Over the course of just a couple of days, thehunter: Call of the Wild has become one of my most favorite PS4 games of all time. For starters, I’m a huge fan of all sorts of hunting games. When I was younger, I absolutely loved all of the Cabela hunting games and I put in way too much time into the first two Reel Fishing games, way more than I should have. When I got into new consoles like the PS4 and Switch, I tried getting into these kinds of games on the newer consoles but it was an absolute wreck.

A couple years ago I bought Cabela's The Hunt: Championship Edition and it ended up being one of the worst games that I had ever played. Later on I started seeing Call of the Wild pop up in Gamestops all over the place so I had my eye on it for a while. Then at some point last month, it was on sale so I bought two copies, for myself and one for my roommate. It ended up being one of the three best gaming purchases I made on the PS4.

GRAPHICS: 9/10

Call of the wild looks stunning. There are so many different reserves that you can play on and each one is massive. But that doesn’t mean that the developers skimmed on the detail because everything looks great. There’s lots of mountains and bodies of waters, and a plethora of trees, bushes, and grass, and they all have a ton of detail. There’s also a ton of detail when it comes to the animals and I’m not just talking about how they look. Their animation and movement looks really well done and sometimes it looks pretty realistic too.

SOUND: 8/10

There’s a lot of really good sound design across the game. I didn’t pay too much attention to the music, which is okay, but the game shines with the sounds of the wild. All of the animals sound good and realistic. You can hear different kinds of cries and roars and you can hear them stampeding. When you walk, there’s different kinds of sounds for when you’re crouching, running, and running across different terrain. Plus, the amount of sound you make has a pivotal role in whether or not an animal will see you. On top of that, things like guns, ATV’s, and even your own dog make a ton of unique and well designed noises. There’s also some decent voice acting here and there.

ADDICTIVENESS: 9/10

This game is not for you if you don’t care for hunting. If you never played a hunting game before or just don’t like the genre, you’re going to get bored and impatient really quickly. Sometimes it can take you a long time just finding the tracks for an animal and maybe 30 minutes to an hour tracking it before you can shoot and another 10 minutes before you even find the body. But if you love hunting games or have gone hunting before, you’re going to love the game so much.

Those hours you spent hunting just a couple animals will feel really enjoyable and fun. Plus no two animals are the same. Even if you’re hunting the same animal, they are different classes and there’s different ways to kill them. Plus things like the weapon you use and where you hit them change your score and reward so there’s always an incentive to keep hunting the same animal.

On top of that, each reserve is massive. The first reserve I played on, I spent maybe 15 hours hunting Bison and Caribou before I even reached 25 percent of the whole map. Just exploring the map is also a lot of fun because of how beautiful they can be.

STORY:

There isn’t really much in terms of a story. You’re going to get some narration tell you to do things depending on which reserve you’re on but the main point of the game is the actual hunting and exploring as much of each reserve as you can. You’re going to want to focus on getting the best trophies and as much money as you can so that you can unlock more weapons and equipment.

DEPTH: 10/10

The game offers so much. Each map is huge, like many kilometers in each direction. I remember watching a video where someone walked from one end of the map to another and it took like two hours. Each map has so much to explore and there’s a large number of maps, but nearly all of them require DLC. I think you only get one if you just buy the game by itself. But here’s the best part, not only do the reserves you get for free have a ton to offer, but you can play online and join any multiplayer server. As long as the person you play with has the DLC, you can play on that map even if you don’t have the DLC.

There’s also a ton of weapons to choose from. I think there’s more than a dozen weapons each for rifles, shotguns, handguns, and bows. Plus there’s all sorts of ammo to choose from, along with a bunch of sights and other equipment. A bunch of these are also locked behind the DLC but there’s still a ton to choose from.

There are two DLC packs that I would really recommend buying though, which also happen to be the cheapest. You should get the dog DLC and the Sahara trophy lodge, which cost $4 each. The dog makes hunting a lot easier with an assortment of skills and the lodge is it’s own giant map where you can put animals and weapons on display.

On top of all that, there’s also a large skill tree for you to unlock, which make the game more fun and if you’re playing on a multiplayer server, there’s a large number of challenges that the host can start.

DIFFICULTY: 7

Hunting is fun, but it’s very hard, especially if it’s meant to be realistic. Sometimes you will walk around for 30 minutes and not find any tracks at all. Sometimes you’ll follow tracks for an hour and never find the animal even after an hour. Sometimes when you’re aiming, the gun will be moving around too much to make a steady shot. Sometimes you will hit the animal but you won’t be able to find the body or you take so long that they heal.

Even with the best guns and equipment, you’re going to need skill points and actual skill in order to be a good hunting. Plus there are animals that won’t mind fighting back so you’ll have to get used to that and protect yourself. The game will be hard, especially near the start and if you’re new.

OVERALL: 9.2/10

Thehunter: Call of the Wild is a very hard game and at times can be quite boring with tracking animals for long periods of time or not even being able to find a single animal at all. But that’s also what makes the game so realistic and so much fun at times. If you are a fan of hunting games, then there’s no reason not to play this game and my overall grade is going to be a 9.2 out of 10.

This sounds like a fun change of pace, I had a ton of fun with cabelas big game hunter on the wii and I had the orange shotgun wii remote attachment that gave me countless hours of fun. Might wanna check this out to get a little bit of nostalgia but with actually decent gameplay.

The Steam version with all of the DLCs (except the newest one which was released later) was bundled not long ago by Humble. And even though I am not really into hunting (not even in video games and definitely not it real life)I felt I should not miss this opportunity.
So I gave it a shot and the game just became my actual favorite in an instant.
What I like the most about it is that the reserves feel so alive. With all the little details like how the vegetation moving in the wind, leaves and all kind of little particles flying in the air, plus all the accompanying sounds and noises. All that stuff creats an incredibly immersive atmosphere. Call of the Wild is a fitting title indeed. This game really gives you the illusion of being in the wilderness.
My only complaint is that the animal AI acts kinda stupid sometimes. Like when they notice you, start to run but get stuck in some environmental object, yet keep on trying to run that way forever instead of changing course or something. Then all you have to do is walk next to the animal and shoot from point blank range. It does not happen too often (I have seen like 2 such occurences in 130 hours of gameplay) but when it does it breaks that aformentioned immersiveness. I hope the developers will fix this eventually.
One thing I wasn't able to try yet is multiplayer. I would really like to try how it feels to go on a hunt with a copule of friends but unfurtunately none of mine play this game. And I am quite reluctant to team up with strangers. Well I hope I can convince a few of them sooner or later.

Tafarijah : I've been doing multiplayer only because it's way better than the single player option. If you create a server, you can make it private so it would be no different than the single player campaign but with the benefit of having a friend join you if you let them and being able to talk to them through the game.

On top of that, the servers are closed when you aren't playing, so others won't be able to mess around if you aren't on.

Thanks for the insight. I will definitely give multiplayer a try sooner or later.