Exctraction-shooter. ♪. Excellent graphics. “Who would be interested in reviewing Mistfall Hunter?” - Eughenos asked, “Choose me! Choose me!” answered Noldor. “And so be it!” This is how I found myself catapulted in the middle of a game with all the papers in order to cut out a space in an increasingly crowded genre. Yes, because since Tarkov became mainstream, everyone understood that Battlestate had brought on the market a “meta meta” new and some (probably nerd like me and D fans&D) have tried to combine the mechanics ofExtraction to the atmosphere and combat system of the RPG fantasy. After seeing “Dark and Darker” consolidate his niche and “Dungeonborne” turn off almost on the birth, the idea of a title that united the fight of a action RPG to the typical structure of Extraction shooter seemed promising.
It seemed to be the keyword.
During the first hours of the game I shone my eyes and the impression was precisely to have to do with an excellent title: the fight works, the classes are differentiated, the rhythm of the clashes is elevated and the system of slaves, parades and abilities returns a feeling of control greater than that of many competitors.
Then, however, the game slowly begins to show its face and that face tells of a project cash-grab arrived on the market too early and with many, too many defects.
Strategy & Tactics (a title that is also a tribute)
The combat system undoubtedly represents the tip of diamond of “Mistfall Hunter”: the animations are convincing, the weight of the weapons is perceptible and each class has its own mechanical identity. There is no limit to changing numbers or statistics: they really change the way they face fighting and exploration. The use of 2 weapons and the different skills assigned to them increases even more the variety of tactics and the approach to clashes, especially with other players.
The extraction? The map is known, the extraction points change location at each session and activate each tot minutes. Then we have to interact to spread some kind of enemy-campana to defeat, which will turn into a tree with which we still have to interact and wait a few seconds for your character to play a bell to open a portal that, finally, will allow to extract.Bizarre mechanics, I know, but it makes the moment when you want to go back to the base camp very tight and potentially dangerous. I mean, a Noldorpollice insú.
Each shipment always obliges us to assess the risk. It is better to continue exploring hoping for better equipment or return to the field with the booty (the backpack has limited space as for every “Extraction” that you respect) already obtained?
It's the formula that Dark and Darker has been able to make so effective. The difference is that Mistfall Hunter adopts much more dynamic fighting, close to a modern RPG action as it could be a “Naraka: Bladepoint”, eliminating/sacrificing part of the tactical slowness of its main competitor.
Even the initial progression convinces and the loot returns that typical satisfaction of the genre (although I could change my opinion if, once the necessary upgrades to the base camp, the loot becomes "loot gratia lootis”, or a little end to itself).
"only" and "trio" mode? Yes, please! Even though I don't understand why the duo was not contemplated. Beautiful especially PvPs in these circumstances, although playing with ♪ can often be frustrating.
The problem is what comes after...
...or modern evil of live service. Once bought a game, one expects to have a product that (clearly less than components freemium or premium premium aesthetics) good or bad is complete. Instead, after for the beauty of 24,99€ on Steam (full price), in a few hours grind Mistfall Hunter stops being a Extraction RPG and becomes a notification manager. The base field opens and rewards appear; a match is closed and a goal is unlocked; a mission is completed and four more open (at the beginning. The difficulty curve of the missions has an absurd peak when from "go to point X and interact" becomes "kill the boss impossible"). In the meantime, daily prizes, weekly prizes, seasonal prizes, access premiums, prizes for reaching a certain level, prizes for boosting the base camp, prizes for doing a certain task, prizes because you've run off... That then they are all boiled (emotes, healing potions and so on) except those that are limited in time (2 days of container not lootable for free! What do you want to lose? ! Ah, no, wait, with the current event you even win a gaming laptop if it tells you well. We want to bet that if you add some Cheater Chinese?
