theHunter: Call of the Wild

 PlayStation 4
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
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  1. 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, 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 couldI 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.    … Expand
  2. PS-Online
    Nov 5, 2017
    9
    Playing the Hunter Call of the wild has taught me many things over the weekend. The main thing is that I have no problems whatsoever mowing down humans one after another, in a game world of course but the guilt I felt after shooting a rabbit while it was playing with others left me repeating, "It's only a game, It's only a game" as I looked down at the said bunny!

    I'm not a hunter but    Playing the Hunter Call of the wild has taught me many things over the weekend. The main thing is that I have no problems whatsoever mowing down humans one after another, in a game world of course but the guilt I felt after shooting a rabbit while it was playing with others left me repeating, "It's only a game, It's only a game" as I looked down at the said bunny!

    I'm not a hunter but I've been curious about these games from the PlayStation 2 days. Sure you can get them easily now with multi region and access to the other stores but they are mainly sold over the water. I'd seen the screens and previews before but you can easily be fooled by pre-launch hype shots and tarted up movies. When I first spawned into the game world I completely missed what the narrator was saying to me and I had to start again. You see I was distracted by what was before me.
    This distraction has not stopped hours and hours into the game. The world you are dropped into is the most gorgeous, beautiful, HUGE open world I've ever seen. Yes I know, even more so than Horizon Zero Dawn my favourite PS4 game. PlayStation 4 has a new benchmark, it's Call of the Wild!

    I honestly can't tell you how good this game looks on my 4K TV. No screens nor youtube movies can prepare you for 50" 4K greatness. Trees blow in the wind, particles of even dust blow through the air, seed clocks glide past you realistically as they would on a hot summers day, leaves, it's just brilliant. Water reflects the trees, sun, moon at night and anything that passes or overhead clouds passing or even building to let rip an almighty storm. My wife has zero interest in games, she walked into the front room and said, "wow, is this a game?" I think I've spent more time wandering than anything else. It's vista is second to none. "Is that a bridge over there? half an hour later you've walked to it and forgotten what your task was. On the way you've stopped to take yet another screen shot of the beautiful landscape.

    On top of the visuals is the sound. What transforms this real would into real life is the use of sound. I have lost count of the amount of times I've been strolling about and a bark of a deer has made me jump. Birds tweet, wind rustles the leaves and bushes. Water laps at the edges of lakes and the pitter patter of water bouncing off muddy paths all adds to sucking you in to this living, breathing world. I'm playing with surround on and a wireless base speaker. Starting up the ATV just has to be heard with 5.1. The gunshot itself rings out around the room and during a hunt when silence is golden, pulling your own trigger can really startle you. Sound in key to the game too. You listen intensely for the direction of a mating call or growl from a bear. Once I lay in fear as I'd lost my way lying down and a bear walked past me, I was holding my breath for gods sake. Like I say, this game really does immerse you like I've never had before.

    So this takes me to the game itself. All the looks and sound mean jack if the game sucks right?
    I've never played anything like this before. I guess the closest I've got is Call Of Duty MW. The sniping mission in Russia. That was scripted, the Hunter is not. In fact every time I've turned it on, saying that it's hardly been off in the last two days, you could go off hunting and every time it's different. What is brilliant is the way the developer has tried to make it interesting by giving it a kind of story mode to keep you interested and this works so well. You receive calls on your mobile asking you to help out or visit certain parts of the map. When you bring up the map and pan back with the right stick you'll be amazed. The map is huge. I started in the US but to my shock there is also a European map with a female narrator. You get a ATV that has brilliant physics to get you about quicker. You even get a tent to pitch for over night stays in the wild. Mission structure is perfect and the game gets a little bit easier as you unlock better guns, bullets and bows. Everything is put together so well. It's worth pointing out that rifles have certain bullets and this led me to a search on the net to see why my gun wouldn't load. I was not alone as I found many people with the same problem as me. That is the only thing that needs to be made clearer to people like me who've not played a game like this before.

