Recent reviews by Wapiti

This game is very good, especially for being developed by a small indie group. But of course because of that it does have its flaws.

The biggest issue this game suffers with is TOO much realism. Realism isn't a bad thing, it allows you to be immersed in the life of whatever simulator one might play, from Hunting simulators like Way of the Hunter to of course simulators like WolfQuest being examples. However there becomes problems when you move away from making Gameplay fun and engaging and instead making it too real to well...real life. I think this game suffers with that and as a result makes it a little hard to enjoy casually. Even on the easiest difficulty.

The territory marking section of the Game is by far its main issue at this time. It's slow and incredibly boring, it actually made me quit the game for up to 6 months due to it being so unfun, until eventually I decided to tackle the game head-on and deal with it in order to pursue the achievements.

I've been attempting to collect as many of the single player achievements as possible, as I love the artwork and there's obviously been a good amount of effort put into them. However there is an awful, achievement hunter unfriendly issue that this game suffers with. RNG. It's incredibly tedious and painful, and if you aren't able to get said achievement, you're forced to restart your save to the beginning. Wasting from 20 minutes, to even 4 hours of work just trying to get a singular achievement. I really hope that they redo some of the ways to get these RNG achievements because its really frustrating from an achievement hunters perspective.

Of course so far this review has been negative, but there are some fun bits to this game. However its hard to put *why* I enjoy this game. It's one of those games where you can't quite put your finger on why its enjoyable.

Whilst It's realism can cause issues, its realism is also fantastic in some parts of the Gameplay. It's attention to detail to the behaviour of Wolves and their environments are extremely well done, as this game is being developed by literal biologists and experts in wolves in general, so the fact they were able to mimic their lives in a game is very impressive.

Actual Gameplay can be quite fun as well, Elk and Mule Deer are your main prey to hunt, but rewarding those greatly if one manages to successfully harvest themselves a Moose. Being selective in what prey you choose really makes you feel like a predatory animal as well! Choosing weaker, slower cows or does, or even taking on lesser-experienced bulls or bucks makes you feel like a true wolf chasing after its next meal and being a part of natural selection.

To close the review off, this game just like many indie games have, suffers with its flaws, but does a lot of things right as well. The great thing about its flaws is that they can be tweaked, fixed, changed, redone. It's up to the developers if they are willing to do it, when they are capable of doing so. Judging by the dedication of 10 years the Devs have put into this game, and the clear love I see being put into it, I'm confident that the issues this game has will fade over time, and be replaced with incredible additions that will make the game all the more fun. Even with the issues currently, I still recommend the game for those after a genuinely decent Wolf simulator experience.

These weapons are definitely very good. I found the Arzyna .300 to be very good at handling pesky Wild Yaks and Water Buffalo of Sundarpatan. Almost feels and looks like the bigger brother of the Zarza-10 .308. So I'm sure they probably pair very nicely together.

The Strandberg SA10 is probably my favourite Shotgun, it packs an insane punch, taking Class 6-9 down in no time and feels, sounds, and looks fantastic. As well as being very accurate. I even once tested it on a Bengal Tiger, safe to say I ended up with the "This isn't a zombie game" Achievement after quite literally blowing its brains out at 80m. However although I know this weapon pack is mostly for the biggest game, I still wanted to test this Shotguns's Class 4-6 Buckshot, and as I thought the Buckshot isn't the best. I had shot multiple Deer at close range and none had a vital organ shot. So I think it is best to use this Shottie for big game as its designed for that, and stick to your Rifle or other Shotgun of choice when it comes to those smaller class animals.

The .45-70 Jernberg is my least favourite out of the three, but that's mostly due to certain preferences. I'm someone who likes to do follow-up shots, just to double check that the game I'm hunting isn't gonna go far, but the Jernberg is a Single-shot. Meaning If I screw up that first shot, I would not have to time to reload and put in a second one. So that in itself already makes it a weapon I don't plan on using anytime soon, but the times I did use it I also found it to be lacking in penetration. Shot a Water Buffalo at 25m and it only just barely hit single right lung. Now compare that to the Coachmate Lever that use the same bullets, and at the same range I've seen it hit both lungs no problem. I'm sure it probably has something to do with one being a Pistol and the other being a Rifle, but I have no knowledge on guns so I have no clue. I just thought I'd mention that anyway.

