factory somewhere. No blood spilled, no mess, no suffering. Of course this is a convenient fantasy. Someone has to breed, process, and slaughter an animal who’s just minding its own business in order for me to have my ham sandwich, and though I find the idea of hunting and killing animals distasteful, I still buy ham at the deli every week and don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.

I've also been guilty of generalizing hunters as a group of ignorant drunken rednecks who just enjoy spraying bullets into the woods, chasing innocent animals down, and killing them. I think Marisa Tomei described my sentiments best in My Cousin Vinny. It was only out of a sense of playful irony that I decided to download Expansive World’s free to play hunting simulator, theHunter. I’d remembered seeing those deer hunting arcade games in bars with light guns that were little more than flashy rail shooters, and was skeptical that a computer game for such a niche hobby would be either fun to play or a competent simulation. Boy, was I wrong.

Why even bother going outside in real life?

The environment in theHunter is breathtaking. Branches of trees obstruct sunlight, with individual rays piercing through the openings. Trees move in the wind, and their leaves fall in its direction, equally affected by light and shadow. Birds sing, small woodland creatures chitter, and the wind blows. Convincing outdoor environments have always been difficult to create in computer games, but theHunter absolutely nails it, and it truly feels like you’re walking through the woods. There are occasional visual glitches, such as small rocks that appear to be hovering an inch off the ground on an incline, and the draw distance on animals could be better (it’s over 200 meters which isn't shabby, either), but such issues are few and far between, and aren’t enough to distract from the truly compelling visual and auditory experience Expansive World has created.

I haven’t had the opportunity to witness how deer, elk, bear, et al. behave in reality, but after playing for several hours, I’m convinced the team behind theHunter did their research. All of the animals move and feel real. They trot slowly, they stop and look around, stamp their hoof when agitated, and bolt when you get too close. Sometimes you’ll find a lone mule deer sleeping on a hill, and other times you’ll see five of them all walking together, having a nice day out.

            

Tracking is easy with the Huntermate (tricorder).

There are two ways to track an animal; by its tracks, and by sound. Sometimes an animal will call out, revealing its approximate location, but most of the time you’ll be relying on your keen vision to spot animal tracks. The game throws you a bone, however, designating an animal’s tracks with a thin, obvious red arch, and if you follow a specific set of tracks, they’re covered by a sold dome-like glow of red to differentiate themselves from the tracks of other animals. Using your handy “Huntermate” (I call it my tricorder), you’re able to get a general sense of the animal’s proximity and direction, and, with enough skill, its gender, speed, weight, and health. There are RPG elements as well. Every weapon has a skill associated with it, which you increase by scoring hits on live animals. Each time you level your skill up, your aim becomes a little steadier, and you’re able to hold your breath to steady your shot longer. You can raise your spotting and tracking skills as well, with higher levels revealing more precise information about your quarry.

            

Currently the list of animals available to hunt in the deer family are mules, whitetails, blacktails, reds, roes, and elk. There are also bears (black and brown), feral hogs, wild boars, moose, coyotes, pheasants, turkeys, and foxes. Quite the list. Some of them can ruin your day too; I've been gouged by feral hogs more than I’d like to admit, and though I've never had a close encounter with a bear, I’d imagine it could end poorly. Fortunately the only penalty for getting gored or clawed is a trip back to a spawn point and a bit of humility.

            

I'd imagine those catch on their share of branches.

There are persistent aspects too. Enamored with a particular spot on one of theHunter’s six islands and don’t want to have to walk there every time you start a new session? You can buy a tent from the game’s online store and plant it there, creating a permanent spawn point. Change your mind later? Dismantle it and set it up somewhere else. Want to make sure you always have a height advantage? Bring along a tree stand that you can attach to nearly any tree in the game, which gives you a great view while also reducing your visibility and scent.

            

The number of ways you can play theHunter are staggering, and playing with friends with the recently introduced multiplayer feature brings a whole new dimension of fun to the game. You can play just for the scenery, strolling along and taking pictures with an in-game digital camera that are then uploaded to your profile on the game’s website, or you can take part in serious competitions with players around the world for in-game rewards. Most players tend to opt for the middle ground, setting their own goals, and enjoying the game’s beautiful sandbox experience. A player who doesn’t want to spend any money gets a .243 bolt action rifle and a license to shoot and harvest mule deer. You have to pay money to get the ability to hunt the entire list of wildlife, and to purchase more advanced rifles, bows and gear, but at $15 for a three month subscription, the price seems reasonable.

            

The concept of “ethical hunting” is fertile ground for debate, but for the game’s part, it wants you to kill animals in the least cruel ways possible. It will yell at you if you, for example, shoot a moose with birdshot, or a pheasant with a high powered rifle. It will also get on your case if you merely wound an animal and fail to track it down to finish the job, leaving it to suffer. They’re small touches, but I appreciated them.

            

Doc, the game's tutorial guide, shames me for shooting a moose with a .44 magnum pistol.

I found myself moving from enjoying the gorgeous environments to, quite to my surprise, getting caught up in the thrill of the hunt – of seeing where the next track would lead – of crouching and walking ever so softly when I caught a glimpse of my prey over the next rise. I’d reach for my deer call and blow into it, attempting to lure the bull closer. Finally, I’d raise my rifle and aim above its forelegs, trying to get a vital heart or lung shot to drop it immediately, instead of a body shot that would turn an easy kill into a two kilometer chase. What was happening to me? I wasn't just playing a hunting game, I was enjoying it!

            

I rationalized it to myself by realizing that I don’t want to kill human beings in real life, but over the course of all the computer games I've ever played I must have slaughtered thousands of virtual people. I suppose virtual animals could fit into that same compartment. There are moments though where you just feel like the biggest jerk in the world. You shoot a doe, wing it, but don’t drop it on the spot. You chase it over a hill, and find it lying on the ground. As you walk closer, she turns her head and looks up at you with those large, dark eyes, as if to say “Why? I don’t understand.” Then you kill her. It’s a testament to the prowess of the developers that macabre moments like that in a computer game could make me feel genuinely uncomfortable.

It's a tough world out there.

Those few moments aside, I've thoroughly enjoyed theHunter, and recommended it to all of my friends. It’s the kind of experience that you can’t really describe accurately to someone who hasn't played it for themselves, but the game is more than the sum of its parts, and my friends, all of whom were initially skeptical, have found it to be a surprising time sink after playing for an hour or so. TheHunter creates experiences that are so difficult to find in other games. It creates moments that you remember. As odd as the comparison may sound, I’d say it’s most analogous to Crusader Kings II in terms of memorable, emergent game play. I can’t remember anything about the last Call of Duty game I played, but man, I sure remember when I stalked a group of five whitetail deer and took them down one after another with my recurve bow, silently, until there was just one left. I don’t remember much about Dead Space, but I’ll always remember when I used my moose call and a male moose called back. I stalked it, and over the hill where I thought it was, a female moose crested. I didn't understand, but I waited, and finally, slowly, the male moose followed behind her. Not wanting to lose either, I lifted my side-by-side shotgun, put the first slug into the male moose, and before the female could react and flee, put the second into her. They both fell where they stood. Macabre? Yes. Memorable? Absolutely.

It isn't a game for everyone, and I still would never hunt in real life, but theHunter creates amazing experiences and if you give it a chance, there’s a good possibility you’ll end up losing yourself in its magnificent world, and also, just maybe, having a slightly more open mind about hunting in general.

Give theHunter a try yourself.