You ever been at a bar and reading the cocktail menu for a drink that has half a dozen things in it and you鈥檙e like 鈥淢an, that don鈥檛 even sound attractive. How would that even work?鈥 Then the night goes on and you keep looking at it and after a while you鈥檙e like鈥 鈥淵eah, sure why not?鈥 and you order it, and鈥 it鈥檚 not bad, actually, or at the very least an interesting combination of flavors that you鈥檇 call a friend over to sample. It might not become your go-to drink, but you鈥檇 order it again just to make sure, you know?
That鈥檚 how I felt going into (and coming out of) Mistfall Hunter, which was billed to me as a kind of dark fantasy PvEvP extraction RPG, which鈥 I don鈥檛 know, man. I didn鈥檛 know what to make of that. That鈥檚 a weird cocktail, and I鈥檓 probably spending too much time wondering why it has bitters in it. But Mistfall Hunter鈥檚 premise is pretty neat. The world of Mistfall Hunter was shattered during a war between Gods and Outer Gods. Everyone needs a good war to get things started, right?
Trouble is, their blood has transformed into the Gyldenmist, which twists the lands and drives the living to madness or turns them into monsters. So鈥 things are bad. But there鈥檚 hope in the form of a mysterious maiden ( why is it always a mysterious maiden? Are they just handing them out? How are there so many? Is there a catalogue you can order from?) named Dew who has the ability to resurrect past heroes and give them immortal bodies. That鈥檚 what happens to you. Your job is to go into the Glydenmist, battle the Glydenized creatures, collect Glydenblod (which is used for trading), get some loot, and get out. If you don鈥檛, you don鈥檛 get to keep any of it.
Mistfall Hunter sports five classes: Mercenary, which is your traditional up-close-and-personal, sword and board, big hammer class; Sorcerer, which is your standard cast magic to do damage and buff your allies and yourself; Blackarrows do archer things; Shadowstrix are your stabby-stabby, rogues-do-it-from-behind stealth cats; and Seers are your priests, relying on the remnants of the divine and the sacred arts.
I鈥檝e always been pretty comfortable with archers, so I picked the Blackarrow. Reader, this was a mistake. Not because the Blackarrow is bad, but because I had to learn how Mistfall Hunter鈥檚 version of an archer works. At first, I only ran into one baddie at a time, which was good because, true to its extraction shooter roots, you鈥檝e only got the stuff you start a run with. Part of the deal is to get the stuff 鈥 from chests, off bodies, and so on 鈥 that鈥檒l make you stronger for your next time.
My mistake was challenging a mini-boss early on. I had some gear, I was taking down regular mooks in two or three shots, I was feeling pretty good. So when I ran into a dude whose design included everything but a massive neon sign saying 鈥淗ello, I am a Mini-boss, Kill Me for the Good Stuff,鈥 I was like鈥 yeah, I got this.
I did not have this. I absolutely did not have this. My first shot hit him right in the head, and as I saw a tiny sliver of his health tick down, I knew I was in trouble. But, maybe, I figured, I could use my abilities to clutch it out. While I was thinking about this, he was sprinting towards me, but it was what I wanted. I was trying to get him close to make sure I wouldn鈥檛 miss. I took a couple hits, but I nailed him with almost every arrow from my scattershot, and then dodged an attack and followed that up with Sky Piercer, my big 鈥渟crew you, buddy鈥 attack, which deals massive amounts of damage. Both of those attacks, together, only took about a quarter of his health. So I said 鈥淣ope!鈥 out loud and got the hell out of Dodge.
From there, I decided to play small ball. I鈥檇 used a decent chunk of my resources just to survive that mini-boss, so I took fights slowly and carefully, picking my spots and getting the drop on enemies before they could see me. Mistfall Hunter鈥檚 combat is good enough that this was compelling even when you鈥檙e running on fumes, and I was determined to stay alive.
I was also avoiding the Gyldenmist 鈥 a Slowly Closing, Legally Distinct Circle of Death TM . If you find yourself on the wrong side of it, you鈥檒l start taking damage. By the time it started boxing me in, I was looking for the exit, but you can鈥檛 just leave. You have to find a Returner Woodling, a tiny little creature that resembles a bell, and defeat it in mortal combat so you can take its Soul of Return and ring a bell of your own that lets you leave.
Like mini-bosses, you can find them by looking for a kind of blue aura that you can see through walls, and listening for the ringing of their bell. I was on my last legs 鈥 a couple hits away from death and completely out of supplies 鈥 when I found one. Needless to say, I was ready to leave. The Returner Woodlings are tricky; they鈥檙e so small that they can be difficult to hit, and they鈥檙e not just gonna stand there and let you kill them, instead opting for a combination of running and combat, but the last thing I was going do was let him get away. After I took him down, I rang my bell. That鈥檚 when I was at my most tense; sitting there, ringing my bell, hoping an enemy or worse, another player, wouldn鈥檛 hear the bell and kill me before I could get out.
I got out, mind. And when I was done, I had some new gear, currency to trade, and the ability to upgrade my Blackarrow鈥檚 skill tree. I didn鈥檛 get to see how that played out 鈥 I only had time for one run at SGF 鈥 but I left curious to see how Mistfall Hunter plays out as a full game. There鈥檚 a lot going on here, and I鈥檓 not sure how well it will or won鈥檛 work together in an environment that isn鈥檛 a limited demo on a show floor, but I鈥檇 be lying if I said I wasn鈥檛 intrigued. Curiosity probably isn鈥檛 enough to keep a game compelling for the long haul, but it might be enough to keep me coming back for the next one. And in a game like this, that might be all you need.
This preview was based on a demo provided by the publisher at Summer Game Fest. Mistfall Hunter is scheduled to release in 2025.