Chupacabras: Night Hunt

by MrFatcat for Windows 8

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Premium coop hunting adventure

Chupacabras: Night Hunt is a paid action and adventure experience from MrFatcat. This game is playable either solo or multiplayer, with the option to be one of the hunters or be the titular chupacabra. Its character roles entrust players with different objectives and require different playstyles.

It promises a good asymmetrical experience for multiple players, but Chupacabras: Night Hunt unfortunately suffers from a couple of poor design and optimization choices. For example, there is no strafing or sidestepping. At this point, it feels like a more restrictive indie alternative to Deceit or The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

The hunt for the goat-killer

Chupacabras: Night Hunt revolves around the legendary creature of the same name, infamous for its tendency to attack animals, especially goats. This can be you or your prey, depending on whether you play as a Hunter or as the Creature. As a human, your job is to stop the attacks on local livelihoods. The chupacabra gains new powers in this game with every goat he successfully consumes.

Goats are essentially the key item in this game, which spells victory and defeat conditions. The game supports up to five players per game, or you can play it solo against the AI. By exploring the forest setting— which is available in dark nighttime or misty daytime—hunters can find weapons, ammo, and other items while the creature searches for goats to devour.

The main problem in this game is the lack of sidestepping features. Most games let you use the WASD to move forward, strafe left, strafe right, and move backward respectively. Here, A and S keys are not used. You move forward and backward, turning with the mouse control. This makes the game weirdly difficult, which could also explain the dwindling player base—making public matchmaking essentially impossible.

Strafeless and playerless

Chupacabras: Night Hunt was on to something by building an asymmetric horror game based on an American pop culture creature. It also adds a challenge by having the goats act as intermediary targets instead of the usual man vs creature scenario. Unfortunately, it suffers from a very small player base that makes solo matchmaking difficult—a fact that is not alleviated by the game’s lack of strafing controls.