It has been a while since I last played a title troubled on so many levels, but I guess Devil's Hunt proves such projects can and do still exist in this modern day of ours. Strangest thing is this seems like it has decent production. Not to say that excuses what we got in the end, though.

Game is supposedly based on a novel, but if this was their adaptation I have to wonder how much was left out or simplified beyond recognition to work as video game adaptation. What's left still makes for a decent hook – we play as Desmond, an affluent youth employed in his father's company and perfectly happy with his girlfriend, who on the very night when he decides to propose has his entire world turned upside down after said girlfriend cheats on him. In mad rage he commits suicide by car crash and ends up in hell only to claw his way out, meet some unsavory types and end up signing a contract to become an Executor. These enforcers and assassins in Lucifer's own employ are unambiguously evil as they reap souls, realization sitting with Desmond just fine as he sets upon a path of vengeance... only to realize things aren't exactly as clear cut as they seem. And what is this “Savior and Destroy” nonsense people keep referring to him? Rabbit hole goes quite a bit deeper as angels, demons and renegades get involved, but that's the gist of it.

Problem? Game is really, really weak when it comes to telling this story. Issue further exacerbated by the fact writing and VA are equally weak which more often than not ends up detracting from the experience. Even putting that aside for a moment it's just a very unevenly paced story. It is content to merely prod you along the way, sometimes skipping scenes and omitting key motivations, presumably due to cut content, so you end up with characters switching sides and such almost on a dime. It's incredibly jarring. That's in addition to introducing important figures and forgetting about them immediately following their introduction. Chiefly, game fails to build any connection to events or characters that transpire because it indulges in dealing with cliches without even aspiring to novelty. Protagonist has daddy issues? Rival who hates your guts? Both of those are bastards to the protagonist simply because? Check, check and check. Especially the former who gets hints of backstory development only to be swept under the rug. Couple dynamic you'd expect from Desmond and Kristen largely boils down to absent love interest and working on protecting her as a bargaining chip when stakes involved are MUCH bigger. Entire story department is a jumbled mess that never clicks.

But hey, this is a brawler, you might say. Why does story matter? Put your seat belt on because it's not like game itself fares much better when you break it to individual systems.

Oh man, performance. I stopped counting how many times Devil's Hunt crashed on me after tenth occurrence and simply accepted it as part of the package I'll have to work around. This meant repeating five to ten minute sections which wasn't a big deal, but hard locking my PC requiring rebooting to solve was. Let's not even mention humorous visual bugs like Desmond striking the ever intimidating T-pose and less amusing ones like game bugging out interaction prompts. Less said about horrendous, dropping to single frames-per-second performance towards the end the better. Overall impression is one of a game held together by duct tape that falls apart the moment something more than small arenas with mere handful of enemies or corridors are thrown at the player. And yes, this has adverse results later on when Devil's Hunt uses bigger groups and keeps spawning enemies to work around obvious technical limitations. I don't usually mention hardware performance, but in this case it warrants a massive red flag and something to keep in mind if you're allergic to higher levels of jank.

For what it is I think gameplay might be the second most notable element present. Because it works. Before I get into combat itself, which is the real meat and potatoes of Devil's Hunt, I should go into how it's all structured. There's next to nothing to do other than running across enemy groups until they engage you in combat. Meaning game is a sequence of linear areas where you will often be prompted to press that action button so Desmond can jump over an obstacle, teleport across set points, pick up few lore pages, etc. Don't even dream about doing anything other than running around because everything else is relegated to these telegraphed hotspots you cannot miss. I bring up this seemingly irrelevant point because I think other games have framed this differently by giving you the ability to jump or sneak simply to increase the range of actions you can do outside of combat. In rare occasions you have a fork in your path game the route you opt against will become unavailable meaning you better pray you've chosen the wrong path or those secrets/souls are getting left behind.

I played with the gamepad because it seemed appropriate for a brawler of this type and that made it all the more puzzling because it's the SHOULDER buttons that are assigned to attacking and not the front buttons you may expect. Light and heavy attacks are present along with very few unlockable combos. To spice it all up there are three fighting styles in the game and you should have them completely mastered by the end of the game as you acquire souls from enemies/caches to upgrade skills; Executioner (mainstay you'll use most of the time against demons), Unholy (used against angels and limited ranged capabilities) and Void (specialized style you advance in by finding hidden scrolls). Each of these styles gives you three slots you can assign their respective abilities to, but they also have passives like decreasing cooldown on abilities, increased health, etc. You can switch between the three at any point during combat, but I believe their effects are limited only to while you're attuned to individual style. Naturally, being an Executor you have a demon form you can change into when your bar is full which is quite the trump card as you rip and tear.

That's the break down, but how does it all work? Surprisingly competently. You'll run into typical problems like enemies getting stuck in cycles, but much better developed games are not exempt from those. Real issue is later on when game starts throwing higher tier enemies at you when simple demonic grunts are not enough. Getting caught between three ranged demonesses, two chunky boys in melee and fire tossers as your framerate dips is a marvel to experience. Enemy synergy is either totally absent or overly tuned so you risk getting locked into stun cycle or camera decides it wants to end you at that very instant. When you account for flabby finishers, stifling arenas and limited enemy variety you'll quickly see everything Devil's Hunt can set against you. There is a point when you have all three styles and enough points spent that you finally have control and you can see that glimmer of enjoyment before it is snatched away by sub-par execution.

Being a deservedly negative overview you may be wondering if there's something I actually enjoyed and yes, there is. Visuals. Devil's Hunt is a kind of game that looks amazing in screenshots. Less so in motion and once you play it for extended period of time, which reveals how limited its assets are, but environmental artist really did their their best. Hell looks stunning with rich color saturation and enemies are suitably demonic looking to get the idea across. Even characters look decent when they're not trying to articulate actual human beings. Sawyer in particular with his mysterious cowled wizened appearance, for example. Lots of pre-rendered cutscenes as well and someone at the development team really liked those car bits. I expected a kind of Alone in the Dark driving segment. Almost wished there was one...

Final Thoughts and Rating?

Plagued with performance issues and crashes in my case I can't say I recommend Devil's Hunt. In fact, you may quote me saying the exact OPPOSITE. Disappointment permeates this brawler with RPG elements following a hell-bound protagonist as he assumes the role of an Executor in Lucifer's service, but finds out it's not exactly as exclusive he imagined it to be. A highly flawed game employing limp storytelling that mostly misses key narrative beats with rather basic gameplay... yet I can't help but sympathize with the developer's very first outing. If there was one point of praise it would be rather impressive visuals until animations kick in. I just wish more of the production budget spilled beyond mere presentation. Give this one a wide berth unless you accept high levels of jank.