Review for Devil's Hunt. Game for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 31/12/2019
The struggle between good and evil is eternal and often, in the videogame panorama, comparing these two forces of the universe means bringing up demons and angelic forces. This is exactly what Devil's Hunt does, a title developed by Layopi Games and published by 1C Company and 1C Entertainment, which taking its cue from Paweł Leśniak's novel, Equilibrium, launches us right in the middle of the war between Lucifer and the archangel Gabriel. Devil's Hunt proposes itself as a sort of heir to Devil May Cry, taking a cue from these both as a genre and setting, but trying, in its own way, to stand out from the adventures of Dante and Nero.
Savior and Destroyer, Destroyer and Savior
Desmond Pearce is the classic son of a father who grew up in comfort, gymnasium, with a job in the family business where he basically does what he likes.. In his spare time, against the will of his father and his girlfriend, he delights in participating in wrestling matches and, apparently, his dream is precisely to rise to the absolute champion of Miami. It is during the final of the tournament that Desmond takes a lot of punches on the snout ending up on the ground, as well as being mocked and rejected by his father. After the resounding defeat, retiring home, he also discovers that his girlfriend has been in bed with his best friend. Upset, in anger and despondency, Desmond commits suicide by throwing himself off a bridge in his car. Once dead he makes the acquaintance of Sawyer and Lucifer, who offer him an agreement: Desmond can come back to life but only if he obeys the Lord of the Underworld, joining the ranks of the Executors, beings with supernatural powers whose task is to reap souls .
The boy accepts and, having come into contact with Death himself, donates his blood to return to Earth. From here on, a succession of tasks and events (sometimes quite confusing) will start Desmond to find himself right in the middle of two sides, namely that of the Angels and that of the Demons, as Savior and Destroyer, a charge that has been given to him overnight, without even knowing why. The narrative sector of Devil's Hunt, despite being full of many clichés, is equipped with elements that could make it make a qualitative leap: interesting setting, not very obvious plot and characters that could be explored a lot. However, these are very badly exploited, so much so that the plot of Devil's Hunt is interesting only at times, thanks to a rather pitiful drafting of the dialogues that makes the characters very stereotyped and sometimes even contradictory, scratching their characterization only on the surface when instead, with regard to the context in which they are placed, it could have been realized in a much more careful and targeted way. Obviously, from an action one does not expect a plot with myriads of plot twists, deep and introspective but, being a title taken from a novel, it is reasonable to expect a little more than the standards, when instead even the latter are not respected in the 6 hours of gameplay that will serve to reach the open (indeed very open) ending of Devil's Hunt.
Falling into the underworld, the frames drop
After starting Devil's Hunt he will be alone a matter of time before you fall into the first frame rate drops, at least on PC. During the most heated combat phases or in the most elaborate cutscenes it often happens that the game engine throws some nasty tricks. For some phases, among other things, the frame drop is quite durable: it never proves too annoying in the gameplay, also given the relative ease of the fighting, but it certainly is not something that helps to appreciate the title. Among other things, the graphics sector is certainly not one of the best: we always talk about an indie so it is legitimate not to expect terrific results but the yield of Devil's Hunt can hardly rival today's standards. The strangest thing is that it seemed to us that Desmond's model was the least cared for compared to those of all the other characters, supporting actors and not. Also the settings are not very inspired, despite passing between Miami and Hell over and over again, thus having material to vent sicker, inspired or absurd fantasies that can materialize, it does not materialize much. Not that Hell is dull but the feeling that more could be done is clear: the scenarios are very repetitive and uninspired, both on Earth and in the world of the dead.
Speaking of the dead: Desmond will use only and exclusively his demonic powers to face Executors and demons by creating bundles of energy, blades, fire and so on and so forth. The moveset on which the anti-hero can count will be very varied, considering that he can use well three different fighting styles, switching between these even when the fight is in progress. The combos will be quite diverse, as will the skills. The latter will be learned from the three skill trees (one for each fighting style) thanks to the souls that Desmond will eat by defeating enemies or collecting them on the way, from monoliths or from the ground (yes, from the ground). During the clashes, especially when you take advantage of the skills at a distance, you feel the lack of the possibility to lock on a target: if you do not direct Desmond properly your spears / energy waves will go straight into the middle of nowhere. At Desmond's disposal, on the other hand, there will also be the total transformation into the Executor: by filling the appropriate bar we will be able to transform ourselves into a practically invincible demon that can only and exclusively attack one target at a time, without other solutions. The variety of the combos and the versatility of the styles, however, clash with the tactical intelligence of the enemies: to get the better of Desmond they will rely more on quantity than on strategy. Some will obviously be tougher to knock down than others, but the challenge level will never be insurmountable or demanding, including bosses.
Between one clash and another we will have time to wander around the locations but the exploration leaves enough to be desired: by turning the maps we will be rewarded with the souls we have already mentioned and new skills for the school of the Void (for a total of 5/6). All will result in walking and pressing a button to interact with the environment, jumping or climbing. Nothing too exciting, in short.
Devil's Hunt is equipped with raw material but does not exploit it. While broadly based on a masterpiece like Devil May Cry, it doesn't even come close to Capcom's title. Thanks to an approximate writing and a gameplay certainly not without flaws, despite some good points of advantage. Also limited from a technical point of view, not so much for the slightly dated graphics sector, but rather for frame drops that are not so rare. Certain elements can certainly be improved, revised and corrected through some patches but they will not be able to do justice to a title with much more potential. Chance wasted for Devil's Hunt: those who had hopes would do better to put them in the eventual second chapter.
► Devil's Hunt is an Adventure-indie game developed by Layopi Games and published by 1C Company for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 31/12/2019
