Re: What Have You Been Playing... IN JUNE 2025?

On Thu, 3 Jul 2025 22:32:02 -0600, "rms" <rsquiresMOO@MOOflashMOO.net>
wrote:

Hunt Showdown : 1896

>
  My disappointment never ends that this title has no singleplayer mode :(

There are definitely some elements of this game (the engine, the
setting, the sound design, etc.) that could make a nice single player
title.

But after having played it for a couple of dozen hours, I also realize
how many different ways an attempt to turn it into something else
could go terribly sideways. 

Because once things like quests, NPC voice acting, cutscenes and other
attempts to shoehorn a story in start to happen, there is equal chance
of it becoming cheesy as turning out well.  There's just so many
things that could go wrong there that aren't a risk in the current
form of the game.  I think a big part of the immersiveness is because
the screen stays relatively free of clutter like quest markers / route
guides, pop-up UI elements and so forth.  NPCs talking would almost
surely take something away from the atmospheric sound design (which is
stunning in this game), because it's the lack of all other sound that
creates the creepy atmosphere and causes the ear to focus on what the
sound designers intended.

So, if they just bolted on a single player mode to the current game,
it would just be press the button for dark sight to highlight the
"clue" (where to go next)... fight boss monster, either succeed or
die, etc.   There would need to be more than that. 

It could be done, it's just that it would be better off as an entirely
new game that's inspired by HS:1896, using a similar setting, that's
designed from the ground up to be single player.