Mistfall Hunter
Review

Mistfall Hunter creates this dark fantasy setting and turns it into a third-person PvPvE extraction action RPG. It promises intense looting, melee fights, stance-based combat, and a race against rivals and monstrosities to the extraction point.

Intense Combat & Polished Dark Fantasy

The thing that Mistfall Hunter really shines at is combat. Combining the slow but stance-based combat of Elden Ring/Monster Hunter with high-pressure PvPvE extraction games like Dark and Darker, it makes the gameplay loop very engaging.

• Stance-Switching Fluidity: Each class in the game masters two types of weapon stances, and therefore you can easily switch between fighting styles in the middle of the combo. Being able to switch from defensive stance to a rapid-fire attack with a free-aim system makes the melee gameplay much more interesting.
• Impressive Visuals: Visually, the game is very good. With fiery effects of spells on a deep purple background of magic attacks, sounds of armor clanking, and scary enemies design, it is a feast for the eyes.
• Excellent Audio Design: The sound design does a lot in this game. Whether it is the sound of monsters that are approaching or the environmental clues, spatial audio helps you track other players even before you see them.

The loading of the game is incredibly fast, and regardless of keyboard and mouse or controller usage, moving around the dark environment and performing heavy combos feels very natural and intuitive.

The Extraction Loop & Matchmaking Problems

The main gameplay loop of Mistfall Hunter is quite easy to learn but incredibly addictive and exciting. All you have to do is drop into a level solo or in a squad of three, kill corrupted monsters for Gyldenblood and gear, defeat rival hunters, and run to the extraction point.

However, the multiplayer ecosystem faces some identity problems now:

• Class Balance Issues: In PvP battles, the balance currently favors certain types of classes. Warrior Sword and Shield class is overtuned with endless attack spams, instant block and dash abilities, and other things. Archers are a close second with their ability to shoot endless damage in PvP fights. Caster classes like Sorcerer feel very weak against players.
• Bot Matchmaking: Currently, the matchmaking uses AI bots to fill in the empty slots of the lobbies or help new players get accustomed to the loop. While it ensures fast matchmaking, having bots in the lobbies of the game advertised as PvP extraction is quite a disappointment.
• Map Limitation: With a limited number of maps to explore right now, the grinding becomes repetitive pretty fast.

Mobile Game Mechanics & Infrastructure Problems

The foundation for the game is good, but the rest of the design decisions and infrastructure limitations significantly decrease the immersion of Mistfall Hunter.

• Timer Gates in the Camp: The camp system introduces real-world time gates to the game. You have to wait for several hours for crafting weapons and several days for gathering camp currency and resources. It feels very mobile-like, and it does not add anything to the gameplay.
• Monetization & Gacha Cosmetics: Apart from the initial cost of buying the game, it has aggressive microtransactions, battle passes, and gacha systems for getting cosmetics. They do not increase the stats, but still the presence of mobile-like gacha cosmetics in a buy-to-play extraction ARPG game is not very pleasant.
• Server & Regional Limitations: Players from the Oceanic (ANZ) region will have a problem with the lack of dedicated servers in the area. Having to play in 100+ms pings in a game like this is a nightmare. Moreover, strict regional locking and inability to team up with players from other regions is an annoyance.
• Unmoderated Global Chat: There is a global chat in the game and it is currently flooded with toxicity. Resetting to the default every time you return to the camp without being able to turn it off permanently is really annoying.

Cross-Platform Features & Ecosystem

Also, it’s necessary to talk about the cross-platform features of Mistfall Hunter. The title was simultaneously released on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. It's available on Xbox Game Pass day one.

Fortunately, Mistfall Hunter includes a complete set of cross-play options for all mentioned platforms, which means that everyone from the community can join hunting parties independent of the platform they use. Having a single unified community from day one is really good news for the long-term prospects of the game since it's quite high-stakes regarding extraction titles. The console users can change their cross-play settings if they would prefer playing only in the company of other console users without any mouse-and-keyboarders.

Unfortunately, the ecosystem suffers quite badly in terms of cross-progression since while it is possible to transfer your progress seamlessly from Xbox consoles to the Xbox PC application, the same cross-progression is not available from Steam, PlayStation, or Xbox. Starting on PS5 and then switching to Steam? All your gained Gyldenblood, unlocked classes, and cosmetics will be totally lost for you. It's especially bad considering that the game demands constant grinding to get better at it.

Conclusion

Mistfall Hunter has everything needed to become an amazing experience. When you are dodging attacks of a huge boss, switching stances to block a rival player, and executing a perfect extraction with your team, the adrenaline rush is incredibly enjoyable.

However, the mobile mechanics, gacha cosmetics, balance problems, and server limitations make the experience far from perfect.