Hunted looks like quick, fun action-satisfaction - the type you sit down with friends and just have a blast. :flamethrower:

There are some http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQu0m1dwZWI on Youtube.

Its intention does not seem to be an open-world exploration with a storyline - the type in which Bethesda has showed its usual excellence. It looks more like a shoot-em-up dungeon crawler that gives action thrills in co-op play. This isn't a bad thing - I just wonder:

Is the gamer generation really going to remember another generic-fantasy dungeon run?

:glare: Building up excitement for the base concept of Hunted (dungeons, Dark Twisted Fantasy World landscape, orcs, swords and impossibly hot elf girls whose bodies weigh about 84 pounds, shooting bows that must weigh somewhere near 200) seems a little like getting excited about waking up to eat oatmeal, after you've been eating oatmeal every morning for ten years. Sometimes the oatmeal has fun things in it: nuts, cinnamon, a toenail...you've got to wonder what's new?

The gameplay will no doubt be fantastic - co-op dungeon running with mega-hot elf chicks is a solid idea for quick thrills if you need something to do while you look for oreos from 1984 under the couch, or try to find the part of the paper with help wanted ads, or you want to be able to make fun of your girlfriend's stubby fingers, or maybe you're temporarily paralyzed from eating those oreos. It appears to be a fantasy-dungeon-console-build - provides a little adrenaline boost and some sixy graphics you can jive to without really jumping in the think-tank. Co-op dungeon runs are dumb fun with awesomely [removed] girls. I don't remember anything from Dungeon Siege, for example. I remember it was a good time while it lasted. But mostly I remember being led around by the lust for better gear, like a fat kid being led around by a twinkie on a string he just can't quite reach :clap: . Eventually I put it in the dust-drawer and moved on.

I just hope Hunted is more than "multiplayer co-op dungeon running based in a fantasy setting with cover-based combat," because it'll shortly end up in that same dust-drawer. Cover based combat and dungeon-delving sounds fun, but who needs any more generic fantasy artwork? Haven't we been there, done that?

After playing fantasy-setting games which had a wider berth and a backbone of incredible creative writing, and a satisfying cast of imperfect characters... fantasy dungeon runs with shoot-em-up combat seem like FPS shooters with dark elves peppered on.

What parts of Hunted are really going to grab us and give us something memorable?

If they have a good time I imagine they will

This isn't to suggest your question is unfair, in fact it's a very good discussion to start. At the very least it lets inXile and Bethesda know what we want to hear about next.

Done properly that can be enough for me. The whole fantasy thing slapping me in the face and kicking me in the nutt sack, "You love it! You know you love it!" I can be a gibbering mess when something suitably awesome in the fantasy genre does something I've seen a million times, only, better! A mage throwing a flaming skull at an orc, and screaming, "To the PAIN!" While a sixy elf downs some goblins with precision archery skills, goblins that are almost, but not quite reaching the exposed mage. Meanwhile generic warrior #2 is smashing his blade against his shield to attract more bad guys.

I like oatmeal. You know what you're getting, and done properly it tastes like it should, and never fails to satisfy hunger. Say what you like about it, but nobody can dispute how filling it is. Give me my fill of fantasy and I'll crack a smile.


I've not played Dungeon Siege, but I did play Dungeon Siege II through a few times, alone and with friends. It did things like atmosphere, sound, and score well - love the score - and offered decent abilities to the character types. It wasn't particularly engaging when it came to combat, but given a good team strategy it was memorable enough. Deffo something worth playing through with a good team of players all concentrating on specific builds that compliment one another, rather than going it alone and being generously underwhelmed. For Hunted that's probably the key to good gameplay. Make some characters rely on others during the co-op experience. If one member fails then the team is in danger of losing out. Protect your mage as he conjures his epic, cover your thief as he disarms the traps, hold the orc horde off while the elf infiltrates the innards of generic evil castle #4. lol


I'm hoping it has something do with player skill, rather than as most hacky slashy games these days, relying too much on looking cool, while the player really doesn't do anything: Assassin's Creed, Golden Axe, and Batman Arkham Asylum being suspects. What ever happened to skill? Without RPG elements its no longer about building a capable character and consoling yourself with that. "My character is great because I made him that way." With hack 'n' slash dungeon runs it should be about skill. Small chance of that on PC, but at least make the console gang work for their kick ass moves and abilities, and perhaps bring back that old saying, "How the hell did you do that!?" That used to exist around arcades when you pulled off an ultra on Killer Instinct before the input codes were available, or saw off all comers on Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter II, grinning as a queue of guys and gals stood with their coins at the ready. Even playing so well they'd often pay you for a rematch. lol

I'm gonna keep my eye on Hunted, videos that aren't generic commercials, but are instead a look at the game running with somebody skilled enough to get through it without it looking haphazard. Usually sells it for me. Making this all about skill would deffo put in on my shelves.

