Hunt the Night Review (Steam)

by Jim Smale · Published May 4, 2023 · Updated May 4, 2023

For this Hunt the Night Review, where we plunge head first into a retro-style action-adventure game that combines fast, skilled gameplay with dark fantasy and lore. Play as Vesper, a virtuous member of ‘The Stalkers,’ and explore the vast world of Medhram, filled with ruins and horrors.

Hunt the Night Review Pros:

Beautiful pixel art graphics.
5.53GB Download size.
Steam achievements.
Full controller support.
Graphics settings – window mode, brightness slider, and resolution.
Can rebind controls.
Four save slots.
Tutorial pop-ups as you play.
In-game cutscenes.
Action adventure gameplay.
Crow shrines – checkpoints that save progress, heal you and replenish bullets.
Reload your gun by using melee attacks.
Depending on the shot depends on how many bullets you use per shot.
Top-down view.
Cool yet gory combat animations.
Puzzle elements throughout.
Feels like a Zelda X Castlevania-influenced game.
You can skip some cutscenes and interactions.
Character loadout – weapon, suit, Dark power, and Moonstone. You have a stats screen of your character built underneath.
Dark Gothic style menus.
Feathers can be collected and give info and lore.
Easy to use menu system.
The notes and clues you get is written in a way that reminds me of the old choose your own adventures.
Shooting is done via the traditional twin-stick shooter method.
Beautiful locations which is weird to say as it’s so dark and depressing in many of them.
Dripping in the atmosphere.
The combat and movement look basic buy honestly it goes deep with dodge cancelations, Combo timing so the third hits gets you bullets back.
Haunting soundtrack that always knows the right track to play and it really packs a punch.
Talking as in voice is kept to a minimal and instead it’s text and the occasional grunt and scream, it works for the game experience.
The key to survival is mastering your weapons, you can have upto 3 ranged weapons in rotation and change between them with a button press.
To mix it up the game will chuck in various other genres and play styles.
Has the knack of making the game feel nostalgic but yet modern.
Stamina based system for dodging but that juice is also used by summoning.
Umbra is a spirit you summon and control to traverse land. You can then teleport to Umbra.

Hunt the Night Review Cons:

Bare minimum graphic settings.
When shooting you are stuck in position and this is less than ideal.
No sign of settings for the mouse and keyboard.
Small text with no options for them.
Getting hit causes a very abrupt and intrusive splash screen shake.
You cannot skip all cutscenes and they do move very slowly.
Saving triggers a little save animation and the screen blackout every time.
It’s really hard to judge dodging and combat in general.
No camera controls.
The general flow of the game can feel stilted due to no real markings, it felt like at times I would advance by lick.
The difficulty is up and down.