I must admit that it is refreshing to play in hand-crafted levels rather than yet another repetitive rogue-lite game or a broken Metroidvania. Scattered across the levels are all kinds of weapons, from close-range shotguns that blow people to bits to destructive rocket launchers that blow people to bits there are often several possibilities so players can pick according to their style or to their knowledge of the levels.
![huntdown art huntdown art](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49838866903_e01ad17d7c_h.jpg)
While these systems are often clunky in many games, in HUNTDOWN the controls are very intuitive and there is little friction between what players want to achieve/what they picture in their mind, and what they can actually perform immediately in the middle of a gunfight.Įach character has its own gun and an alt attack recharging quickly, so even after picking up a melee weapon there are options to deal with enemies farther ahead. It is possible to dash or to take cover behind crates or within alcoves, allowing players to smoothly choose between frenetic jumping around in order to dodge, or smooth shoutouts from fixed positions behind covers. Gameplay-wise, instead of trying to emulate the rough edges of old games, HUNTDOWN removes multi-directional aiming to focus on horizontal aiming, but masters it. The references are everywhere, in the gangs and their style, in the cool one-liners from the main characters or their bounties, in the music, and of course in the dirty neon-infused levels, as the fights will be taken from the subway to the rooftops. This is a perfect melting-pot of Blade Runner, Judge Dredd, The Terminator, RoboCop, Mad Max, The Fifth Element, Akira, and everything that is holy from that glorious era of science-fiction movies depicting an ultra-violent future. While the story is appropriately barebones (and consequently will not go in the way of replayability), the world, rendered in gorgeous pixel art, is incredible.
![huntdown art huntdown art](https://gaminglyfe.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Huntdown-780x483.png)
![huntdown art huntdown art](https://easytrigger.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/HuntdownLogo.png)
The end of a level is always crowned by a boss fight against a “bounty”, often a gang leader that marked the level with their footprints. The backstory is minimalist, and there won’t be more than a few occasional lines of text or short cutscenes to introduce new threats. You (and a friend in COOP) choose a mercenary upon the three available and get offered a campaign in the form of 4 consecutive areas each populated with a unique colorful gang. HUNTDOWN is not trying as hard as fellow modern/pretty action platformer Katana ZERO to tell a story.