Who has never played a hunting game like the famous Deer Hunter? Well I would say a lot of people a priori, and surely you too, reader, I think you may have never even heard of it. Well today we are going to grill another nice game: Open Country, straight out of 505 games, developed by Fun Labs.
Graphics & atmosphere
Graphically, we are entitled to a style that fits perfectly with the theme addressed. The flora and fauna provided, the forest full of life, the environments are sufficiently dense and bucolic to find your little corner of happiness far from the city. Even if we are very far from the best, it remains perfectly fluid and pleasant with my current config (Strix G17 laptop).
On the soundtrack side, on the other hand, it's sometimes total incomprehension as the music is surprisingly strange at times. Personally, I often cut it to fully appreciate the "zen" atmosphere of nature and the little zoiseaus. Everyone will have their own idea about it, but I think it's more relaxing to play like that...
History
In your average motorhome, you are a completely ordinary person who wants to get away from the big city, its pollution and all that makes you crave greenery, nature and calm. You arrive in a small corner where you are offered room and board in exchange for a simple mission: do a couple of odd jobs for the manager of the establishment, like going to bring provisions to someone, hunt two or three critters to replenish the meat stock, or even just pick up some plants.
My opinion: Exit the heroes who save the world, the treasure hunters or those who want to avenge their missing family, here we just want to relax, far from the city. And you can easily do it and accomplish your missions quickly, or take advantage of the area to make a camp worthy of you or just walk around. Playing without real stakes is sometimes good.
Gameplay
Note: It should be noted that to play correctly, you must switch your keyboard to qwerty (English) because it is not possible to change the movement keys. The other keys yes... but these no.
A quick tutorial will quickly show you the basics with the missions that will be offered. Whether it's setting up camp, collecting resources to survive or just fishing, you'll be guided every step of the way to find your own way. Once the basics are done, you will have access to a merchant, and to different quests depending on where you are. This can go through a hunt, with a delivery type as a secondary objective: Hey, you have to hunt an old elk, on the other hand I also forgot some bandages on a table... do you want to pick them up on the way?
You will have various possible weapons and calls to practice your passion: hunting. But not only ! You will be able to choose your clothes according to the colors which are less noticeable compared to your target or which have better resistance to the elements, or simply which have the least odor. All this will help you survive wild animals, which are an additional danger, in addition to falls, disease, hunger and thirst. You will be able to increase your skills and resistances by assigning points in your talent tree, depending on the tokens you will obtain. In any case, you will have to think about taking bandages, making splints and other vital things so as not to succumb in the middle of nowhere.
You will be able to establish a save at a camp that you build and upgrade based on the materials you have. You start from a classic shelter with logs and a campfire, to perfect yourself with a wooden bed, tarps, lamps, a cache and various protections against nature. But be careful, it will require maintenance, because everything will deteriorate, like the food you can find here and there. But you can also store your food in the refrigerator of your motorhome, as well as superfluous materials in your trunk. Because yes, storing will become essential as your inventory weight will be limited.
To hunt, you will have to take into account the direction of the wind which will carry your smell, the noise you make, etc... but also the weapon which will have a very particular range, and will require to be precise (or not) to hold his breath. We can therefore easily find ourselves hunting rabbits with a shotgun, or foxes with a handgun... it's a concept... but it's possible!
Multiplayer
Here you can play in one of three possible maps with up to 4 players simultaneously. You can play it co-op or deathm...ha no clash. Basically, you can hunt together, or the one who will hunt the animal selected at the start of the game the fastest. You will be able to choose your weapon and will be helped by your dog, Bob, a faithful companion who will track down your target for you if you are lucky. The other rules are still relevant in terms of survival, harvesting, etc.
Personally, the multiplayer games that I tried were a little buggy and many "fatal errors" occurred during my games, when it was not blockages in stones! On its own, this is still a good method for playing with friends for better or for worse.
Summary
Open Country offers you a game that mixes hunting, fishing and survival, with a bit of construction among other things. The potential of the game is quite interesting as long as you like the theme and the style, however, the idea does not go far enough and sometimes remains messy. We don't play this game to cause carnage, or just to kill animals... but rather to live another somewhat bucolic story, and some calm adventures. Because if you only want to walk in the plains or in the forest, it is still possible and no one will hold it against you... In the end, the game will surely find its audience, and some curious people who will want to try it.
https://opencountrygame.com/
