Hunted: The Demon's Forge review

Do-it-yourself conspiracy theory, step 1: write the word ‘Wargar’ – the name of the orc-like race at the centre of Hunted: The Demon’s Forge – down on a sheet of paper. We’ll wait here while you find a pen. Step 2: splice the word in half at the syllable break. Finished? Step 3: swap the order of these two words. If you’ve followed instructions properly, you should have arrived at the nonsensical phrase ‘gar War.’ Step 4: sandwich the preposition ‘of’ between the two words to get ‘gar of War’. Step 5: hold your head firmly with both hands as the epiphany enters your brain like a sniper bullet catching a Locust Drone between the eyes. If you’re lucky, the applied pressure will keep your head from a similarly messy combustion.

The above theory wildly over-reaches, admittedly so, but given Hunted’s sycophantic adherence to the design principles behind Epic’s Gears Of War saga, can you blame us? Hunted appears convinced that its borrowing will go down easier if it footnotes the nakedly obvious source text. Hence the inclusion of an achievement that reads, “Obtain an Epic quality weapon” (holy strategic capitalisation, Batman!). It’s like the whole dev team at inXile collectively decided that if Hunted flopped and they landed back in the job market, they’d all be relocating to North Carolina to work on the inevitable Gears prequel that will keep Epic’s bean-counters happy once the trilogy wraps.

A cover-based, thirdperson shooter and brawler, Hunted follows the exploits of two mercenaries – E’lara and Caddoc – who stumble into a quest to save the land of Kala Moor from the marauding Wargar. In predictable high-fantasy fashion, the pair must battle their way through swamps, caves, dungeons, forests, slave-filled quarries and arson-ravaged medieval villages, pressing ever closer to the foreboding summit where their destiny awaits. There isn’t a Tolkienism in existence that Hunted fails to trot out for a weary victory lap. So despite some atmospheric, if nigglingly familiar, world-building – the Unreal Engine imbues Kala Moor with genuine verve – you never quite shake the feeling that Hunted takes place in Middling-earth. As far as Tolkien ringers go, Hunted’s tone is less Game of Thrones and more Dragonlance.

The game’s protagonists are about what you’d expect. E’lara is the prototypical sexy elf and skilled archer who has managed to shrewdly fashion an entire outfit out of a single leather belt, with tribal tattoos stretching and curling like creeping ivy across her legs and inner thighs before vanishing beneath a scandalous excuse for a thong. Melee-favouring Caddoc gets to be a sex object in his own right, provided you’re into chiselled abs and elephantine, triangular torsos. Hunted’s primary gameplay enticement revolves around the pair’s co-op adventuring, and the script dials up the romantic tension accordingly. E’lara and Caddoc are caricatures, sure, but the writing is just strong enough to keep them on the right side of flimsy.

If you’ve played Gears Of War, Hunted’s combat and level progression will feel cosily intuitive. Each level consists of a series of open battlefields, sprinkled with banks of chest-high cover to duck behind as Wargar archers send arrows whizzing by overhead. There are a variety of weapons for the pair to find throughout the game – which the player uncovers by smashing weapon racks to splinters.