The first-person shooter genre is one of the most popular in gaming, putting a gun in the player’s hands and pitting them against demons, Nazis, demon Nazis, or another foul foe. No matter how realistic the shooting mechanics, however, most of these games depict something the player will never experience: either a historical battle or a fantastical one that exists purely in the imagination.
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Way of the Hunter,on the other hand, depicts something that many people do all the time: hunt. Tracking an animal through the forest and open fields, listening for the telltale signs of its movements, and patiently lining up a single, perfect shot is a thrilling FPS experience. It’s always one that many players struggle with at first. Here are a few handy beginner tips forWay of the Hunter.
5Walk, Don’t Run
In pretty much any game that includes a Run or Sprint option, most players use it at every opportunity, hurtling across the map like they have a train to catch. After all, why would the player want to creep around, taking twice the amount of travel time, if they could simply run and be at their destination much sooner?Way of the Huntermakes a compelling case for walking.
While it may not be a traditional stealth game, stealth is a major element of finding and tracking animals.Just like in a real hunt,attentive animals are easily spooked by fast movement or loud noises.The player is only sabotaging themselves when they run because though they may arrive at their destination quicker, the odds are that they will have scared off all animals in the area on the way. As frustrating as it may be at first, take the time to walk and pay more attention to the surroundings.
4Track Intelligently
Though it’s possible to simply stumble upon an animal, the player is far more likely to find one by tracking them. Tracking is a complicated business, butsome general tips can go a long waytowards locating and bagging the desired animal.
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Moving around in the open may seem like an easy way to get oneself noticed, bututilizing open areas can actually be a great way to spot animals at a distance.If the animal is far enough away, they likely won’t notice the hunter even in the middle of an open field, whereas the hunter will be able to get a good look at them with binoculars or a scoped rifle and plan their approach.
Audio cues are also vital for tracking, as there will be many times when the hunter won’t be able to see the animal they’re tracking but will nonetheless be able to hear its calls, the branches it breaks as it moves, or other cues. Tracking animals by sound is an art, but the sooner the player learns it, the better their hunts will go.
3Don’t Take Unrealistic Shots
It’s no secret that some games are more realistic than others. This applies to every feature ofgames from their graphicsto their combat and travel mechanics. Realism is everywhere inWay of the Hunter,making it easy to become immersed,but perhaps nowhere is realism more impactful than in the game’s shooting and bullet mechanics.
Bullet drop is very real inWay of the Hunter.A bullet is a piece of metal, not a laser, and the game treats it as such,letting it drop and drift on its path to the target just as it would in real life. Because of this, players accustomed to arcade-style shooters with highly unrealistic physics are going to miss some shots. As a simple rule of thumb: if a shot wouldn’t work in real life, it won’t work inWay of the Hunter.Move to a better position and try again rather than spooking the animal with a round that has little chance of landing.
2Follow The Blood
It would be nice to end every hunt with a single bullet, but even veteran hunters need a second shot sometimes.Way of the Hunterdoes an exceptional job of tracing the path of the hunter’s bullet through their prey, adding a high degree of realism to shots. Unfortunately, this also means that even if the player hits their target dead on, it may only wound the animal, depending on where the bullet struck it.
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After wounding an animal, it’s a good idea to immediately ping its location and watch its trajectory as it flees the scene.By doing so, it will be much easier to find the pools of blood that the wounded animal leaves behind, simplifying the tracking process. Blood pools even indicate which way the animal ran, as they will be thicker in the direction it came from and thinner in the direction in which it is running. Small things like noticing the thinning of a blood spray go a long way towards finding and killing one’s prey. Failing that, the Hunter Sense can always be used to point the way.
1Don’t Underestimate Scope Qualities
Every hunter will have their own preferences when it comes to the hunt: whether it’s about the right way to approach an animal, the right weapon to use, or the right way to utilize an accessory. As is true with many of the best FPSs,one’s choice of weapon makes a huge difference, but so too does the scope with which one modifies that weapon.
While the success of most hunts isn’t going to hinge on whether the player brought one scope or another,having the right scope can make a significant difference.The difference between the3HD 14xand theOvergaard 15xmay not be big on paper, but in practice, a better scope can be tremendously valuable. Better magnification, greater clarity, and a greater FOV all help a hunter dial in a shot, injuring animals that might otherwise have gotten away and killing those that might otherwise only have been injured. Hunters who take some time experimenting with and perfecting their loadout will be rewarded for it in the field.
Way of the Hunteris available now for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
