Anyway, what I’m getting at is this: don’t treat this like just another shooting game, because it isn’t. I think so far my proudest moment has been wandering around, seeing some subtle movement in the distance, and then actually hitting a tiny fluffy bunny from 55 metres away. And until you’ve tried to hunt a brown deer in a brown forest, you have no idea how good these animals’ camouflage is. Charging about all guns blazing, or even just moving through the trees without taking into account the wind direction, will see every animal within a mile run away and disappear. The reason is simple: this is much more of a slow, deliberate, strategic kind of shooting game. But how does it play? Well, I wouldn’t recommend you do what I did, which was come straight off of Destiny 2 and expect to work the same magic.
![hunter call of the wild 2021 hunter call of the wild 2021](https://gocdkeys.com/images/captures/thehunter-call-of-the-wild-2021-edition-xbox-one-1.jpg)
TheHunter: Call of the Wild 2021 Edition looks great. As a mechanic for immersing you in the game and getting you to take care and focus on what you are doing, the sound plays a pivotal role, and is very well-done indeed. The sound is bang on too, from the crisp report of the gun to the scraping and sliding as you ease your way through the bushes to try and get a clear view of an animal, right up to the noises the animals make themselves, booming out mating calls or sounding the alarm if you approach in any way clumsy. The graphics of the different reserves are beautifully realised, with distinct landscapes, recognisably different trees and bushes, and also unique animals to hunt. You could also crawl on your belly, but that may take a bit longer! Suffice it to say, the first achievement I unlocked was one for travelling a mile on foot. The playable areas of the reserves are absolutely huge, and it appears that if you can see a spot in the distance, you can set off and either walk or jog to it.
![hunter call of the wild 2021 hunter call of the wild 2021](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/hBX7PEHtvfw/hqdefault.jpg)
And yet I didn’t do this, mainly because I was mesmerised by the size of the area I had appeared in. Spawning into the first area, Layton Lakes in the good ole’ US of A, we are greeted by a nice friendly warden on the radio who basically tells us to go and shoot something.
![hunter call of the wild 2021 hunter call of the wild 2021](https://www.keengamer.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Sacha-Karsenty-Expansive-Worlds-Interview-Moose-e1612732670907.jpg)
So, first off, I have to address the way the game looks.