Developers Hyperstrange must be after my own heart, as the creators of the wonderfully creepy Blood West have once again captured my attention with Hordes of Hunger, a horror-fantasy survivorslike with some fun twists on the genre and a phenomenal aesthetic. Though the game has some strong bones, this Early Access title certainly has a ways to go before it’s ready for a full release, and I found after the end of my playthrough that my only real complaint about the game was that I wanted more, more, more.
Hordes of Hunger is a survivorslike set in a dark fantasy world of unique design. I can’t tell you a whole lot about the story, as the pre-Early Access release copy I was given to review dropped me straight into the world with no cutscenes, introduction, or much storytelling outside of contextless conversations that I engaged with after each mission. Still, what I was able to gather was that the world has gone to hell thanks to an invasion of man-eating dead, something called the Beast controls them, and we are the last hope for saving everyone, alongside the help we get from our magically gifted father.
A lot is missing from Hordes of Hunger at the moment, and that is no surprise. I want to once again emphasize that this review is written around a version of the game that hasn’t even entered its public testing phase yet. However, what Hordes of Hunger certainly has put together at this point is its core gameplay mechanics, and they rock.
Once again, Hordes of Hunger is a survivorslike, meaning that the game has players enter one of several maps (quite a few available at the start, actually, which is quite impressive) and battle against increasingly difficult enemies in increasingly larger waves while earning XP for buffs and stat increases to face the horde. After completing a series of randomly selected side quests, Hordes of Hunger has you face a boss, of which I’ve only seen one right now, though that may just be due to random selection. You gather a permanent currency in levels that you use to level up back at the base camp to make future runs easier.
Hordes of Hunger switches the norm up a bit by adding an interactive combat system instead of just having you automatically attack, as is the case in most survivorslike. This system is simple but really, really fun; all of the game’s weapons are good, but I haven’t seen swordplay that feels this good since The Witcher 3, with wide sweeping attacks and the ever-beloved Beyblade spin making you feel like a gorgeous zombie-killing machine. You can dodge and parry, with parrying feeling especially good once you get the timing down. The buffs you collect in levels could be expanded upon and need some balancing, as the lightning skills are overwhelmingly effective and can easily see you clearing a whole level without swinging your sword once you get them to level 3.
The enemy designs are great, with each level having unique foes, and I really appreciated the character interactions that happen mid-level, with our protagonist having a lot of character. I do think the audio on her voice lines needs a bit of mixing, because I can never really hear her over the sounds of combat, and this game is not very forgiving if you try to read the subtitles.
What Hordes of Hunger needs more than anything, besides the obvious additions of story introductions, balance improvements, and some minor nitpicks (I’d like to see some more weapon types added to the game as well as a way to change outfits), is more progression.
At the moment, there are only two forms of progression in Hordes of Hunger: your stats, increased by spending feathers at camp that directly enhance your attributes like max health or elemental damage, and weapon rarity. The latter comes in three tiers of normal, uncommon, and rare, and you create new weapons by combining weapon parts to create a weapon of the relevant tier with randomized stats.
There really needs to be more ways to advance your character in Hordes of Hunger, and there certainly needs to be more tiers of weapons to collect. Once you’ve got a rare-quality sword with decent stats, there becomes very little incentive to keep rolling to make one better or to really try something else out. This makes all of the future weapon shard drops from levels kind of useless. With the only other progression being feather stats, you can quickly feel like there isn’t a whole lot to work toward anymore in Hordes of Hunger, besides finishing the game for the sake of finishing it.
This is, of course, because the game is still in Early Access, but it would be wrong of me not to point it out. I am, however, confident that the developers aren’t going to overlook this system and will add more avenues of progression as the game is worked on. I especially look forward to seeing what they cook up in the way of ultra-rare or legendary weaponry, because the game seems to have some solid weapon designs already.
While we’re at it, maybe we can get some other playable characters in Hordes of Hunger. The developers clearly know how to make some interesting characters (something I already knew from Blood West), so the promise of more coming to the game’s playable roster makes me excited. Either way, Hordes of Hunger has shown its bones to be some sturdy stuff, and while the game has a ways to go before it’s a finished product, I’m confident that it’ll be a really good one once it gets there.
Pros:
- A solid foundation for a game, with unique twists on the genre and heavy replayability
- Very satisfying combat
- Great characters and enemy design
Cons:
- The only issue I had with the game was a lack of content yet to come due to it being in Early Access.
Try Hard Guides was provided a PC code for Hordes of Hunger. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles on our Game Reviews page!
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