From the director himself, "... Scantily clad elven... chic... with a bow" I can't take this serious. I'm not going to say anything disparaging about the genre itself, but it's definitely not my bag of chips. Looks good, and I wish inXile the best.



Umm... Where do I not eat oatmeal again?

Its not about what you are eating, but in the manner it is presented. If it looks like cud that a cow just chucked, then its not going to be easy to to make yourself eat it, but if you throw some maple syrup and brown sugar on there, you can have a rather nice tasting meal. Though i admit, this late in the game, trying to make something old look appealing isn't easy, as almost all the new ideas have been used, but sometimes a good flash from the past might be enough to light a strong enough spark to enjoy the game.

There's still plenty more to reveal on the game...stay tuned.

In terms of the co-op gameplay, there's some compelling features. The two different characters have differing play styles, and you an actually swap between the two characters at certain points within levels. We've got other cool co-op elements in there too, like the ability to charge each other with magic that spice up the action.

Give me two hump-backed grannies playing table-tennis with a hairball - that's enough action for me, and the game sounds great as far as action is concerned. But what about taste, class and style? What's its unique flavor, other than "Here's ya a hot elf chick with a big bow n' some serious look onner face - shoot 'em before they get to Isengard!"

In Fallout 3 it was a cleverly decorated 50's apocalyptic world that spawned games and movies trying in vain to imitate. Oblivion was a living, breathing open-environment with many types of architecture and real artistic class among games. In Morrowind it was a volcano island with a deep religious background and a culture clash.

I've got it! The selling point is that the dead have risen, and there's an ancient artifact hidden in the bowels of some underground temple! It is the only weapon capable of putting an end to the undead blight! No?

An ancient evil has risen in the East, and turned the forces of light into the feared Reavers in Black. During battle you must use complex button combinations in order to have your character talk the Reavers back into the light, with unsurpassed generic lines like, "Think of your children." And, "You were a noble man once, and you can be again." - while parrying their attacks and doing as little damage as possible. Points are accumulated and allies are made during combat, but the tide of black is never-ending! Players must turn as many Reavers as possible before they're over-run, and then give complex commands to the newly turned Reavers to hold strategic positions in a squad-based fashion as you continue on to the heart of darkness. Only when generic object #2 is destroyed, will the tide go out.

You'd have to sit on a toadstool, surrounded by naked pixies reading The Chronicles of Narnia as someone attempts to converse with the ghost of Tolkien to come up with something utterly unique in the fantasy setting. Even Tolks would raise a brow every time you said, "Nah, that's been done John - to death actually." Can just imagine him, "Well my good Elvish God! It's been done, has it?" *toots on pipe* "Well, was it done well? You could perhaps do it better?" The man himself would be hard pressed to...

... got it! Caddoc and E'lara have a baby at some point, and you have to switch form intense combat to intense The Sims gameplay without warning. Tending the baby's needs and emptying your bladder one minute, grabbing your bow and killing some bad dudes the next. Think about it... intensity! Bladder bar is almost in the red! Nooooo more bad guys! :sadvaultboy:

Oni - you really had me going there for a minute! I thought "has Dragon Age 2 come out ALREADY?!"

Heh. I think my sim meets hack 'n' slash has something going for it. I'd play it. :wavey:

Dunno. There's so little information to go on thus far. But as others have said - fantasy settings can be fun. I happened to love Dragon Age, even though the setting and basic plot line were pretty traditional fantasy stuff. They made the game fun and made good characters for me to like, and I ended up enjoying the combat. So if a game presents it's ideas well and makes it fun... I'm in!

Dragon Age's storyline was written by fantasy novelists - in a big way, the rest of the game focused around their characters. They even went so far as to answer questions like, "What food does each character remind you of?"

The games that really catch me and keep me for a long time...are the ones where characters can be compared to complex foods - especially if they change over time. Down with oatmeal!

The current environment (in movies mostly) of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6CJenNMsb4 just worries me, for the sake of the novelists' careers. :touched:

Woah! That trailer svcks. lol

But meh, bit o' rock music, some hot chicks, swords, sorcery and huge monsters? Who's sold?

... me.

