theHunter: Call of the Wild

 PlayStation 4
Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 4 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 4
  3. Negative: 0 out of 4
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  1. PlayStation LifeStyle
    Sep 29, 2017
    80
    It survives solely by being as believable as it can be, while not being entirely impenetrable to the average gamer who isn’t a master hunter.
  2. GamePro Germany
    Oct 9, 2017
    75
    Quotation forthcoming.
  3. PlayStation Universe
    Oct 9, 2017
    75
    A mixture of realistic hunting simulation and literal walking simulator with a fairly gentle introduction, The Hunter: Call of the Wild is certainly not a game for the impatient. It's beautiful vistas and sedate pace make it a very chilled out experience for the most part, full of relaxing exploration, but to engage in the hunt itself is a tremendously time-consuming act.
  5. DarkStation
    Nov 27, 2017
    70
    While it suffers from seriously botched progression and a smattering of poor design choices, theHunter: Call of the Wild consistently provides a deep and satisfying hunting experience. Not only is it a dramatic departure from the mindless schlock we've been conditioned to seeing; it brings hunting to a height of simulation and strategy that I've never seen before. The game holds a special reverence not just for hunting, but for the spirit of the outdoors in general, making it a relevant testament to our natural landscapes in the modern era. If you're going into theHunter expecting to navigate smooth menus and unlock things at a steady pace, you're in for disappointment. If you're looking for an immersive and dignified hunting experience, you'll be absolutely hooked for hours on end. Falling into both camps, I know that the latter sensation ultimately prevails over the former. I'll be playing this one for a long time going forward, and not just because it takes forever to get new gear.

User Reviews

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User Score
6.6

Mixed or average reviews- based on 54 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 29 out of 54
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 54
  3. Negative: 14 out of 54
  1. kubabooba
    Jun 7, 2019
    4
    This game sucks hard. At first glance the graphics are nice and the environmental sounds are immersive but the gameplay design choices forThis game sucks hard. At first glance the graphics are nice and the environmental sounds are immersive but the gameplay design choices for this game are horrible. You start off with a garbage character with useless equipment. The XP system in this game really bogs down the experience. You have to level up your character to unlock new equipment even if you have the money to buy it. So you might want to go out and hunt some bears but that gun and callers that you want are locked until you level up. You also unlock perks like being able to walk more quietly, steady aim, getting more information about an animal from its footprints, being harder to detect in rain and foggy weather, being able to pin point footsteps more accurately and so on. This basically means that when you start the game, your character is useless until you level up which makes this game difficult and frustrating to play. The game only gives you information about how old poo is but not about the footsteps. So you never have a clear idea of how far away the animal is from you based on the footsteps. Prepare to crouch and crawl while tracking because if you make too much noise, you'll scare the animals away.

    The maps are huge but they feel too big because of how **** it is to find animals in this game. They aren't just randomly scattered around the map. You might head out to that lake or the river or just head out into the forest and you can walk and walk and walk and you won't find a single footprint or hear a call from an animal. Some of the areas just feel empty. So some parts of the map just feel useless. You'll want to find the higher difficulty level animals which are mostly males but feel so rare to find in this game. I mostly found trivial female animals that give about 150XP and this sucked hard because finding a track and following it to find the animal can take up to 20min.

    You can't just go where you want because most of the time there aren't any animals and it feels that the game is playing you. This game just feels like a total slog to play and really lacks any feeling of freedom. Probably the best way to play this game is doing boring missions and waiting around need zones until the animals arrive. You can't just head out your own way and find something worth shooting.

    When starting a map, you have to head out to the lookout points to survey the land to find the outpost that you have to go to and unlock as a fast travel point. This sucks hard because this is supposed to be a hunting game and instead you'll be driving around. I don't understand why fast travel outposts aren't available from the get go? You can travel around with a tent, pitch it and use it as a fast travel point. This is probably the best way to play the game because you can just fast travel back to an outpost, load up on ammo or buy better gear then fast travel back to where you left off. The thing is when you pitch a tent it scares the animals away.

    You have tree stands and tree tripods and these suck because they also scare animals away. You can't lure animals in your direction then place a tree stand above you, climb up and wait for the animals to show up because they get scared away.

    The animal animations are lame. They don't show any weight in their movements. When you shoot they seem to just randomly run around in a circle then run in a random direction. They react to your smell and react to you when they get too close. They make warning and mating sounds which gives you an indicator of about where they are. Of course you can put points in a perk that make the sound indicators from the animals more accurate. But until then, it's vague.

    Overall I got sick and tired of shooting trivial female animals and finding anything better, well, the payoff wasn't worth the time. It's a real shame. This game has great hunting and shooting mechanics, the maps look great but the gameplay design just makes this tough and disappointing to play. It's a total slog to play. If it had more animals scattered around all over the map then this game would be fantastic. It'd feel great to just head out to the lake or to the open fields and be able to find something there. But this game just feels like a huge walkathon.    … Full Review »
  2. Doeboy1
    Feb 13, 2020
    4
    Let me start with the fact that I see hardly any wildlife in any of the maps and the fact that I'm on a mission offline and got to harvest aLet me start with the fact that I see hardly any wildlife in any of the maps and the fact that I'm on a mission offline and got to harvest a moose from a hunting stand and cant where I am at all your hunting stands are in the wrong place I use to like the game but now I'm giving low rating and I'm not gonna change my mind you need more animals in all reserves and also turkeys I'd rather go back to playing cabella big game if if… Full Review »
  3. RomulusReviews
    Nov 18, 2020
    8
    I recently bought and have been playing the Hunter: Call of the Wild 2021 edition. I have to say, the first few days of playing this game,I recently bought and have been playing the Hunter: Call of the Wild 2021 edition. I have to say, the first few days of playing this game, probably 20 hours or so, I absolutely was losing my mind. Right out of the gate I thought the graphics were great for a game that released a few years ago, and the sounds design was excellent, however, I struggled... and I struggled mightily. I could not seem to track animals very well, I was discouraged easily after tracking and not actually gaining a kill, and when I did hunt an animal it was not simple. I thought the game was just crappy, but then I realized, maybe I just sucked.

    After a couple days away from the game I decided to go back and start over. This time I took my time, and yes, certain playthroughs saw me never hunt a single animal, in about an hour of playing at my leisure, but I began to understand that is what added to the immersion of this game. You don't always go out hunting for a day or two and actually tag any game. Even spotting a nice trophy animal and not actually getting in close enough to get a shot away and then losing it for the rest of the playthrough, although a pain in the ass, still was just something that made the game feel more realistic. I have improved in this game a lot since my first few weeks with it and it's still on my PS4 dashboard ready to be played anytime I feel like sitting back and taking in some amazing wilderness scenery within a game and hopefully finding that beautiful Gold or even Diamond trophy animal.

    This is by far the most realistic hunting game I have ever played.    … Full Review »
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