Before we head into the usual praising and criticism of this review there is a word of advice for potential players. Dont get frighten by the german name of the game. Everything excluding the voice over is translated into english. So you can play and experience the game and only have to listen to the wonderfull voice of a metal singer narrating the plot for you.

With that out of the way its time to dive deep and I wanna start with the general first impression I and properly the most of you had when first playing this game.

Its a cheaply and slapped together asset flip in which the mediocre and non evolving gameplay is nothing more than the known hunt for generic pieces of papers. All that while being chased by the ad most simple AI version of a supposidly scary monster in which the player find either the unfair death or the punishment for lazyness. A game that players have seen before and that brings nothing new to the table.

At first it seems like this.

Let me introduce you to a big BUT.

(no pun intended)

This game is made with passion. That kind that is needed more than ever nowadays.

BG3 Game Director Swen Vincke gave an incredible speech about good games at this years TGA moments before anouncing the winner. Without copy and pasting to much of his words onto this review here i recommend to listen to it over here really quick.
To boil it down he told that the winning game of future is game made with passion, mutual respect and free wrong ristrictions. A game which is equally enjoyed by devs and players alike and is created without making money first in mind.

Im Bann der dunklen Jagd is such game. Not because its a free to play experience, Id happly paid a few bucks for the game, because its filled with love.

So what is so good about the game you may ask.

It feels complete. Three acts to enjoy the story that is for what is well narrated. There is an additional bonus level for you to discover which contains a time trial challenge. The second Act has a beautifull secret to be discoverd after beating it onces. Each level is unique enough to cover up the simple well known gameplay formula and some of the scare as cheap as they can be are really terrifying.
On top this is coop game which means grab yourself a friend and get scared together. Communication is the key.
Everything has its charme on its own and nothing feels "slapped together" and where ever you go there is something to be discovered like a juicy burger for example.

In addition the dev is activly searching for feedback and is answering questions and recommendation over in the steam forums and needed changes are implemented quickly. Thanks again for the VSync Option dev.

Well some of the more nasty things said in my first impression are still needen to be debunked. The gameplay evolves over the course of the levels. At first find pieces of documents, at second in additon you need to find a way to open up a place where one piece of paper is hidden, at third you need to find a bunch of levers to open locked areas and at last in the bonus level atleast for the Coop part spliting up and communication is key to beat the level. Sure its not much but put aside the playtime this is enough to not become dull to quick.

On thing however I said at the beginning is true. The AI is the weakspot of the game. For what I expierenced the monster is just roaming arround and as long as you stay out of sight you wont die.
Ive played other games with monster like granny for example where the monster has a curtain ability to track the player or have search patterns after losing it. Like listing to noises or check some hiding spots. I am not asking for exactly those feature. I just wanted to state some example of what monster could do in addition. It can be implemented lore wise. On the otherside right now getting hunted is not as spectecular as it may sounds. Once discovered it runs after you. I manged to get rid of it at some points but not always. I even manage to trap atleast one enemy in the final act. Its the only immersion breaker I found within the game once figured out how to deal with the monster.

I had so much fun playing it with a friend and its kinda unbelieveble how little attention this game has for being a free two player coop horror game and I made sure to recommend to other friend of mine.

At last i wanna leave behind the one thing I am looking forward in the future. The game is still in early access and while it seems that more levels are unlikely it sound we are getting more secrets to discover. I gladly return to the game and play parts of it again.

[h1] When a Metalsinger goes Game Dev [/h1] Before we head into the usual praising and criticism of this review there is a word of advice for potential players. Dont get frighten by the german name of the game. Everything excluding the voice over is translated into english. So you can play and experience the game and only have to listen to the wonderfull voice of a metal singer narrating the plot for you. With that out of the way its time to dive deep and I wanna start with the general first impression I and properly the most of you had when first playing this game. Its a cheaply and slapped together asset flip in which the mediocre and non evolving gameplay is nothing more than the known hunt for generic pieces of papers. All that while being chased by the ad most simple AI version of a supposidly scary monster in which the player find either the unfair death or the punishment for lazyness. A game that players have seen before and that brings nothing new to the table. At first it seems like this. Let me introduce you to a big BUT. (no pun intended) This game is made with passion. That kind that is needed more than ever nowadays. BG3 Game Director Swen Vincke gave an incredible speech about good games at this years TGA moments before anouncing the winner. Without copy and pasting to much of his words onto this review here i recommend to listen to it over [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvRm4HKK4gQ] here [/url] really quick. To boil it down he told that the winning game of future is game made with passion, mutual respect and free wrong ristrictions. A game which is equally enjoyed by devs and players alike and is created without making money first in mind. Im Bann der dunklen Jagd is such game. Not because its a free to play experience, Id happly paid a few bucks for the game, because its filled with love. So what is so good about the game you may ask. It feels complete. Three acts to enjoy the story that is for what is well narrated. There is an additional bonus level for you to discover which contains a time trial challenge. The second Act has a beautifull secret to be discoverd after beating it onces. Each level is unique enough to cover up the simple well known gameplay formula and some of the scare as cheap as they can be are really terrifying. On top this is coop game which means grab yourself a friend and get scared together. Communication is the key. Everything has its charme on its own and nothing feels "slapped together" and where ever you go there is something to be discovered like a juicy burger for example. In addition the dev is activly searching for feedback and is answering questions and recommendation over in the steam forums and needed changes are implemented quickly. Thanks again for the VSync Option dev. Well some of the more nasty things said in my first impression are still needen to be debunked. The gameplay evolves over the course of the levels. At first find pieces of documents, at second in additon you need to find a way to open up a place where one piece of paper is hidden, at third you need to find a bunch of levers to open locked areas and at last in the bonus level atleast for the Coop part spliting up and communication is key to beat the level. Sure its not much but put aside the playtime this is enough to not become dull to quick. On thing however I said at the beginning is true. The AI is the weakspot of the game. For what I expierenced the monster is just roaming arround and as long as you stay out of sight you wont die. Ive played other games with monster like granny for example where the monster has a curtain ability to track the player or have search patterns after losing it. Like listing to noises or check some hiding spots. I am not asking for exactly those feature. I just wanted to state some example of what monster could do in addition. It can be implemented lore wise. On the otherside right now getting hunted is not as spectecular as it may sounds. Once discovered it runs after you. I manged to get rid of it at some points but not always. I even manage to trap atleast one enemy in the final act. Its the only immersion breaker I found within the game once figured out how to deal with the monster. I had so much fun playing it with a friend and its kinda unbelieveble how little attention this game has for being a free two player coop horror game and I made sure to recommend to other friend of mine. At last i wanna leave behind the one thing I am looking forward in the future. The game is still in early access and while it seems that more levels are unlikely it sound we are getting more secrets to discover. I gladly return to the game and play parts of it again.