Better late than never, eh? I’ve been interested in Hordes of Hunger since it was announced. Alas, if a review code doesn’t materialise, it goes on the back burner in my personal collection (which you can read as: no deadline, no rush to write about it). However, a code has materialised, and therefore, I can give you some feedback on this game published by Kwalee.
Worth the wait, worth the play? Sure. So what exactly is it? My memory served this up as an action-RPG, but that’s not quite right. Hordes of Hunger is a Survivors-like game with a slight Dynasty Warriors influence. Let me break that down for you in simple terms: autonomy to press an attack button, unlike the automated mechanics of a Survivors game, and repetitive button-mashing.
Unlike Dynasty Warriors, the objectives in each arena are somewhat varied, from surviving swarms, destroying nests, escort missions and exorcising NPCs, just to name a few. Each area also has a guardian to defeat, though another difference to the Survivors model is that these arenas aren’t timed, but enemies will get a little more complex.
There are three biomes to begin with, each with three wards and guardians to defeat. Each area can be tackled in whichever order you wish, and while the locations have the same theme, each has a unique range of enemies, such as shield-bearing warriors to charging werewolves. This is important, not just because of the variety to keep things fresh, but it means you’re more invested in trying new strategies and not mind-numbingly mashing the same buttons.
As you might expect, killing enemies in Hordes of Hunger gives XP, and for each level increase, you can opt for one of three perks. These range from ethereal projectiles to elemental damage such as lightning, fire or holy powers, damage and health increments and more. Understandably, all these are lost after each run, but between some of the objectives, you can bail and teleport via the sanctuary feature: enemies pause, allowing you to collect scattered XP and bank resources at your hub.
In the hub, you can initially view the codex and use feathers to increase permanent stats such as XP levelling speed, damage, movement and so on. Additional vendors appear with progression, allowing you to equip various potions to buff/debuff damage, increase health and again, much more. The key area, which was slightly confusing at first, was the weaponsmith, where you can equip new gear and craft some, too.
When completing objectives in Hordes of Hunger, you can earn feathers to invest in your permanent stats as well as earn weapon parts. There’s a good selection to choose from with various rarities associated with them, though it can be a little hit and miss when crafting, as you need to have parts of a similar nature. At first, I naively wasted these opportunities until learning to experiment with the weapon selection.
Swords are the most balanced and my go-to choice; equipped with various elemental powers depending on what you’ve unlocked, gauntlets for close-quarter, fast-paced attacks, the hammer or slower, heavier damage, and a spear, which I found almost completely redundant. These were great additions; however, as the weapons completely change a run, paired with those levelling up options, no run is the same.
What makes Hordes of Hunger different to others is a number of things. First, not having automated attacks puts emphasis on the player to form strategies – from levelling up like a tank, to optimising projectile attacks that take out enemies from afar, or using a holy special move that obliterates anything that isn’t hiding off-screen. The levelling up system doesn’t feel as random as other titles, so you get more opportunity to go with a strategy that works.
Additionally, this is a good-looking game. Unlike some of the AI-generated titles where visuals don’t matter, this is on par (and has similar camera perspectives) with the Diablo series. The downside it the game crashed for me twice mid-run, and on both occasions, without an autosave, I lost all my permanent perks (I had a lot at one point), and this subsequently put me off. This might be an anomaly, but it is what it is.
If you have a decent spec machine, I’d recommend looking into this if you like Vampire Survivors with a bit more control. Though there’s more autonomy compared to others in the series, the game does suffer from repetition (which is the nature of the beast), though it does still possess that rogue-like loop you should expect.
