izigame.me

Hunt the Night is the kind of game that is best described as a flawed gem. This review shall be a mixture of review for potential players and feedback to the developers.
It will also be long.
As a summary it is a game that does so many things right and clearly a lot of love was put into it, but also has some very baffling design choices. To try and explain this, I shall break it down into categories.
1 - The Visuals
- The graphics/style don't really require any explanation, if you see the screenshots/videos and such you will have already decided if it appeals (for me personally I think they are amazing). All I'd really say is that it has some incredibly designed areas in the game as it goes on (especially the final location).
- Where things start to become less subjective is with the visual clarity. There are a lot of instances where this applies, so listing them all concisely is difficult. To name the most glaring, it can be unclear at a glance what you are selecting in the menu due to a lack of contrast, which also can apply to to status effects on Vesper and Enemies, or in some cases Enemy AOE effects. This can also be things such as doorways and paths not being easy to spot quickly (especially in the first two open areas after the starting castle. As such the game can often feel like it's working against you.
In most cases the colours of certain things simply need tweaking to make them stand out a lot more, in others such as the levels, unfortunately I am not sure how they can be fixed except perhaps adding a map.
2 - The Audio
- The music is really nice and fits well with the setting and style of the game.
- The sound effects for the most part work really well, with clearly defined cue and with enough weight behind them.
- The Rapier, however, sounds like rusty scissors and I found this incredibly grating to listen to. I really hope this gets changed at some point.
3 - The Game Play/Balance/Progression
- At it's core the game play isn't groundbreaking, but it works well and is pretty fun. You get a melee weapon, a choice of three ranged weapons, a special power and poison bombs. Combat feels quite fluid with the ability to mix these attacks up while dashing around (with a stamina system). It's also the kind of game that once things click it feels incredibly satisfying to pull off.
- Where the game is let down slightly is an inconsistency with enemy spawning. In the starting area enemies stayed dead until you saved at a statue and a few other areas work like this as well, a la Souls games. Other areas on the other hand they respawn if you exit and return (for example going into and out of a house). While this isn't game breaking, it can be a little frustrating in the early game when health and healing is low, as these only come back once you save.
- For the size of the game enemy variety isn't bad, though some enemies are not especially fun to face. Visually they are all pretty cool and they can keep you on your toes, with combat feeling very frantic at times, but you still feel powerful once you get the hang of it.
- The bosses are pretty unique and the game makes good use of the various combat mechanics, with some having some pretty clever designs in them. The only downside I would say is that bizarrely they got easier as the game progresses. It took me about 15 attempts to beat the second boss and I beat the final one on my first try.
- The Weapon/Armour/Powers/Moon Stones/Upgrades are possibly the weakest aspect of the game. There aren't as many as the game states: There's a Rapier, Twin Daggers, Great Sword, Spear and Gloves, but with each one having a version that provides healing/poison/higher damage.
- While I found a few bosses worked well with mixing things up, for the most part I didn't see any reason to not stick to the same set up throughout the entire game. The Rapier seems like the best weapon and the Healing AOE the best power.
- The Gun Upgrades are a neat idea, but have the same issue as the above, with some being clearly better and one actually being a downgrade despite being the higher tier (the twin bullets for the pistol I cannot see any reason to take and in some cases can soft lock you in an area).
- With all of this said, I do like the way things such as healing/poisoning work, especially for bosses where it feels like you can approach them differently on preference.
- The game has Hunts that you can embark on for rewards. While the fights themselves are pretty cool and a neat twist on existing enemies in the game, the rewards are pretty flat. You spend money to get the Hunt and after the fight you get 1HP increase, which is a little underwhelming. Especially as the game also has four hidden lore relevant areas, which provide the exact same thing.
It's difficult to say what this could be changed to without a significant rework of certain things, but it's a part of a wider design choice that feels like it could have been pushed much further to feel rewarding.
- The UI could do with some reworking, especially with the Key Items section. It throws everything together with no order and doesn't make it clear if something has been used yet. I still have no idea what the Bread or Bread Crumbs do and I've beaten the game with every achievement.
5 - The Bugs/Things that feel like Bugs
- There's a fair few in the game which have been reported widely, this seems quite common with achievements which either don't activate or do so early (I got some where I'd done half the requirements).
- If you drop of a ledge you lose 1HP and are put back on solid ground. Which piece of ground seems to vary wildly with the game seemingly selecting at random, and in some cases can be almost the entire length of an area. I am not sure if this is a bug, but it's very frustrating.
- Sometimes certain things feel like they hit/don't activate when they ought to. It might be hitboxes, or it might go back to visual clarity.
- The game sometimes got stuck on the Umbra sections, having to skip them and miss the dialogue.
6 - The Story
- The lore/world and idea is brilliant (am biased as I love Dark Fantasy and Gothic/Cosmic Horror). I enjoyed finding out more about the setting and what came before the present situation (and what may potentially come after). For how simplistic it was kept, it was portrayed very well and drew me in.
- With that said, it's another area I felt could do with some fleshing out, given the most developed character we came across in the game was Beatrice (more Beatrice please). Most others had one or two lines and then either died or had nothing further. I hope if the game receives further development this aspect really gets more to it. There's no voice acting, so I feel this could be (relatively speaking) quite a straight forward area to expand.
- For example more lines from people to respond as the game progresses, more NPC's out and about in the world and just general more characterisation from the ones standing about.
7 - Conclusion
Well first of all if you read all of this then thank you.
Overall this is a game I enjoyed quite a lot and found I did more so as the game progressed. It has some amazing ideas, well thought out design choices and memorable moments, but falls short due to some unusual design choices and ideas.
To be the kind of game that I'd rant and rave about, it needs a little more depth and fleshing out in certain areas and a little cleaning up in others.
With that said, a big thank you to the developers, it's clear a lot of love went into this game and it was worth the wait.