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0 Fun fact, I have Arachnophobia, so why am I playing a game called Huntsman, that states it has giant arachnids. Well, because it’s a horror game! So thank you to the team Onthehousestudios, for this horrible experience for me to undertake. If you are looking for your next horror game, or simply love spiders. Then Huntsman is available on Steam right now for £10.99.
Why can’t they just stay small?
Gameplay
There is little context for the player at the start of what is actually going on in Huntsman. We do know it is our first day, and that we can find notes that filling in more of the blanks. The game focus more on the scares and stealth, rather than running. Which thank god, because running will cause the spiders to react much quicker. The player can expect to navigate large rooms and corridors to locate key items, to aid them in progressing through the game. No puzzles, no fighting.
Huntsman does split up into segments which break the constant sneaking, such as the spiders with yellow markings that are found in the trailer. They don’t hunt the player, unlike the brown one, instead they require you to throw objects at them to move them. Some other variants of spider are in Huntsman, but why not enjoy them for yourselves.
Graphics & Audio
Huntsman has some decent positives. For one, there is no music and very few noises beside of some side effects and the footsteps of the heavier spiders. I believe it adds greatly to the atmosphere and suspense. The Devs also nailed the way some of the spiders move, creeping one minute and quickly running up the next.
The environments and textures, however, were quite low detail, which subtracted slightly from the fear for me. There were some awkward visual mistakes, like containment rooms with spiders inside with only a window and no door or opening in sight. There were also areas which I assumed were meant to be encased in black rubble of some sort, but you could walk straight through it. I think with a bit of a visual update, though, the game has potential to be creepier and more immersive.
Longevity
Huntsman isn’t too long and besides a few annoying segments, mainly the terrarium segment. I would say beating the game just a little over 3 hours isn’t too bad. The game offers 13 achievements for you to unlock. Unfortunately, I’m not sure if they are broken, as none unlocked on my play through.
Final Thoughts
I’d say the game made me question if I actually had Arachnophobia, as I wasn’t overly bothered by seeing them. But I will admit the lack of sound and jump scare does excellent to build up suspense. More so, when you can see one of the eight-legged buggers, just out of view. Some highlights for me when Huntsman shines, was the use of different spiders, I honestly thought I was going to only see one kind.
Sad that there are a few tedious bugs here, and there, with one that caused my game to soft lock. For more details when heading to the loading dock, I returned to the security room to make a quick save. Only for it to weirdly repeat the opening segment with the player to kill time. This led to me not being able to leave the room no matter what I did. Luckily, a save I had wasn’t that far back.
In the end, I would say the game still stands out, regardless of its current issues. I would suggest picking it up for a good creature scare. That is why I’m giving Huntsman the Thumb Culture Silver Award.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
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