homepage Forums Land & Armor Combat Tactical Simulations - General Way of the Hunter 2

Time for a new thread, for the second edition, which I think took most players by surprise when it was announced a couple months ago, and now it's out in EA. The devs said the old engine was limiting so decided to start over in UE5, and so far I'm on board. The early access version is perfectly playable, though content is limited to a single reserve. A variety of weapons and gear (callers, scent cover, tents, trigger sticks, etc) are in already. The species list is right up my alley, with whitetails, mule deer and elk probably my top three out of all. There are also grizzlies, bison, wolves and wolverines, turkeys and probably more I have yet to see or am forgetting. The boots on the ground hunting side is already in a solid spot for me. I was having some issue with CTDs, but installed the latest WQHL driver and it may have fixed the problem, so far so good.

A few shots I snapped. In many ways it is still the same game, but I think the new engine was a smart move. it runs, looks and sounds better than the first game but it's still incomplete and maybe buggy, though nothing I've noticed.

The reserve is New Laurentia, in Canada and looks great



With normal settings, this is the animal info you get from the binoculars



New and expanded harvest screen, but mostly the same as always




Scope picture. Nice and clean. Green circle shows ballistics are inside ethical energy, and that circle is dynamic to reveal drop, but seems unaffected by crosswinds. I have it on for now, I'll absorb what it is showing for frame of reference but turn this off down the line. The scope is the first one I could upgrade to which was a whole 1 more magnification lol





Heading out at dawn for elk season. Lighting and weather both look improved, as I would expect with this engine over UE4. Not a massive leap, but enough to notice. UI is clean, sound and visual detection meter lower left.

Dropped a few more hours and yeah, liking what I see.

I thought the first game was good, but there was one thing I didn't care for at all, and it was the story telling. At the time I had said 'imagine your state government was producing hunting materials for fourth graders in the 1970s'. In the new game -- though its early -- the tone has shifted completely, and the narratives are hunting specific, and my eyes are not rolling around in my head, so this seems much better, at least as far as my own expectations and preferences. A welcome change.

Steam says I've played six hours but I think it dropped the time played before the CTDs so it's probably a couple more. So far I've harvested mule deer, bison, sheep and wolves. Each shot was a good one, resulting in a harvest, though one wolf shot was rushed a bit and could have missed but struck the spine and dropped him where he stood. All shots have resulted in short tracks, and no dog has been needed. 50 yards at most. My scope is forcing me in close and every shot has been inside 125 yards. Unfortunately I need to reach level 18 to get the scope I want, and I'm level 5 now so it's a grind.

Nine Rocks released a bit about their roadmap yesterday and you can read it here

Road Map 1.0

Major update to the early access has been released and it's extensive

https://ninerocksgames.com/posts/way-of-the-hunter-2-update-1-is-out-now

Looking good.

Way of the Hunter 2 is suddenly out of early access, full release. Big update today. Feels like they declared it ready before they had intended.

The game has three maps, and they've added a central lodge, which allows display of trophies from any reserve. We have a dog now, and I like it. I like having him around and he is useful for tracking. You can name the dog and increase bonding and dog skills. I had him all maxed out within 20 hours so doesn't take long. He doesn't break stealth

Early access players were given a thank you in the form of a free bolt .270 and a free bolt .243 which are both really nice and appreciated. WOTH2 is still barebones in the gear department compared to COTW, but they are attempting to expand over the first game. Shooting sticks, tents, backpacks, thermals, suppressors and more have been added to this second game.

Snow has been added too and it looks fantastic. In Call of the Wild there is snow but it's either permanent, or it's over quickly (Alaska). Here the snowstorm has been going on all day.