Hunter The Reckoning Retrospective Analysis

[@ed-edd-n-eddy]

Wow, you unlocked a deep memory from my childhood. I remember playing this game with my cousins all hours during the night. We would yell at each other for dying or taking pickups from each other, great times. I miss couch co-op.

[@dubya9622]

This channel is such a hidden treasure. Deserves far more subs.

[@Dorkaxe]

some things I forgot to talk about in the video that are noteworthy: When you swap weapons, the full animation takes place every time. It's kind of neat, since you basically have to make sure you have enough time/room to swap. However, I'm not completely sold on its inclusion, since most of the time it only frustrated me. Maybe running away so you can switch is what they intended, but for co-op you don't have the same amount of room to get clearance, so it feels even worse in that regard. The enemies with guns shoot a projectile, which gives you opportunity to avoid it. This is most visible with the pistol zombies. I like this quite a lot, it shows that the designers were, at some point at least, conscious about keeping things fair for the player, allowing them to more easily avoid damage. Certain hordes of enemies in specific locations will cause the game to throw on a banger rock song in the background, and those moments are usually pretty great. Not all of them match up with what I would consider a hectic/climactic encounter, but still, pretty cool. When you're too close to enemies while firing your ranged weapon, your character will do a melee attack, one that feels weaker than your regular melee attacks. I truly hate it, many times I would simply want to keep firing my gun at them, but the melee interrupts my flow, prioritizing the weaker attack because an enemy spawned on me or something. The hospital has a timed level, where you have to rescue the innocents and escape the level in 6 minutes. I almost wonder if this was the game throwing your face in the "run past everything" gameplay style? If you hadn't tried to ignore enemies before this, you now know it's very much possible, so it may have influenced players to keep doing that after that mission. Anyway, Support me on patreon: www.patreon.com/dorkaxe Follow me on twitter for updates on the channel: twitter.com/darkaxe54

[@eduardop1995]

The fact that you covered this game is so awesome! I think I remember asking if you could cover it ! Added to my favorites !

[@Dorkaxe]

I always forget who asked for which game, but I knew someone did! Hope you like it pal!

[@StriderCompanions]

Bruh, I just watched a video of yours the other day, can't remember which, but my buddy and I played this on GameCube in 2002, had a blast. I've searched for years for a good retrospective on it, and then you make this lol.

[@jonusmanson]

I still have all three games. To my shame, this is what got me into the tabletop. Good memories.

[@ubermorpth2208]

I'm glad these halloween themed videos for the month have (technically) started, can't wait to see other titles you'll cover soon

[@lightspaceman5064]

This game is so 2000's cool and I love that. A little toned down from the 90's but still actively trying to look "cool" first, logic second. I also love this type of urban fantasy. How did I not know about this game?

[@MelancholicKnight_]

Great video! I grew up playing Champions of Norrath, BG: Dark Alliance, Dark Angel: Vampire Apocalypse, Gauntlet, and stuff like that. I am surprised I have never heard of this game since it seems in a similar vein! Thanks for the vid :)

[@Dorkaxe]

Hell yeah, I love Gauntlet Legends and Dark Legacy. Champions of Norrath and BG:Dark Alliance are fun, too.

[@ViCT0RiA6]

i loved this game and redeemer when i was a kid, if you ever do a review on redeemer i will be so excited to see it this video was really well done! ps if you/anyone knows how i can get the ambient music from this game, not the soundtrack with the instrumentals, but like the ambient eery noises when in the streets from the wind or playground, or even from being in the prison too, i will be ever grateful. It is so hard to find these ambient sounds and i really love them

[@zambonibob2026]

glad to see this game isnt fading into obscurity, I loved it as a kid.

[@justinfleck6329]

Very cool review, i remember playing a TON of Gauntlet back in the day so it's cool to see a similar type of game in your review. As always great job and look forward to the next video! :)

[@ChaosReacon137]

Man, to see the effort put into these kinds of games, especially when you're familiar with WoD and wish more was done with the properties. Also just makes you wish these devs were given the time and money to bring these ideas to life, but for the time it was released in, they did a decent job with this one

[@ianmaluk1]

Okay, so a bit of context on why the Hunters act the way they do toward Carpenter, as well as some things that are just not going to be communicated otherwise if you're not a World of Darkness lore wizard. The reason why the PCs act the way they do toward Carpenter is because of their Imbuement; it doesn't just reveal the true nature of WoD, it also warps their perception to make them more willing to destroy the supernatural. Think about how the innocents see a riot and you killing people; the inverse is sort of true for the hunters. They also see the enemies they fight as more monstrous than they really are. This is why they're so hostile towards him, because they cannot perceive that which goes against their ideological creed. Now the reason why Carpenter acts the way he does is because his reason for persisting beyond death is more complex than just Hadrian. Carpenter is a Risen, a Wraith (ghost) who has managed to ressurect their own body through a complex Freudian ritual with themselves. All wraiths in WoD are prolonged because of two things: fetters and passions. Fetters are objects, places, or people the wraith was attached to in life and what they use to rest. While passions are driving emotions and interests that give them a sense of purpose to persist. What this means is that Carpenter has far stronger passions that are keeping him in Ashcroft, which is why he's a recurring character. And the torture chair was more than likely his fetter, which means he was completely unaware of what was going on before it was too late. But because the PCs killed off one of his passions, this means he's now been deprived of a core reason why he still lives on after death. He could've theoretically "lived" on for decades until he was satisfied from tormenting Hadrian, like most other wraiths already do. But there's no way in hell the average player would know this, not unless you know the lore more than you know common sense. Which is bad writing.

