Skinwalker Hunt
- August 19, 2022
- Gua
- 8h median play time
"Skinwalker Hunt" is a horror-themed hunting game where you play as a Native American monster hunter, tasked with tracking down the legendary skinwalker in various locations. The game features large handcrafted environments, randomized placement of loot and objects, and a focus on exploration and non-linear gameplay. With a challenging difficulty and atmospheric setting, it requires patience and perseverance to succeed in your hunts.
Reviews
- The game offers a thrilling experience for fans of hunting mythical creatures, with a great atmosphere and immersive sound design.
- The mechanics of tracking and hunting the Skinwalker are engaging, providing a sense of tension and excitement throughout gameplay.
- The graphics and overall presentation are impressive for an indie title, enhancing the horror experience.
- The gameplay can become repetitive, as there is a lack of enemy variety and the Skinwalker is the only main target to hunt.
- Some players experience technical issues, such as freezing screens during upgrades, which can detract from the overall enjoyment.
- The difficulty may feel unbalanced at times, with some enemies being overly aggressive or difficult to manage.
- gameplay95 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 63 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The gameplay of "Skinwalker Hunt" is praised for its engaging mechanics and immersive atmosphere, offering a mix of hunting and survival elements that enhance replayability. While some players appreciate the improvements over its predecessor, "Witch Hunt," others note a lack of enemy variety and repetitive encounters, suggesting that the core gameplay can become predictable. Overall, the game delivers a solid horror experience with room for further development in complexity and content.
“Now this is a proper horror game, with fun hunting mechanics and an immaculate atmosphere.”
“This is a genuine horror game; the ambience is a 10, gameplay is fun and engaging, and the monster is terrifying.”
“Love the gameplay loop on this one; hunting some mythical creature with my cheeks clenched makes me feel alive.”
“Compared to Witch Hunt, this game is a bit of a step down; even though you get more maps (3), the gameplay just isn't that engaging.”
“The gameplay is always the same and very repetitive.”
“None of this matters, however, because the mechanics of the game put you, the player, at an extreme disadvantage, with the animals giving no visual or audio cues, and every fall you take reduces your max health for the rest of the run if you don't use a very rare medpack or an even rarer magical plant that spawns in certain locations.”
- atmosphere90 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The atmosphere in the game is widely praised for its immersive and creepy qualities, effectively creating a sense of tension and fear as players navigate the environment. Reviewers highlight the excellent sound design, ambient music, and detailed level design that contribute to a haunting experience, making it a standout feature of the game. While some note a decrease in variety and enemy complexity compared to previous titles, the overall consensus is that the atmosphere remains a compelling draw for horror enthusiasts.
“The skinwalker sets a creepy atmosphere of the hunter becoming the hunted with fantastic subtle environment building lore and random mechanics for replayability.”
“Andrii Vintsevych is extremely adept at creating suspenseful atmospheres, encouraging exploration and delivering powerful scares.”
“The atmosphere is easily the best part of the game, fairly spooky besides a generic sound or two.”
“However, I did think the atmosphere was unsettling and suspenseful.”
“Very creepy atmosphere that is jarringly broken up when you are attacked by enemies.”
“I disabled the music because I found it a bit too loud during combat and it somewhat ruined the spooky atmosphere.”
- graphics25 mentions
- 64 % positive mentions
- 24 % neutral mentions
- 12 % negative mentions
Overall, the graphics of the game have received positive feedback, with many users praising the beautiful visuals and immersive atmosphere, often rating them around 8/10. While some noted minor issues like glitches and mediocre textures, the improvements over previous titles and the smooth performance were highlighted as significant strengths. The game's aesthetic, particularly in later levels, also contributed to a compelling visual experience, despite some players missing the unique "Halloween aesthetic" of earlier games.
“The atmosphere and visuals are great.”
“The updated graphics are noticeably better than those of the previous game, which also help add to the aforementioned immersion.”
“Graphically it's good, ambience is excellent and the gunplay is exciting whilst the monsters are frightening.”
“The graphics are mediocre, but the audio is pleasant.”
“While the graphics settings do very little in the way of textures or feel of the game (the textures are decent at best) my GPU has shown me the truth of the matter.”
“The graphics need work; I've had to put them all to low res yet my ancient PC can run most games okay, including Titanfall 2. The skinwalker is way too fast on attacking; he's like some mad ninja with skills, and the matrix-style slow down in combat is useless and doesn't work in any form.”
- story21 mentions
- 19 % positive mentions
- 67 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The game's story aspect is minimal, focusing more on gameplay mechanics than a deep narrative, with players often expressing a desire for a richer storyline. While some appreciate the environmental storytelling and the sense of progression during missions, others find the lack of a cohesive plot disappointing. Overall, the game is enjoyable for its mechanics, but those seeking a robust story may be left wanting more.