    The Hunt itself can be done at any time, anywhere. Hunting is tense and time consuming. As it should be. I found myself hunting down a pack of deer taking over 40 minutes as I crept, crawled and then executed the kill perfectly. It was night and I took out 4 deer in one go as they panicked not knowing where I was. I hunted a bear but just scrapped it. I then followed the trail until I found it and took the reward. I'm no hunter in real life but it turns out I'm quite good.
    Multiplayer can team up to 8 players with some co-op or challenges.
    As open worlds go this is the new benchmark for me.    … Expand
  3. kingofgames
    Oct 2, 2017
    10
    One of the best (if not the best) games I ever played! It´s starts a little slow, but once you learn its dynamics it grows (hugely) on you! The hunting experience can be very challenging but super rewarding at the end. Shooting and eventually chasing the animal and tracking its blood trail are one of the coolest things in the game. The Graphics on "ultra setting" is the closest to a realOne of the best (if not the best) games I ever played! It´s starts a little slow, but once you learn its dynamics it grows (hugely) on you! The hunting experience can be very challenging but super rewarding at the end. Shooting and eventually chasing the animal and tracking its blood trail are one of the coolest things in the game. The Graphics on "ultra setting" is the closest to a real life ambient I´ve ever seen, truly immersive experience! Night time, sunny, cloudy, rain, fog, dusk, dawn, thunders, This is a hunting game, not a shooting gallery. Expect to be stalking or luring your prey for some time before you can get to make a shot. The graphics are AMAZING. Maxed out it's incredible. The sound is very realistic, and they're clearly samples from real animals that were recorded. There are two maps that are both very large: Europe and North America. Wildlife varies from animals like elk, moose, coyote, bears, deer, boar, etc. It could use a few more weapons. This game would be perfect if it had duck hunting. It's the best nature simulator out there.lightning, wind gusts... you name it, the game recreated them perfectly.… Expand
  4. Eduarfin
    May 16, 2020
    9
    Só não dou 10 por causa do sistema de saving e por não ser muito didático na questão de gastos e inventário. Jogo belíssimo e viciante.
  5. BigDee1731
    Oct 4, 2017
    9
    Best hunting game I have ever played on a console. I have played about 90% of all console hunting game going all the way back to PS1 era and this one is hands down the best. Finally a good hunting game.
  6. PlayThisGame87
    Oct 10, 2017
    9
    A truly beautiful game. For true Nature/Hunting enthusiasts. The visuals are stunning. The way the Sun moves across the sky, and the ground being cast over in shadow as a cloud obscures the light. The audio is sublime as you listen to birdsong and hear the distant calls of your prey. You will spend a lot of time waiting for your targets for shooting photos, or bullets. A hunting game thatA truly beautiful game. For true Nature/Hunting enthusiasts. The visuals are stunning. The way the Sun moves across the sky, and the ground being cast over in shadow as a cloud obscures the light. The audio is sublime as you listen to birdsong and hear the distant calls of your prey. You will spend a lot of time waiting for your targets for shooting photos, or bullets. A hunting game that is realistic is the best kind of hunting game. There would be ZERO adrenaline rush if you saw a Trophy Buck every 10 minutes! One thing I will mention is that this seems to be the only game that starts off harder and gets easier. With games that have enemies that get progressively harder it makes sense to have a slowly increasing arsenal of guns and equipment. In this game however, the enemies are always the same difficulty. So by giving you the bare minimum at the beginning of the game, you are effectively playing the game at it's hardest at 1%. And as you progress and earn money to spend on equipment and weaponry the game gets easier and easier. Rifle Sway, Better Spotting, Less Noise etc. This is not a negative point anyway just something I found interesting.… Expand
  7. Errol1967
    Jul 28, 2023
    10
    This game is absolutely a blast. What a game. On PS5 its 4k 60 fps and looks great
  8. Mankster3
    Aug 31, 2020
    10
    This is a great hunting simulator game. It is true to a simulator you will be waiting for game to come in or hiking and calling to find game. It's not BIg Buck Arcade where you shoot 8 deer in one minute you will get 1 deer/animal every 5-15 minutes or so. With all the extra updates and maps up to 2020 it has become even a better game. It can be a grind. It does take time to figure out howThis is a great hunting simulator game. It is true to a simulator you will be waiting for game to come in or hiking and calling to find game. It's not BIg Buck Arcade where you shoot 8 deer in one minute you will get 1 deer/animal every 5-15 minutes or so. With all the extra updates and maps up to 2020 it has become even a better game. It can be a grind. It does take time to figure out how everything works I had to go to YouTube to learn how things worked. This is one of the only faults of the game. Looks great on the base PS4 console and they are a small European studio and The Hunter has 50 square miles of open world in the woods, mountains, creeks also with dynamic weather and it's amazing!… Expand
  9. Funnypooch
    Jun 19, 2019
    9
    This is hands down the best hunting (simulation) game ever made. Trust me you will not find a better title in its genre. The game is super realistic when it comes to animal behaviours so it could be challenging for newcomers, but when you get the hang of it, theHunter CotW is an amazing game.
  10. jrow
    Apr 1, 2020
    9
    I normally never play simulation games, but thehunter really made me kind of addicted. The beginning is a little frustrating but after a couple of hours and a little training you will get better. You learn how to approach an animal silently and where to aim for a perfect shot. Even after more than 100 hunted animals it still feels super satisfying when you manage to hunt down an animal.I normally never play simulation games, but thehunter really made me kind of addicted. The beginning is a little frustrating but after a couple of hours and a little training you will get better. You learn how to approach an animal silently and where to aim for a perfect shot. Even after more than 100 hunted animals it still feels super satisfying when you manage to hunt down an animal. The maps are huge and contain one of the most beautiful forrests and landscapes you will find in a video game. I also liked the exp and gun point system. Don't understand why some users are complaining about this, because you'll find similar systems a lot of games.
    All in all I would recommend this game to adult player who sympathize with "slow gaming".    … Expand
  11. AdiPL1999
    Dec 13, 2020
    8
    It’s a good game the requires a lot of patience and stealth. There’s a lot that needs improving and missing. You should be able to run faster and have a stamina skills point, the hunter should be able to swim as the game is supposed to be as realistic as possible, the quad smokes and blows up when in water, the quad has an eerie weird like echo sound effects when braking and driving, thereIt’s a good game the requires a lot of patience and stealth. There’s a lot that needs improving and missing. You should be able to run faster and have a stamina skills point, the hunter should be able to swim as the game is supposed to be as realistic as possible, the quad smokes and blows up when in water, the quad has an eerie weird like echo sound effects when braking and driving, there should be bait and traps as that’s what hunter use in the real world, have more interesting missions like hunting with other characters on story mode, there should be silencers for weapon, .… Expand
  12. Potet69
    Jun 1, 2023
    8
    It's a good hunting game.
    The thing that I hate about it is the perk system and how slow it is in the beginning.

Critic Reviews

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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
  1. 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.
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  2. GamePro Germany
    Oct 9, 2017
    75
    Quotation forthcoming.
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  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.
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