Immortal Hunters Review
Immortal Hunters looks great but suffers from sluggish, cumbersome gameplay.
Immortal Hunters. Credit: Admiral Games / indie.io
Immortal Hunters recently hit 1.0 after some time in Early Access on Steam. Developed by Admiral Games and published by indie.io, the game is a dark fantasy beat ‘em up with RPG elements. While the presentation is attractive, I found the gameplay clunky and frustrating.
The game casts you as four of the titular hunters, trying to reclaim the capital city from invading hordes of Khemrids, demons that are servants of an evil snake god. There’s more to the story, which is made far more interesting by its Steam summary than its actual execution, which in my brief experience with the game was unbearable and nearly indecipherable.
Immortal Hunters. Credit: Admiral Games / indie.io
The game’s poorly written dialogue is performed with what sometimes feels like AI and at other times with recorded voicework that is poorly mixed so that the sound painfully peaks. Between lines of dialogue, the character portraits whoosh off the screen and return in an irritating attempt to simulate over-the-shoulder shots. The effect is disorienting and distracting.
Rather than feeling like a beat ‘em up, the game’s combat feels more like combat in World of Warcraft. Combat here is essentially juggling ability cooldowns displayed at the bottom of the screen and areas of effect around the player. Like the movement, it feels clunky and a step removed from the action. Everything feels delayed, sluggish. This is a far cry from games like Streets of Rage, with fighting that feels immediate and visceral. At worst, the combat design doesn’t work, and at best, it desperately needs tuning and refinement.
Immortal Hunters. Credit: Admiral Games / indie.io
The game’s grimdark fantasy world and its characters are depicted in 2D with heavy black inks and painterly colors, reminiscent of high-end comic book art. The designs are interesting and the art is well executed, but it wasn’t nearly enough to keep me engaged when the writing and the gameplay repelled me.
I might check back in with Immortal Hunters again, but I don’t have high hopes for much improvement, considering the game now hit 1.0 and its biggest flaws are part of its fundamental gameplay design. I just can’t recommend this game.
Immortal Hunters is available now on PC (Steam).
Overall Score: 3/10
Played on: Steam Deck
