izigame.me

Hello, after playing this game for many years now I have a fairly good understanding of some of the ins and outs of how this game works. Keep in mind that I am only one person and there are many different perspectives out there about this game.
What is theHunter Call of the Wild and how is it different from other hunting games? I am sure you may have skimmed the description of the game by now but to put it into my words. TheHunter: Call of the Wild (CotW) is an “easy to pick up” hunting experience. It has enough of a realistic sense of hunting albeit a tad more on the arcadey side of things but is not too overwhelming when it comes to understanding some core mechanics.
While the main objective of the game is to hunt and explore, you do not have to hunt any animals. Some people enjoy the game for its atmosphere, walking around the reserves, the ambient noises, and photography. You have the option to turn off the narrative voice lines so you may not be disturbed in your endeavors. The various soundtracks that are unique to each reserve give a little bit more soul to a map.
Base mechanics - Unlike in other games where you have the option to “hunt” animals by turning them into bullet sponges. In this game there is a strong emphasis on shot placement (where you shoot an animal) and tracking. Typically you want to shoot behind the front shoulders on 95% of the animals in game (any quadruped) the exceptions tend to be small game like rabbits, hares, waterfowl, and upland birds. Hitting the lungs will bring the animal down fairly quickly (depending on the animal and weapon used) If you are feeling up for a challenge you may also want to try for a heart shot. The heart (ingame) is normally located at the elbow of most animals if they are broadside (facing 90 degrees left or right from you) or somewhere mid/low chest if facing you. This will take down almost all animals on the spot.
Outposts - these are places where you stock up on ammo, weapons, callers, medkits, fast travel, or sleep to go to certain times. They are scattered all throughout the reserves and are marked by a green dot with a house inside.
Currency - this game has its own currency system so there is no need to use real money to buy ingame money. You get this by hunting animals and completing missions.
Missions - the missions are completely optional and really only serve to give a reserve more backstory. There is also the plus benefit that they pay out a little extra cash and exp along the way. You may also unlock a few outposts while attempting the missions.
Hunting pressure (big purple/pink spots on your map) - Hunting pressure is a pretty simple mechanic in that it basically removes any zone that is within its sphere of influence. Animals will tend to avoid the area at least when needzones are concerned. Depending on if you are hunting with a bow or from a hunting structure. The hunting pressure will become bright pink if you hunt more than three animals in the area. If you kill any more animals it will delete the zones and you will need to hunt somewhere else on the map to remove the pressure.
Harvest check - This is more or less the game’s way of rewarding players with extra cash and xp for quick and clean kills. The four “checks” are as follows: hitting a vital organ, no more then two shots on an animal, using the right ammo, not damaging the trophy organ (skull on most species). The vital organs in this game’s definition are: heart, lungs, liver, neck bones (not spine), and the brain. Hitting any of these will result in a check. You will know when you hit them, there will be a large splat of blood where you shot the animal.
Shooting an animal two times or less is pretty simple. As long as you made a decent shot one should do it.
When it comes to using the “right ammo” make sure you check the class range of the current ammo you have and the animal you are hunting. The starting weapons you have (.243, .357, 420gr bow, and 12ga) will be sufficient enough for you to take down some of the immediate animals you are likely to encounter as long as you are playing the base game maps (Layton Lakes and Hirschfelden.)
Animal difficulty - The difficulty is how sharp that particular animal’s senses are, some species have keen eyesight or sense of smell and will react quickly if startled. The range of numbers go as follows: 1 trivial, 2 minor, 3 very easy, 4 easy, 5 medium, 6 hard, 7 very hard, 8 mythical, 9 legendary. Most animals have a difficulty range of 1 - 5. Predators all go up to 9, additionally red deer, cape buffalo, and water buffalo go up to 9 as well. Most small species have a range of 1 - 3 with some exceptions like white tail and roe deer. Difficulty does not dictate what weapon class you use, only how quickly an animal will pick you up on it’s senses.
Weapon class range - I’ll touch on this briefly. This is basically telling you what animals you are “permitted” to hunt with a certain caliber/load. You can hunt how you wish with whatever weapon, however, if you want to get a high medal, exp, and extra cash then following the ranges will be most beneficial. For example: the .243 has a range of 2 - 6 meaning any animal that falls within that range you can ethically shoot. These animals are: red fox, wild boar, springbok, gray wolf, and red deer. However, it should be noted that just because you can shoot a large animal with a weapon that is at its range does not mean it will die quickly. Shooting a red deer with either a .243 or a .357 will result in a long track (if any vital except heart, brain, or neck is hit.)
Bugs - Yes there are bugs in this game, most of which are (at least from my experience) small annoying things like your character deciding to suddenly face north, not syncing properly in multiplayer, missions not tracking properly, and putting the wrong caliber of ammo in a weapon. Some of the more heavier bugs include: saved games being lost and losing some trophies in your lodges. While losing your game and trophies can be a very frustrating thing to occur. There are some workarounds that can help mitigate the impact of lost progress. I, however, am not tech savvy to explain how this works. If you would like to know more there are a few guides in the forums that do a good job explaining how to make a backup save.
Content - The game gets new content and various updates throughout the year. The content can range from a new species getting their truRACS, a new reserve, or hunting equipment (weapons and structures.) Typically when something is about to be added, there are small and occasionally vague clues that the developers put into the game to tease upcoming content. The game is pretty good without the need to purchase every single item. However, the only content I say you will need would be a trophy lodge, for obvious reasons.
Community - The community is also fairly well behaved. While it is online and there are of course some instances of poor user interaction. From my experience it is not toxic to the point where you may feel threatened. However, this is just from my experience and this may be vastly different from person to person.
Conclusion - TheHunter: Call of the Wild is a very relaxing hunting experience, it is not meant to be taken very seriously. The environmental graphics (trees, lakes, mountains, hillsides) are pretty good and just about every step you take there are multiple opportunities to take some pretty amazing scenic pictures for those who are interested. The animal models are subjective. I find them to be quite adequate for the time being, however, there can always be adjustments made over time.
I highly recommend this game for people who are interested in hunting games and culture.
Happy hunting.