“Witch Hunt follows a story where you help the town of Belville hunt down a witch.”
“Each map also tells a story through its environment; whenever you find a dilapidated building or a dead body, you wonder what might have happened there.”
“I wonder where he is from, and what's his story.”
“Not as much story as Witch Hunt; find the skinwalker, go to a new map, and do it again with some variances.”
“From the minimal storytelling to the lack of vision to the extreme difficulty that makes the game go from seemingly unfair to completely unwinnable, it's a total mess.”
“Lengthy exposition or pointless backstory.”
- replayability7 mentions
- 43 % positive mentions
- 14 % neutral mentions
- 43 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's replayability is viewed positively, with many players enjoying the randomization of loot and the addition of gameplay modifiers that enhance the experience. However, some users feel that the limited variety in gameplay elements, such as having only one monster to hunt across two maps, may restrict long-term replay value compared to other titles in the genre.
“It's an amazing survival-horror with huge replay value.”
“Super fun replayable game!”
“Loot randomization improves on the previous game, adding replay value.”
“Not really replayable even though the placement of items is random.”
“With only one monster to kill on two different maps, it provides enough fun right now to warrant a purchase, but I still think Witch Hunt provided a lot more replayability.”
“Adding a couple of modifiers when starting a level could change the gameplay and increase the replay value.”
- music7 mentions
- 29 % positive mentions
- 29 % neutral mentions
- 43 % negative mentions
The music in the game is praised for creating an excellent atmosphere, with immersive ambient tracks that enhance the gameplay experience. While some players find the sound design and subtle music effective in building tension, others feel the music can be too loud during combat, detracting from the overall spooky ambiance. Overall, the sound design contributes significantly to the game's immersive quality.
“Excellent atmosphere, great hand-made maps that were not bought from the Unity Asset Store (and that's not sarcasm), great ambient music and fun gameplay loop.”
“The sound design and music are excellent and it becomes immersive quickly.”
“I disabled the music because I found it a bit too loud during combat, and it somewhat ruined the spooky atmosphere.”
“Music is decent, but there are noises that I can't find a source for.”
“Even the very subtle music is enough to get your heart racing without anything surrounding you.”
- optimization6 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 17 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
Overall, the optimization of the game is mixed; while many players praise its smooth performance and immersive gameplay, others report significant performance issues, suggesting a lack of care from the developers. Some users highlight it as one of the better-optimized early access titles, contrasting sharply with those who feel it is poorly optimized and potentially exploitative.
“Runs smoothly, addictive, well-balanced, and immersive gameplay. I've thoroughly enjoyed playing this and will continue to play it.”
“Fun game, good performance, good style.”
“And it's so well optimized, which you don't get often in early access games.”
“All of that leads me to believe that this is either a hidden cryptominer (which I personally doubt) or that this is, bar none, the most unoptimized game on Steam.”
“With such little care given to the performance on the player's system, it is clear that the developers don't care about the players and simply want their chunk of change.”
- grinding3 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players generally find grinding in games to be tedious and time-consuming, often leading to a sense of wasted effort. While some achievements can be enjoyable, they may require excessive grinding, which detracts from the overall experience. However, some games mitigate this by allowing players to earn abilities through gameplay rather than a grind-heavy system.
“This just makes most games feel tedious and like I've wasted my time.”
“Four maps, a lot to discover and fun achievements, even though some of them were very grindy (I'm looking at you 30-bear-kills achievement).”
“While I took issue with the whole 'purchasing abilities from a store' mechanic from Witch Hunt, this game instead makes you earn them outside of some grindy system.”
- humor2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Reviews highlight a mix of frustration and amusement in the game's humor, with players noting the unexpected and often absurd interactions, such as being ambushed by snakes or getting stuck on environmental objects. The humor seems to stem from these chaotic moments, creating a blend of annoyance and laughter.
“God forbid you want to explore without two snakes spawning and biting you repeatedly without warning, or getting stuck on a single piece of wood used as a railing because you walked into it in a funny way.”
“I shoot funny deer, man.”
- monetization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The monetization of Skinwalker Hunt is viewed positively, as it aims to provide a unique horror hunting experience rather than falling into the common pitfalls of asset flips and cash grabs seen in similar games. Players appreciate the effort to enhance gameplay value, suggesting a commitment to quality over exploitative practices.
- stability1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The game features appealing graphics, but users have reported occasional glitches that affect overall stability. Despite these issues, the experience remains enjoyable.
“The game offers some nice graphics, although there are some ugly glitches here and there.”
“I frequently experience crashes that disrupt my gameplay.”
“The frame rate drops significantly during intense moments, making it hard to enjoy the game.”