Mistfall Hunter is a fascinating mix of games.
On the one hand, it’s a dark fantasy action-RPG with some deep class-building and light souls-like mechanics. On the other, it’s a PvEvP third-person battle royale that sits firmly in the extraction shooter genre. Typically, I’d avoid the latter kind of game, as my low vision makes shooters difficult for me to play, but for some reason, I just can’t get enough of developer Bellring Games’ take on the extraction shooter. In fact, Mistfall Hunter is changing my mind on the genre as a whole.
Mistfall Hunter is taking the internet by storm, with a concurrent player count surpassing 40,000 on Steam after its July 29 launch. Its formula is familiar to anyone with any experience in the extraction genre. You drop into a world, kill some baddies, and hunt for loot, while other players hunt for you. Your goal is to get out before you’re stuffed into a grave and your booty is plundered. It’s a recognizable gameplay loop, but what makes this game so compelling is how it turns the extraction shooter into an extraction brawler.
Instead of long-ranged firefights with pistols and rifles, you enter a dark fantasy setting filled with Lovecraftian horrors and skeletal jerks, and are forced to do battle with swords and shields. Sure, you can still engage in ranged combat with the archer and sorcerer classes, but Mistfall Hunter is at its best when you’re fighting in tight spaces with leather and steel.
The mechanics, reminiscent of souls-likes such as Elden Ring and Lords of the Fallen, bring a melee-focused intensity that demands careful positioning and considered character specialization: elements that you don’t often see in other extraction games like Arc Raiders and Escape from Tarkov. And because there are characters to interact with and quests to complete as you embark on your journey, either solo or in a group of three, there is more story progression alongside the loot-collecting.
It’s giving single-player action-RPG with a multiplayer environment as the backdrop, and I love it.
More Than Another Extraction Game
I’ve always wanted to enjoy extraction shooters. I’m enamored by the frenetic combat and frightful extraction of the genre, and I’m just a sucker for some good loot, too. But my low vision–brought on by a rare eye condition called keratoconus means terrible depth of field and even worse perception. I often end up filled with bullets before I even see who shot me–especially in multiplayer shooters. This is why I don’t play the likes of Call of Duty games anymore; I just can’t compete with the sweaters in those lobbies.
And so, despite being interested in games like Hunt: Showdown or Marathon, I skip them, and games like them, because of my horrible aim and the toxicity players express in voice chat when you “suck” at a game.
Mistfall Hunter, however, actually gives me the opportunity to compete in a competitive environment because it doesn’t rely on pixel-perfect shooting accuracy. It’s an extraction brawler that puts a greater emphasis on close-quarters encounters, and since I’m the type of girl who has beaten many hardcore single-player RPGs over the years (such as Lies of P and Nioh 3), I trust my ability to swing a sword far more than my skill with shooting a gun. You have to face me one-on-one. And one-on-one, I stand a chance.
That’s what I love most about the game. Someone as blind as me can be a threat with a big sword. I’m like that fictional blind samurai Zatoichi, or even that Sengoku-era swordsman Toda Seigen. Hell, thinking about swinging a sword while blind is reminiscent of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’s Chirrut Îmwe, and honestly, who doesn’t like a badass martial artist who’s whooping your ass with little to no eyesight?
When An Entire Genre Finally Clicks
As I play more Mistfall Hunter, trying to level up my Withered Knight to the max so I can unlock every ability and become a true terror on the battlefield, I find my curiosity surrounding the extraction genre reignited. There have been myriad other extraction games that have launched since Escape from Tarkov put the genre on the map with an extended closed beta in 2017. Arena Breakout: Infinite, Dark and Darker, Delta Force, The Mound: Omen of Cthulu, and so many more have caught my eye in recent years, but most–if not all–of these games are first-person shooters. Maybe I’ll still give them a shot, despite knowing just how bad my aim is and how awful players will be. Mistfall Hunter has truly made me reconsider my relationship with an extraction game, as well as my thoughts on what an extraction game could be.
Like, what if there were an extraction mecha game where you pilot a gundam-esque robot, embarking on scavenger missions for parts while battling against crazed AI, rebel pilots, and other players? Armored Core 6: Fires Of Rubicon but an extraction game. Maybe there could be an extraction racer that demands you be the first one to reach the withdrawal point before an EMP immobilizes your car and some deadly mist suffocates you in the driver’s seat, kind of like Pacific Drive. Or maybe–and hear me out–someone builds an extraction cooking game. Collect the ingredients, cook the dish, and serve it to patrons with the quickness so that you can clock out before your competitors? I’m just spitballing, but Mistfall Hunter’s unique spin on the extraction genre creates room for other forms of experimentation.
I think the potential is endless, and I can’t wait to see what other developers end up doing now that Bellring Games has introduced the extraction brawler as a subgenre to the larger extraction game formula. For now, I’ll just keep swinging my big sword with my low vision as I collect tons of loot and search for an exit. Maybe I’m hitting the air in the process, but know that I’m definitely coming for you.
