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cover-TheHunter: Call of the Wild - Te Awaroa National Park

Tuesday, January 3, 2023 9:07:01 PM

TheHunter: Call of the Wild - Te Awaroa National Park Review (Dr. Just Some Homeless Guy)

This is a pretty good reserve, and worth adding to the game especially when it's on sale.
The scenery itself is both pretty and varied - there's a noticeable difference between the dense rainforest on one side of the island, and the more dry and sparse woods on the other. There's a river cutting through the center of the reserve which is a good focal point for all sorts of hunting, and even a surprisingly long traversable cave (although there is nothing to hunt there). The vegetation isn't entirely unique (some models are re-used from other reserves), but it's distinct enough overall - can't comment on how well it reflects real New Zealand, having never been there.
The storyline is not very long (especially if you travel via ATV) and entirely linear, but it strikes a good balance covering local environmental and cultural issues, character drama, and just walking and exploring the scenery. There's a good emotional arc to it. However, there's just the main quest line - does not seem like there are any side missions at all in this one. The hunting is generally pretty low-stress, low-difficulty here. There aren't any especially challenging or unique species here, and you only get to hunt the various invasive animals (so don't expect any local endangered ones). The .303 Enfield rifle that comes with the reserve is a nice classic, but nothing especially game-changing - though it does have better iron sights than either the Garand- or Mosin-alikes, so that's a point in its favour if you want to use no scope on a WWII-era rifle.
I did notice a bit more in the way of glitches here - things like floating trees/rocks, or "ghost" trees (which disappear as you get closer) and misplaced quest items do crop up a bit more than in some of the other reserves. For example, there are quests which involve wildlife cameras and traps floating in the air; it didn't prevent me from completing the missions but I did have to turn on POV markers for the HUD in one instance just to be able to find the interaction spot, which was a bit immersion-breaking. Wildlife AI has also done some weird things here I haven't seen in other reserves - at one point I shot an entire herd of pigs which froze and refused to move, and more than once I had ducks repeatedly landing in front of me to get shot with ease. These things crop up only occasionally, so they're only a minor distraction for the most part.
So, there are some issues but all in all it's a good, scenic, low-stress kind of reserve.