This is a design philosophy that if seventeen years ago could also be a new and not so pushy stuff, so maybe one would try it as well.grind, in recent years has become almost a standard in many Asian productions: the goal is not to let the player find his own motivation, but to prevent him from staying without something to claim. Each screen contains an exclamation point; each menu hides at least one reward; each reward system to be unlocked with a different currency. The result is that the experience is continually interrupted by windows, notifications and submenu. You never have the feeling of playing, you have the feeling of being emptying an email box.
The paradox is thatall this ends up evading the value of ♪... and cherry on the cake, they also make drop on Twich. When the game gives you dozens of materials, cases, resources and bonuses simply because you have logged in, finding a rare item during an expedition inevitably loses part of its importance. Extraction should be the prize. It almost becomes a detail here.
Thousand thousand things, little substance
Mistfall Hunter seems to be afraid of the void. Whenever you can let the player breathe, it introduces a new system. It is okay to upgrade the field and the tree of progressions, but then you start with: seasonal missions, daily challenges, cumulative rewards, account levels (and character levels, you can have more than one), leaderboard, progress of the season (battlepass we have?), event bonus, currencies, permanent upgrades, crafting, affinities (activities that temporarily change your ♪)... The result is not depth, but noise.
Where did minimalism end? Where the concept? MH seems to have been developed without wondering if any mechanics really added something to the experience. The comparison with Dark and Darker becomes inevitable: that game builds tension by eliminating the superfluous, while MH seems to add rain systems, as if feared that the player can get bored during the thirty seconds necessary to prepare an expedition.
One of the most technically complicated launches in the last few months is getting worse. During the playtest developers had already admitted the presence of crashing, stability problems, stuttering and numerous bugs, explaining that he has devoted a lot of time to content and console support, sacrificing part of optimization. The launch also came accompanied by a full list of fix And the result? No matter what kind of machine you have, you can also put all the details to the minimum with an armed beast of 5090 and there will remain one stuttering Crazy.
In a game PvPv where the timing of a slave can determine the loss of all the transported equipment, not only this becomes much more serious than it would be in a normal action RPG, but honestly it also makes you cross your eyes and become a fool. For charity, it is not enough problems to make the game unplayable, but they are enough to continuously convey the feeling of being in front of a product that [politically correct mode: on] would probably benefit from a few additional months of finishing [politically correct mode: off].
The dark-fantasy mood
From the artistic point of view MH convinces. The setting has a strong personality and can avoid the effect "souls generic" (although of “Souls” has a lot) that characterizes many independent productions. Details such as armor and in general the dress of characters and monsters is really well done and there is maniacal care in the design of NPC's maternal appendages and monsters (friends of Bellring Games, if only you had spent less time drawing tits and more time optimizing...) as well as in the special effects of magic and skill.
Lighting helps createdungeon credible without compromising visibility during combat.
The choice of having a tiny viewfinder on which so many skills depend is a bit of an Achilles heel, as well as the engine (which however is Unreal... boh! Either they programmed everything with AI, or I don’t know how it could have come like this). The shader compilation stutter, some fluidity and general instability they end up compromising a technical sector that, on paper, would have had all the qualities to impress.
The sound sector performs its work egregiously even if it does not represent a real mechanic of Gameplay (“stop! I feel of the steps!”), but it still represents a remarkable aspect of the entire experience with well calibrated effects and music that do an egregious background work.
Conclusions
MH continues to be built around a structure that seems to want to monopolize the time of the player. Not because it is necessary, but because now many games in multiplayer seem unable to imagine an experience that does not go through limited events, daily missions, parallel progressions and continuous rewards. But let's see, it's not only the wallet to feel under pressure, but also the calendar!
My hope is that Bellring Games chooses, in the coming months, the road of subtraction instead of that of accumulation (although only 2 maps seems a little bit to me for such a game, especially at high levels), because under this mountain of systems, events, awards and notifications there is a great game that should only let “respirate”.
For the moment I remain frustrated and interrupted by a game that allowed to see a huge potential...and then turn out to be cash-grab in full Zhongguo style (for non Mandarin: Zhong Guo means China in Mandarin).
About the Author
Biography
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