theHunter: Call of the Wild Review - Is it worth it?

Updated:

16 Apr 2024

Even the deer can’t help but admire the view!

Hunting games are few and far between, and finding one really worth your time is no easy task. Today, we will be looking at theHunter: Call of the Wild, listing all the pros and cons, and finding out if this one separates itself from the pack.

About theHunter: Call of the Wild

Hmm, where did I park my quad bike?...

In theHunter: Call of the Wild, you’re put in the shoes of, you guessed it, a hunter. Our silent protagonist is thrown into an extremely diverse and unique mix of biomes, based on real world locations; ranging from the American Pacific Northwest, to the African Savanna.

These maps are stunning to look at, and not to mention, absolutely massive! As you might expect, they differ wildly on the surroundings, and the game animals you encounter. Each location will offer a completely different experience for a would-be trophy hunter.

The worlds you explore are immersive and teeming with life, and animals will need to be located by following their tracks, and you will need to use all of your wits and patience to come back successfully from your hunt.

theHunter: Call of the Wild Story

Yogi Bear brought a friend. You might want to consider running!

In terms of story, Call of the Wild keeps it simple. There is no grand, overarching plot that ties your hunting trips together. Instead, each map has their own missions and objectives, and characters that you will ‘interact’ with, via messages they give to you.

Each storyline is self-contained and relates to the animals you hunt, and to the overall sustainability of the regions. This simplistic approach works well here, as it keeps it grounded, and your focus set on the immersive worlds you find yourself in.

theHunter: Call of the Wild Gameplay

theHunter: Call of the Wild | Gameplay Trailer

One misplaced shot, and you’re in for a bad time

The bulk of Call of the Wild's gameplay will revolve around you locating and following your chosen animal’s tracks, in the hope of setting your sights on your quarry, and taking them down.

Your prey is kind enough to leave plenty of signs behind, allowing you to track them. These come in the forms of footprints (Or rather hoofprints!), droppings, disturbed vegetation, and blood trails (If you have wounded them).

At first, the bright, easily spotted tracks can look out of place and slightly ruin the immersion, but once you’ve spooked an animal, and experienced the long task of refinding them, you’ll be grateful for the helpful addition.

Bring some friends along to cause some chaos in the reserves

Before setting off on your adventures, it would be wise to visit the store to buy any needed equipment. You can buy ammunition and weapons, as well as scents and lures that will attract certain animals.

Each kill you accomplish will give you a score, which will also determine the amount of money you receive. This score will be affected by the weapon and ammo type, where your shot hits, and also the size, weight, and rarity of your prey.

Sometimes you’re required to travel some great distances to achieve certain objectives. As the maps are so large, this would be tedious if not for the addition of quad bikes that you can purchase, and turn what would be a long, slow journey, into a quick, few minute trip.

Call of the Wild stands out from other hunting games in the fact that it has multiplayer mode. Up to 8 players can join up and terrorise the local wildlife, and can make for a more fast paced, and frantic experience.

In terms of gameplay downsides, the animal pathfinding can run into issues. Multiple times I have seen animals get completely stuck in position, especially when close to water. Also your character can struggle when going up hills; sometimes getting completely stuck on what should be an easily climbed incline.

theHunter: Call of the Wild Combat

This is the BIGGEST animal I've EVER hunted.. | theHunter: Call of the Wild

Unless you want to get charged, you’ll want to keep your distance from larger animals

As you might expect, combat is simple, and limited to shooting animals with a variety of guns and bows. You’re encouraged to aim for the vital organs to put your target down quickly, and you will need to use a higher caliber weapon for the larger beasts.

There are no melee weapons for you to use, so if you get too close for comfort to an aggressive animal, you best hope it eventually gets bored of mauling you and flees. Feedback on damage taken is limited to just some grunts from your character, so it’s easy to not notice your health rapidly declining.

You can upgrade your character with perks and skills, which are divided into different sections. Stalker skills can be upgraded for easier tracking, and Ambusher skills for improved scents and callers. Weapon classes can also be levelled up and improved.

theHunter: Call of the Wild Quest/Mission System

Running into wolf packs can lead to some tense moments!

As previously mentioned, missions are given to the player via messages received from game wardens. These are separated into main and side missions, and you can tackle these in whatever order you like.

The questlines aren’t going to blow you away with excitement, and some of them can be frustrating at times; making you travel to the other side of the map, with sometimes difficult parameters, like harvesting an animal at night time, only using a bow. That is no easy task!

theHunter: Call of the Wild Graphics

Breathtaking views are guaranteed, no matter the season

The Hunter: Call of the Wild [4K 60fps] No Commentary Gameplay

For a game that sometimes requires you to just sit and wait, it helps that graphics are a strong point in Call of the Wild. Almost everywhere you look is screenshot-worthy.

Lighting looks fantastic as light rays pass through the foliage. No other game comes close to making woodlands feel as alive, with detailed trees, and undergrowth that gets pushed down as you walk (or crawl) through it.

If you’re playing on a decent PC or a next gen console, you should be able to run Call of the Wild at 60 fps in 4k.

Sometimes, you can run into graphical glitches. The most common and immersion-breaking of these is when an animal's head lashes around like it's possessed, which really takes you out of the realism.

theHunter: Call of the Wild New Content Updates

Wanting a little more danger in your hunting trip? Try the Savanna!

The base game leaves a lot to be desired with map variation, as only two maps are included. Fortunately, there are a ton more locations available to be purchased as DLC. Each map is vastly different from the last, so you won’t feel like you’re paying for the same thing twice.

With 12 new reserves to choose from, as long as you don’t mind parting with your hard earned cash, you’ll be spoilt for choice in your hunting locations. As well as these maps, you can also buy multiple weapons packs, and even have your very own working dog, to help track down your prey.

If this massive list of downloadable content isn’t enough for you, there is also an active modding community that offers a near unlimited amount of additional upgrades and changes.

Call of the Wild has a great, generous feature that allows players to join any multiplayer server, on any map, regardless of whether you have the map pack installed or not.

theHunter: Call of the Wild Developer

If you can get this close to a deer without spooking it, you deserve a medal!

theHunter: Call of the Wild was developed by Expansive Worlds, and for such a small team, they have done well to consistently provide updates and bug fixes in the seven years from launch, to the present, to improve the overall quality of the game.

They also have a very active social media presence, where they keep fans in the loop with the latest developments and upcoming content. They can be followed on Instagram, Facebook and X.

Despite the regular updates and transparency, bugs are still quite common in the game, and you’ll more than likely run into one or two of these for every few hours of gametime. Fortunately, none of these are game-breaking, but may hamper your immersion.

theHunter: Call of the Wild Price

Who knew moose had a taste for pumpkins?

Call of the wild is available on last and current gen PlayStation and Xbox consoles, as well as PC. At the current time of writing, the base game can be picked up for £19.99 on Steam, £23.99 on the Xbox store, and for an absolute steal at £6.24 on the PlayStation store.

As you have seen, there is a huge amount of content that can be purchased; from map packs to cosmetic items, so you can potentially spend a lot of money on these additions. Fortunately, the value for money is good, so you shouldn’t feel like you’ve been robbed.

Final Verdict

Sometimes buggy, always breathtaking

If you love a bit of the outdoors with your gaming, then you can’t get much better than theHunter: Call of the Wild. Wonder through realistic and alive environments, and play one of the best hunting games in recent memory.