In Devil's Hunt we will trace the exploits of a twenty-six year old boy named Desmond who, following events narrated at the beginning of the game, finds himself thrown into the underworld face to face with the lord of evil, Lucifer. The game, born from the newborn software house Layopi Games founded and wanted by the writer Pawel Lesniak (artist little known in our area and author of the book Equilibrium, from which it is taken Devil's Hunt) turns out to be, from many points of view, an “old” game, devoid of bite and that mixes some action component with a plot that does everything but take off. And to think that the plot of the game should have been the strong point of the production, since the script was always taken up by the author and founder of the development house. But let's go in order.
The first time in hell is never forgotten ...
The game protagonist is Desmond, a bold boy who loves living the good life and boxing in clandestine fights, as well as the son of a rich billionaire and orphan of a mother, decides one day to get married with his beloved Kristen; She, after accepting the proposal, turns out to be the lover of Desmond's best friend, who, saddened by this event and distressed by the constant criticism and deplorable words of his father for his lifestyle, decides to put an end to his existence. . Hence his passage into the realm of the dead and the meeting with Lucifer in person, who after a short presentation video will grant Desmond a second chance to live on Earth, as long as he is fighting for a just cause.
The premises certainly do not cry out for a miracle, but that is not all yet. If the game plot itself evolves as one of the classic canons that sees the forces of good clash against those of evil, practically everything else makes the situation worse. The characters are poorly made, all look alike and all are totally devoid of facial expressions that can at least make them distinguish between one expression and another. Dialogues, an element from which something more is certainly expected under the charismatic level, given the transposition from a literary work, are instead devoid of both emphasis and characterization, often out of sync and with the texts that often end up off-screen making it impossible to read some words.
The exploration that is not there
The game structure is the most basic that can be achieved, with continuous corridors and small combat areas to mark an unattractive game rhythm. Right inside these aforementioned arenas we will meet the various enemies that have a deficient AI and no solutions other than the two simple basic attacks. To further simplify the structure of the levels is the constant and undaunted presence of an icon placed in front of a door, or on a boulder, or close to a bridge with the intent of guiding the protagonist to the next game area.
During the adventure it will also be possible to find secrets, such as sheets of paper or writings that will enrich us with some more details on the background. Since this is a third-person action title that wants to be inspired by a sacred monster like Devil May Cry, the characteristic that we mainly expect to evaluate and therefore to appreciate, is precisely the gameplay. And yet, even here, the game manages to do worse, or almost. Desmond, as a good boxer, is able to unleash light and heavy attacks through the use of the back button and the right trigger, which however cannot be chained in any combo. Furthermore, the two attacks do not "fit" together and often you will find yourself with a pressed button and a punch still ready to throw. The controls, in fact, are rough and not very responsive if not completely 'silent'. Making a parade at the right time will be a really difficult undertaking to accomplish. There is also a sort of "execution" when the life of the enemies is very low, which allows us to collect the soul from the opponent to increase the demonic bar. Through the use of this bar it is possible to transform into a blood-hungry beast able to unleash powerful physical attacks until the meter is completely empty, along with the mutation. Not only demonic abilities, however, but also sacred abilities will be part of our baggage.
In fact, the protagonist will be able to evolve his skills through three unlockable skill trees throughout the game. Among the aforementioned powers there are passive ones, such as increasing life points, and active ones, such as creating infernal flames. These abilities must be assigned to special keys in order to be able to use them during the fight, up to a maximum of three. However, none of these powers will prove to be indispensable in the course of the adventure, and other will only improve the damage statistics of the attacks inflicted.
The general technical sector also turns out to be really stale: if it did not have inside the words attesting its release in 2019, Devil's Hunt it could for sure be mistaken for a title from about 10 years ago.
The phenomenon of tearing it is omnipresent from the beginning of the adventure, both in the game phases and in the cutscenes and, even if the work done does not present a noteworthy technical quality, it is strange to see how the customization of the game settings is really sparse. The polygonal modeling of the characters, the almost absent facial expressions and the textures always in the loading phase further undermine the game, so much so that we think that, a build worse than that, it was really difficult to propose to the public. The opinion that we have made of this game is that if on the one hand the ability to know how to make a good title is obviously lacking (there is a first time for everyone), in addition to the obvious economic possibilities, Devil's Hunt is a poorly crafted product, still in a non-definitive phase that is waiting for nothing but a cure to eliminate the numerous defects that grip it.