[@Dorkaxe]

This is so incredibly interesting. Thanks! I'm gonna pin it.

[@fhjunior6183]

Thanks for the vid, this was a childhood game and i couldn't recall the name

[@codydale9123]

My favourite and hardest game i ever played and beat, even harder to beat with friends. Great game, i wish it made a comback, remake and a new game made!

[@vinforfun9560]

The rocket launcher deaths...it's always a trap to use the rocket launcher.

[@jasonfrancese8359]

I became a big fan of the World of Darkness over Covid, so I was looking for games based on it other than Vampire: Bloodlines. When I read about this game on Wikipedia, I thought it was a genius idea. The concept of playing as Hunters is great, because the plethora of supernatural beings they face allows the potential for some absolutely amazing boss fights. Vampires, Werewolves(and other werecreatures), Fae, Demons, Mummies, and Magi capable of rending reality at their whim. When I found out it wasn’t well received, I was disappointed, but intrigued. Then I couldn’t find anyone talking about the game. Also disappointing. About a year later, I find your channel. Glad to have done so! I definitely think that this game has some good ideas, and has a solid base that simply required a stronger primary gameplay loop. Maybe treating this game more like the TTRPG would have allowed to better feel the narrative. Hunters in the RPG are supposed to be kind of underdogs. They have powers, but are weaker in one area or another than every supernatural being they hunt. So they have to be strategic about their Hunts. Making this game more like Rainbow Six(the older games), planning attacks and needing to play cautious, maybe with a permadeath system akin to XCom might’ve been more interesting. Keep the beat-em-up nature, since that makes things more reliant on your skill(otherwise you are just playing the TTRPG with high-production visuals), but make it feel like you are constantly on the backfoot. In terms of how that should feel, think of Resident Evil 4. You have to be competent, and can be badass if you play right, but if not you can easily be overwhelmed,

[@Table53]

Sounds like the exact sort of game I'd have loved as a kid, i.e anything with a local co-op campaign haha

[@adorablecockroach5131]

Thought the only World of Darkness games to get video game adaptations were Vampire the Masquerade with Bloodlines and that one Wraith game. Neat.

[@StarkeRealm]

There's also a (fairly recent) Werewolf adaptation out there. I was told there were Werewolf and Mage games planned by the team that was working on Redemption, but I've never seen much on them. Incidentally, Vampire's gotten (i think) five games. There's Redemption, Bloodlines, Coteries of New York (technically, this one might count as more titles, it has a bunch of expansions, and those might be standalone, I don't know), Bloodhunt, and Swansong.

[@adorablecockroach5131]

@@StarkeRealm Now all we need is a Changeling game and a Fallen game and we have a complete set lol.

[@jamesbrincefield9879]

I think my little brother and I probably put more time into this game than we did Halo. This game was so much fun.

[@avatar94100]

this game scared the shit out of me when I was like 9 years old

[@SerfsUp1848]

Gonna pock this back up for the gamecube

[@BeamSplashX]

i played wayward back in college with my ex once. after taking an hour to find all the mailboxes in a level, we called it quits. the shooting was kinda fun though

[@Dorkaxe]

Uh oh, hope I can get through the mail level when I eventually play it lmao

[@charaznable8072]

Damn I miss coop games like these.

[@brianquint6126]

Hey! I remember this game!

[@bryankennedy3719]

His weapon kills vampire with one shot though

[@petercooper456]

I loved this game sadly I no longer have a working copy

[@wockyslush2864]

sick vid

[@jerrymitchell8666]

I still have my copy there even is a part 2 an 3

[@mrunitforge]

Speaking of hunter. Have you ever played/heard of ghosthunter? A ps2 game that scared the fuck outta me when I was a kid. It had really interesting ideas

[@Dorkaxe]

Weird how similar of a premise it has to a game I was going to do this month, Geist. Maybe I could do both back to back someday, sounds interesting.

[@mrunitforge]

@@Dorkaxe please do. I have never in my life heard other people play it and me and my brother found it in a bargain bin box on gamestop. If you can find a clip of the menu screen I think you will find the game interesting aswell

[@DarksteelHeart]

I played through as Judge solo. It wasn't bad.

[@Dorkaxe]

Teach me your ways

[@agustin12689]

Ahhhh, this is not Dead Rising 3 DLC :'(

[@Largentina.]

And thank god for that

[@jerrymitchell8666]

This my gameee ya diggg 😂 the more players the more zombies!!!

[@morecringe89]

The only problem I found with the book is that take the "safe place" ideology into my game and they cut the part of the world around the game. Keep politics out of RPG.

[@yuki4days]

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