Hunter: The Reckoning — The Beast of Glenkildove

Reviewing (mostly) every game (or DLC) in my library, part 621: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆ (9/10) I am very, [i]very[/i] impressed with [i]Hunter: The Reckoning — The Beast of Glenkildove[/i] ([i]“Beast”[/i]). William Brown must have some academic background, because the game is just … quietly confident with its haunting atmosphere, bleak choices, broad freedom, and overall prose. I don’t even know where to start with this review, but I will always endeavor to do my best. Thank you to the staff! I try to get into the nitty-gritty and summarize the pros and cons of a work in the first part of my reviews. But with [i]Beast[/i], that kind of list almost feels beside the point. My biggest takeaway is the narrative as a whole. Sure, there are things I didn’t love—the frequent hard stat checks, some choices feeling more rigid than they should—but those feel small compared to what the game is doing overall. I wasn’t just making decisions based on strategy or outcomes; I was making them based on what I was willing to believe. And once you commit to a view, it’s hard to shake it, even when the game nudges you otherwise. I found myself reflecting on what type of person [i]I[/i] am. How far can I…

4 hours in and it's already clear this one is special. It's written well and has all sorts of hints towards the wider World of Darkness that has me guessing just what kind of monsters we're dealing with. Top tier stuff.

It was a fun read but the end felt very rushed, without spoiling the story I'll just say what we went there to do simply never happened. No explanation, no final showdown, just nothing.

As someone who usually struggles to finish Choice of Games' catalogue, The Beast of Glenkildove has been a pleasant surprise. The characters are an excellent palette of in-universe viewpoints towards the central themes; the story is a fun, if somewhat linear, romp through the World of Darkness with plenty of branching and ending variety; the game itself feels almost like playing a TTRPG in book form, and manages to execute the Hunter mood of constantly feeling like you're fighting an uphill battle rather well. To those new to the Old World of Darkness setting, this game takes pains to portray everything in a way that makes it easy to pick up for total strangers - aided by your own character being new to the supernatural scene. To those familiar with the lore, I will say that I enjoyed it greatly, but almost everyone involved with the supernatural underground is very easy to pin on their first appearance. Much of the drama comes not from not knowing what creatures you're up against, however, but from being outmatched and unsure of where or how to strike - which more than compensates, in my experience. It is by no means enough to mar the experience, but I do have some gripes with t…

This text-based RPG is able to deliver a wealth of choice to really shape a supernatural adventure that feels your own with intriguing options to explore, creatively building on some great Irish mythology with a bit of IT flavour. This plays with lots of World of Darkness elements in interesting ways that either provides a neat intro to the universe, or should excite fans who know about its different settings.

Great mystery/hunt set in the World of Darkness, mostly within rural Ireland. Mostly Hunter the Reckoning but there are many World of Darkness elements scattered throughout. Some good story options and a great example of how people view creatures/events differently.