Legendary Pictures did Batman/Superman Returns... which I thought were long-winded and tiring, but... y'know, not bad. And also 300, which had some cool moments. Decent pedigree. I grabbed my dad by his collar and dragged him to watch 300 - dad and son day turned into dad sleeping through a movie day. Have to take him with my younger to watch Predators when it comes out. When we were young he let us watch Predator but any time there was any gore he would cover the screen with a cushion to protect our innocence. Did it during Robocop as well. Me and my bro are gonna take cushions to Predators and put 'em in front of his face every time some gore makes a showing. If he's still awake that is.

inXile should just grab R.A Salvatore to do some lines for Hunted, he did a good job of the bot responses on Quake III Arena. lol :laugh:

Personally I'm excited about the Co-Op. There's very few recent titles around for the PC where you actually have two-player co-op as the intended way of playing, and in the fantasy genre there's pretty much none in recent years.

I like to be able to able to play games with my girlfriend and I find that in order to play together we usually end up playing MMOs or Multiplayer Shooters. I'm personally not very keen on those options though as it's very rarely just about us playing together but instead us playing with a bunch of other people as well; so that leaves us a scarce few games that we find fully satisfying. We had a load of fun with Borderlands and Left 4 Dead 1&2, and World of Warcraft was easy enough for us to be able to handle most group content as a duo, but in the end all of these titles are designed to be played with more than two people. Dungeons and Dragons Online again suffers from the same problem, and even though the gameplay was excellent in most cases, there were still points where it was blatantly obvious this was not for two people- such as puzzles where you need more than two players to complete them or bosses that are near impossible without the firepower of multiple characters.

To me it looks like Hunted: The Demon's Forge is going to give us exactly what we want in a game, down even to the look of the playable characters: She gets to play the hot elf chick, using the bow which is usually her favrite weapon in games. I get to play a grizzled warrior, using the sword which is my favorite. We get to kill stuff and adventure through caverns and dungeons. If we're lucky there'll be traps, tricks and puzzles and treasure too! As if that wasn't enough, it's also an experience that is fully tailored for two people to enjoy together, which makes us happy at least.

All I'm worried about is that it'll be short enough to blast through in a day or two, or that the gameplay will be downright boring. On paper it looks ideal for us though. :liplick:

Call me undemanding but a fantasy hack'n'slash is pure gold anyway. The game has to svck terribly for me not to love it. And it's been hideously underused recently too. People say the genre has been overdone but I've grown up in the action shooter generation where there are only occasional fantasy games worth playing. There may have been plenty of these games around 10-15 years ago but in the last 5? Oblivion was fantasy but not hack'n'slash, same with Dragon Age. Sacred 2 was a little closer but it's still more point and click then combo chaining button mashing.

So I'm pretty excited, I must say!

......mmmmmmmmmm..........whats that i smell........another rogue warrior cooking. :hubbahubba:

I certainly hope not. Should the development team not be rushed into production, and let the creative people do their job, they won't end up with another Micketastrophe. Regardless of the general idea of the game's genre and flavor, as I initially questioned, it has a great chance of success if the developers are given the time to manifest their goal. Rogue Warrior may have been a good idea in the beginning, which was destroyed by deadlines. Let's all hope H:DF isn't cut under the same parameters.

Whether I like another hack-n-slash fantasy game or not, it will be a success as long as it's not rushed into monetary fruition.

I don't like games with guns, they just don't do anything for me. So, of course I'm excited about a current-gen sword & sorcery dungeon romp from the makers of one of my favorite PS2 games, The Bard's Tale.

Okay, honestly, I don't really like dungeon settings because they are so repetitive and gloomy. I hope that the devs use interesting architecture, terrain, level design, and large open indoor spaces.

I hope there is fun banter between the two protagonists. And I wish it was couch co-op.

EDIT: All being said, I'd like to hear more about combat mechanics and the story. Because, so far, I'm more excited about Bulletstorm (which has guns) than Demon Forge. Bright color palette, compelling characters and character dialog, a rich, deep, complex (and funny) combat mechanics and character leveling. Heehee, they sent me my May issue of Game Informer early. :3

Well I hope the combat's a little more fun than Oblivion or Hellgate London.. both kind of FPS/RPG mashups that I didn't find all that fun as far as the combat went. I think Mass Effect is a good example of a solid FPS gameplay with some RPG elements tacked on; I wouldn't mind something like that, but in Medieval times.

And Bethesda is just publishing this one, not developing.

I agree about Mass Effect. I too hope it takes RPG to the FPS route, much like Mount & Blade or even along the lines of Dark Messiah: Might and Magic. Games are made in 3d now days. We don't need systems that are ideally built for 2d and tabletop gaming. I hope TES V goes that route as well. Though it is hard to get too excited about the game when what we really want to see is a single player TES V

Good lord, does anyone on here know what FPS means? Ugh.

I'm pumped for the game. It doesn't look like a masterpiece. It looks like the perfect popcorn hack and slash to play for a half hour when I get home from work to unwind. I appreciate that.

This :thumbsup:

Oh My. You really are talkative bunch of men aren't you?