Gamer reviews for Demon Hunter
The Fight for Salvation Starts with Demon Hunter
We’ve all thought of doomsday scenarios that would one day inflict our land; we’ve considered a meteor crashing down on us, an outbreak, an alien invasion, and quite fondly too, a zombie apocalypse. But not many have thought to consider, at this time and age, of demons ravaging our world. If a demon onslaught is a possibility, then there is no better way to test those demon-hunting skills than by living the life of a demon hunter that is tasked to sweep the streets clean of menacing demons. Thus is the story of the Action RPG Demon Hunter.
Developed by DivMob, Demon Hunter is free for download on Android, which was released in 2014. The game also offers a lot of in-app purchases—ranging from diamonds for purchasing some game advantages to outright buying of gear and other bonuses. Having this kind of microtransactions is quite troublesome because there seems to be a PvP aspect to the game. The ads in this game is quite intrusive too. It even popped up during a fight in which made me get hit and miss out on the combo bonus.
Demon Hunter is a side-scrolling-brawler, mixed with action RPG elements, in which you control one out of four available characters. Saber is the default character and is the only one you can use without paying with real cash or using diamonds. She uses a Katana and has a fighting style similar to Iaido. The Magician is a magic wielding character that most likely has better Area of Effect advantage than the rest. The Magician can be unlocked for 12 diamonds. The SCA is a soldier that focuses on ranged abilities and can be unlocked for 12 diamonds as well. And the last and most expensive to unlock at 20 diamonds, is the Ninja. He is similar to a famous character named Strider Hiryu but he is not the typical stealthy ninja because that would be odd for a brawler game. In addition to those classes, there seems to be a different variation to each classes mentioned. Saber, Magician, SCA, and Ninja has the Soul Sword, Fire Element, Weapon master, and Crazy Ninja classes respectively. You can instantly unlock them or reach lvl 35 to change into them.
The RPG elements mentioned earlier are as you may expect; a numbers game in the form of stats, which is STR, INT, DEX and LUK. What they do isn't stated but as a gamer, you could probably put the pieces together and find out what each stat does. You can get equipment as well that have unique attributes and can be enhanced (using diamonds) and upgraded which only take an increasing amount of time. Equipment isn't the only thing you upgrade but you also upgrade skills, provided that you reach the required level to do so. It is similar to equipment in which you spend time upgrading them. You can obtain pets too in exchange for diamonds and they can aid you in various ways depending on the equipped pet. These pets can also be upgraded in the same way you upgrade equipment and skills.
The meat of the game is the mix of the good combat and RPG elements. The combat is fluid and responsive provided you get a hang of the bad touch screen controls. I think there should be more mobile games, like this, that welcomes the use of a controller—especially if you are to deliver an array of deadly combos. It is so satisfying to do a multi-hit combo on a large group of enemies. And pulling off said combos just feels really nice like as your enemies are launched you can follow them up provided you have a move that would allow you to, or just catch them as they fall to continue another combo. You can view sample combos for each character in the character selection screen to get a general look on how the characters play and from those samples, they are indeed flashy. These combos do have a purpose aside from obtaining a high number for bragging rights because the higher your combo is, you get a boost in attack and loot rate and you lose the combo by getting hit or not hitting anything for an amount of time. It is highly important to keep the combo up due to most enemies being damage sponges.
I mentioned a possible PvP aspect to the game earlier. It is a seemingly random event that when a "Challenger" who is one of the four characters you choose from appears on the stage and fights you. It is unclear if they are indeed player controlled or just AIs because I have encountered a challenger who seems to hesitate, is slow, or is new to the game and another challenger who is really good and almost managed to kill me until I proceeded to use the skills at my disposal. If this is the case, having the option to pay for strength and quality of gears is a bad thing if there is a competitive aspect to any game. Another flaw of the game is the terrible translation on almost everything but careful analysis will make things understandable. Translation is an easy fix IF the developers decide to fix it.
The graphics used in this game are anime-styled 2D sprites. They are pretty well made and very detailed too and they are surprisingly fluid with the amount of frames each animation has. They are really pleasant to look at and the effects really show some impact. The music and sound effects are good too as they fit well with the theme of the game. The sound effects, especially the slicing sounds when you hit enemies with the sword, is really nice. All in all, graphics and sound are well done.
Demon Hunter, despite some of its flaws, is a good, fun game in its core. If you want a good solid brawler game with RPG elements, then this game may keep you occupied for a long amount of time. It is a solid recommendation for those interested in the genre.