Overall I definitely recommend it, as I think each one suit different big game hunters who are after certain hunting methods. Plus the cosmetics are nice as well and I've already decorated the Strandberg nicely and plan on taking it on plenty of future hunts.

I recommend not getting this DLC. While I didn't mind the time trials, everything else felt quite chore-y and not fun in the slightest, and I didn't particularly care for the story either.

I personally do not think the base price tag is worth it, I purchased this game on discount from £12.99 to £4.54, and I'd say that price is much more worth it seeing as this DLC IMMEDIATELY worsens FPS the second you launch the game and have this DLC installed, and yes, it does screw up the BASE MAP as well. So once you install it, you'll have to deal with FPS drops in the DLC map and the base map.

I also played with the Shadow set the whole base game, and did so on this DLC until the last boss, because deer lord it was quite literally impossible to defeat this boss with this set. For some reason the special ability the Shadow set has immediately drops frames to new lows when activating it on the main boss. The only reason I managed to actually kill this boss was having a maxed out Bone set, as it had significantly less frame drops whenever I attacked the boss with this set.
What could of been a decent boss fight became a frustrating chore I wanted to get over with.

Overall the only reason I'd recommend getting this DLC is to 100% Achievements, and even then get it at a good discount.

While I do absolutely love this map, I do think compared to other maps, contains very little sustenance when it comes to huntable wildlife. While the Grey Wolves are thrilling (albeit sometimes very stressful to hunt), and the added Harlequin Ducks fill the sky, I felt as if it sometimes felt quite empty.

More birds to dot the sky such as American Wigeon, Blue-Winged Teal, or even just your typical Mallard would of brought a lot of life to the skies then just Geese and Harlequins. Plus the lakes are gorgeous and to see different species of ducks flourishing in these lakes would of complimented the lakes that dot the map much more. Also the lack of grouse or other type of land gamebirds made the forested areas feel quite bland as well. Gamebirds such as Dusky Grouse and Spruce Grouse would of spiced the areas up nicely.

I also think there isn't much for land mammals either. The possibility of adding ones such as Wolverine, Canadian Lynx, or even adding some weasels such as American Marten or American Mink would of really enhanced the whole map. Plus adding Thinhorn Sheep or Mountain Goats would of been nice to freshen up the more mountainous areas of the map besides just the Wolves and sometimes Moose.

Most of the wildlife added in this map are large animals: Caribou, Moose, Wolves, Grizzly Bears, and Plains Bison. It makes the map seem a lot more lively, especially since most of these animals come in herds or packs, but after playing this map for long enough and hunting all of the wildlife that it contains, made me realise that there is a lot of missing potential to truly make this map incredibly lively and full to the brim with all sorts of wildlife that could of really made this map stand out then any of the other DLCs available at the moment.

Also besides the huntable animals, one thing that irked me was that you'll randomly get wolf howls, which made me think there were a pack of wolves nearby, however these howls are nothing but ambience. Which is very silly and shouldn't be added as ambience but instead a mechanic to help the player realise a pack of wolves is nearby.

Overall while this review has mostly been negative, that doesn't mean I don't recommend this map. I absolutely do recommend this map out of any of the other maps besides Silver Ridge Peaks and Revontuli Coast (<---these two are great as well). It's a gorgeous map with a decent amount to explore with plenty of beautiful photographic (or in this case screenshot)-worthy scenery, and wildlife can be in most cases quite fun to hunt.

(One last thing to note: Just like all of Hunter: COTW DLC, I recommend getting it at a discount price, even if the map is good it definitely feels more worth it to purchase it at a cheaper price then the base price.)

I have been enjoying this DLC as I just recently got it on discount, as I did with the base game. However one thing that irked me was that I had to grind to unlock the "Soft Feet" skill in order to be able to even hunt most of the wildlife. (As most of the map had louder foliage then the base game maps)

Other then that, once I had managed to unlock the Soft Feet skill, the map is very pretty and as someone who's massive into Birdwatching, I loved the various kinds of bird species available to hunt!

Most people have already said what I'm gonna say: It really should be in the base game. It's literally in the cover art of the game's main store page... If you get it, get it when its at its absolute lowest price possible.