Full disclosure here folks, I have never been hunting in my life and to be honest, I do not think I would have the stomach for it. Thank goodness for games like Hunting Simulator 2 which allow me to become a hunter. As the name suggests, this is very much a simulation-style game so do not get cocky like me and think your hours playing Big Buck Hunter in the arcade or Duck Hunt on the NES will mean anything!
How to Download Hunting Simulator 2
To download the game on the platform of your choice, click on the Download button below this review. If you like hunting games, check out also theHunter Classic and theHunter: Call of the Wild.
The Game Review
The game has six different locations for you to hunt in. There are two in Maine, two in Colorado and two in Europe as well. Each location has its own geography as well as animals for you to hunt. They also have their own “style” as well which was something that I appreciated.
You really do get to take each area in as you will be walking a great deal in this game! You can run, but running will scare your animals away and you may also miss droppings and tracks. The walking can be so, so slow at first, but eventually, you begin to get used to it and realize it is part of the game, probably the most relaxing part actually.
You can find towers and hunting spots as you explore and these can be used as fast travel locations which was neat, but you do need to find them first. Before you can even go out on a hunt, you need to get your gear and boy does this game have a ton of gear. As someone who knows nothing about hunting, I am pretty ignorant to much of this, but a lot of the gear is licensed which I am sure many folks will find cool.
As well as your guns, ammo, and so on. You can also get these other things that kind of work like buffs. These can help you track a sent or work as a lure, these items are easy to use and a lot of fun. Hunting Simulator 2 also tasks you with having a canine buddy to go hunting with you and this was an aspect of the game that I absolutely loved!
There are different types of dogs in the game and they each have their own “thing” if you know what I mean. For example, you can get a dog that will point you in the direction of an animal and another is there to bring you your kill! You can add more dogs to your kennel as you play and I found the dogs to be a lot of fun.
You do not have any kind of “story” or any missions to do. You just keep on hunting and earning licenses. Licenses are the way that the game handles progression. You get these by playing the game and they allow you to hunt a certain type of animal. I think the reason they did this was to stop you from just being able to blast anything in sight right from the go.
By the way, blasting stuff is not the way to go about this game. It is very good at letting you know if the weapon you have is right for the animal in your sights. Last thing you want is to blow an animal to pieces and not be able to take it back as a trophy. That actually can be frustrating as you are limited to what you can take back to the hunting lodge. I get that it is more “realistic” but I wish I could just get as much as I wanted.
I know that I am not the kind of person that Hunting Simulator 2 is aimed at, but I had a lot of fun with this game. I am sure much of what makes it a simulator is lost on me, but the game was still a fun experience. I also really appreciated it how it explained so much of the little things such as gun gages, lures, licenses, and so on so I was always learning as I was playing.
