Hack-and-slash series Hunter: The Reckoning needs a new game
Hack-and-slash video games have a short lifespan because you can only grind through levels so many times before it becomes repetitive. When it comes to trilogy series, Hunter: The Reckoning, though, High Voltage Software was able to enhance its story and develop characters that gave life to a gritty, swarming battle against the undead. It’s been 17 years since the saga ended and I’m still hoping for a reboot in a world full of remakes and new installments.
Hunter: The Reckoning follows four humans – Deuce, Samantha, Father Cortez and Kassandra – as the only survivors of a supernatural massacre at Ashcroft Penitentiary during a prisoner’s execution. The event unlocked a gateway to another world, where zombies, werewolves, monsters and other grizzly beasts reign supreme, and these foes started seeping onto Earth with the city of Ashcroft as the epicenter. Luckily, The Powers That Be intervened and imbued the four heroes with magical powers to aid them in destroying the creatures of the night. Now armed with melee and ranged weapons, special abilities and a ton of take no shit attitude, they are our only hope of survival.
Based on the tabletop role-playing game of the same name, the series was released across Xbox, PlayStation 2 and GameCube; although consoles vary between games. Hunter: The Reckoning was released in 2002 followed by Hunter: The Reckoning – Wayward in 2003 and Hunter: The Reckoning – Redeemer later that same year.
The final game, Hunter: The Reckoning – Wayward, saw a familiar face from the first game return as a Chosen One to aid the original four in a new war against werewolves. This was a key point to me that signaled the series had a lot more to offer fans. With other supernatural occurrences happening across the globe, and a network of Hunters introduced in the second game, it became apparent that more stories exist that deserve to be told. Sales of the game were lucrative enough to warrant two sequels, so why not keep going until you’ve bled the franchise dry?
High Voltage Software could afford to front the bill in 2020. They continue to churn out hits like Injustice: Gods Among Us, Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell, Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden and Zombieland: Double Tap – Road Trip. It stands to reason that a new generation of gaymers exists today that would have completely missed out on this story during its peak years in the early 2000s. With the right marketing, a new Hunter game could amass some of the same success as Devil May Cry.
Even Uwe Boll, who infamously adapted BloodRayne from game-to-film, was interested in filming a Hunter: The Reckoning movie in 2007. Of course, that project never materialized.
Would you purchase a new Hunter game?
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