Hunted: The Demon's Forge Preview
Bethesda's E3 booth this year might have been taken over by Fallout: New Vegas signs and big rocks made of sprayfoam with RAGE demos going on inside, but one little corner included some hands-on demos of Hunted: The Demon's Forge, the upcoming medieval fantasy action game by inXile Entertainment. With its stunning visuals, a fresh look at many fantasy stereotypes, and some in-depth cooperation required by the game's two heroes, inXile is taking a tried and true formula and putting their own spin on it.
Our demo started with a quick tutorial on how the game's pair of protagonists, archer E'lara and warrior Caddoc, interact with each other and fight the game's hordes of undead and other demonic creatures. Both characters have melee, ranged, and magic attacks, but E'lara's got better bows (and unique bow abilities like Frozen Arrow and such) and Caddoc has the ability to block melee attacks better and unleash big combos with swords, axes, and the like. Both characters can pull out powerful magic spells, but often they're best used directly on each other: fire out lightning on an enemy and you'll get the expected result, but turn it on your buddy, and their normal attacks become charged with lightning.
You'll need these abilities, too, because the hordes of enemies can be difficult to manage. The game uses a basic cover system to mimic so many modern-day action games, but that's mostly for E'lara and she'll still have to be careful about enemies sneaking up on her to hit her in the back. When I first heard of Hunted's premise, it did kind of sound like a medieval Gears of War, but that's not really how it plays at all. The guys at inXile have put together some interesting setpieces to force you to play cooperatively in a number of ways.
The game can be played cooperatively online for two players, or in single player mode you'll have an AI partner. At any checkpoint you'll be able to switch characters, so you can mix up your experience or just stick with one - it's entirely up to you. The game's always played with both E'lara and Caddoc, and if you play alone, you get an AI partner. Hopefully they do get the AI just about perfect, because so many different things in this game have to be done together; poor pathfinding or bad combat skills could pretty much ruin the game in single player mode. Not that I have any evidence either way just yet, though; every time I've seen or played this game, it was done with real live people controlling both of the characters.
One thing I really like about Hunted is that the developers aren't afraid to break a few things in the world to get your character through a particular quest or even just into a room. Very few fantasy games have had any kind of large-scale destruction, but here we see columns and ruins crumble before our very eyes. It's a small thing when you're reading about it, but it really does seem like it's something that modern-day action gamers have been enjoying for so long, while fantasy games have lacked it. The world is actually changing around you in Hunted, whether you are the one that caused it or not.
While this year's holiday season will be crammed full of fantastic RPGs and action games, there are still only a relative few games finding sweet spots to balance between the two genres. Hunted: The Demon's Forge is one of the few fantasy games that's more action than role-play, but the balance feels right. You'll aim every single shot or melee swing, and your success or failure will often depend on how well you work together with your partner - whether it's the AI or a real person. Fewer and fewer games are bothering with creating a really intimate cooperative experience for two players nowadays, and while Hunted only has announced online co-op play, we can hope for split-screen as well, because the game seems to lend itself well to the idea. Even if that doesn't wind up happening, Hunted: The Demon's Forge still shows all indications of being a great action/RPG romp when it comes out on PC, PS3, and 360 this fall.
