Hunter: A Time of Monsters

Choice of Games LLC

Contains adsIn-app purchases

About this game

Topple the vampires from the streets below! Will you unite the homeless, the gangs, and the secret hunter societies to defy vampiric rule?

"Hunter: The Reckoning — A Time of Monsters" is an interactive novel by Paul Wang, set in the World of Darkness, where your choices control the story. It's entirely text-based, 1,000,000 words, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

Welcome to the Downtown Eastside, a place Vancouver has tried its best to forget. Sandwiched between the steel and glass towers of the financial district and the gentrified tourist playground of the new harbor, the human detritus of the city keeps getting squeezed into a smaller and smaller box. Dispossessed, trampled, ignored…It will only take the right spark to set the fury ablaze.

Down on your luck, you’ve found yourself in a homeless encampment here. When a vampire masquerading as a cop attacks you, the misery of Downtown Eastside takes on a whole new dimension. Suddenly, you have a place to direct your rage: the world of shadow that preys upon the misery of your new neighbors.

But this first glimpse is just that: a first glimpse. A gash in the fabric of reality as you knew it. Soon, you find yourself torn between the street gangs of the Downtown Eastside, RCMP special ops, a coterie of Thin Blooded vampires, multiple secret hunter societies, and the Chinese Triads. The shadow world just goes deeper and deeper, and it seems like someone is ready and willing to betray you at every turn. Of course, each of them has something to offer you: a home, a job, a career? Money, glory, vengeance, or immortality?

Despite these temptations, you are not alone. In the short time that you’ve been here, you’ve met the fiercest defenders of humanity: your neighbors. You did not expect to find the camaraderie of the Downtown Eastside to be so strong, but now that you’re here, you can't imagine anything else. Together, can you and your new friends stand against the darkness? When the time comes, will you sacrifice yourself for your community, or will you choose to become one more bloodsucking predator of the night?

* Play as male, female, or nonbinary; gay, straight, or bi
* Scrounge for food, weapons, and allies in the back alleys of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside
* Defy powerful vampiric foes lurking within the heart of the city—or become their willing servant
* Help your found family to make peace with their inner demons, or manipulate them for your own ends
* Set a vampire on fire

Hunted, broke, and homeless, your nights seem numbered. They have everything. You only have your guts, your wits, and a stubborn refusal to die.

Ratings and reviews

There are more pathways but I am not sure there are more *choices*. Replaying generates a lot of new text, and you can learn a lot about the NPCs, but your character doesn't really "grow", just gets more/less trusting and more/less desperate. At times, it feels like the challenge is to interest the individuals with actual power to deign to lend a hand. I am a huge fan of the author, but I came away vaguely disappointed.

I love World of Darkness content but this is no Beast of Glenkildove, Book of Hungry Names, or Night Road. For one, its mostly just a homelessness simulator with vampires. The stat system is different and minimalist, characters are flat and the story has no depth. Youre forced to miss content for resource collection and you have to juggle mental health, hunger, environment, etc which all distracts from the plot. Its also very preachy. The writing is fine but the core plot is just lackluster.

This a fun game, good for anyone who is a fan of Choice of Games or World of Darkness. The game focuses on a street level adventure discovering the supernatural. Choices are meaningful and the prose is fun to read.

What’s new

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