What I see
Heretic and Hexen? Maybe, but the game that immediately comes to mind when seeing Hunted in action is...Gears of War, believe it or not. Gears of War in a fantasy setting. Here are five very specific reasons why.
1. This is a serious co-op shooter (just replace Lancers and sniper rifles with swords, bows, and spells) -- not one where a second player simply drops in artificially for an extra body in a campaign designed for one (hello Fable 2). The game will push players to work together in a variety of ways.
At some points, ranged attacker E'lara will split up from Caddoc, who's the melee specialist (both characters, however, have access to all fighting styles). She may have to cover him from high ground with her bow and arrow while he gets his hands dirt and bloody on the ground. That should sound rather similar to certain scenes in GOW....
E'lara can also power Caddoc up (or vice versa) with, for example, a magical fiery aura before he lunges sword-first into a fray. And some puzzles require both players to do something at the same time, such as one stepping on a pressure plate while another shoots a now-exposed switch.
2. The combat in Hunted is cover-based...in third-person view.
3. You can execute enemies for an extra gruesome death sequence.
4. When one player's down and crawling for help, the other can revive him -- but the difference here is proximity isn't an issue. You can throw healing potions from a distance, as long as your "down but not out" friend is visible.
5. When players finish off the last enemy in an area, the game will play an ominous "all clear" sound.
OK, so maybe the developers' romantic notions about capturing the essence of those classic role-playing games are just slightly misguided, but it's not exactly like Hunted is in bad company with all the classics mentioned in this article. Bethesda hasn't announced a release date yet, so it will be a while before we can say for sure. But if inXile does it right, who's going to complain that the game ends up being a little bit of everything above?
