The trial weekend of Predator: Hunting Grounds is now in full swing and available to download! Illfonic has also opened their own Predator: Hunting Grounds community site which can be found at predator.illfonic.com. Be sure to head on over and check it out!
When your territory opens up for Trial Weekend you can access it for –
PS4 Here: https://t.co/CwzhPz1rTLEpic Here: https://t.co/LIsV0pu7Ue
*Remember the times are – Friday in Japan at 3pm JST, in Europe at 4pm GMT, and in North America at 5pm PST. Happy Hunting!
— IllFonic (@IllFonic) March 27, 2020
Illfonic have also commented that they are aware of the issue surrounding the matchmaking time and are looking into it. To celebrate the launch of the trial, Illfonic and Sony have also uploaded some swanky new desktop wallpapers to download!
Alien vs. Predator Galaxy is also streaming over the weekend. We did one Friday night, and will be returning again tonight for another several hours! I’m expecting we’ll be on around evening GMT and mid-day PST. Head on over to our YouTube channel and subscribe for notifications when we go live!
Make sure you stick with Alien vs. Predator Galaxy for the latest news on Predator: Hunting Grounds! You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube to get the latest on your social media walls. You can also join in with fellow Alien and Predator fans on our forums!
Agreed. Heck, they should make him more silent while cloaked overall. Although while I loved when the predator made all the clicking noises when I was searching, or stalking the players. I think they should change it to when you're cloaked, only you as the predator player can hear those noises, and not the fireteam. I thought at first that it was like that. But apparently, every sound you hear from the predator, the fireteam hears that too. Cloaked or not. =\
Thanks and nice job! Wish there was one perk for the Predator about making less noise.
I have some info on the predator's target isolation scan. The scan is active for 10 seconds, and the cooldown time is
1 minute and 15 seconds. Players that have mudded themselves up are not highlighted on the scan.
I'm a bit worried in how the predator will do against a high level fireteam in the long run. Their later perks seem to be really good. Hope it will be balanced enough.
Can be downed 1 extra time before death
Does this mean what i think it means? Like I get up literally with .05% on my health bar? At about what time does this happen whilst the predator looking down on me with his blades of death? or can i choose when?
Nicely done Sakishiro!
https://media.giphy.com/media/yziuK6WtDFMly/giphy.gif
https://ibb.co/4Z4cVgR
Fireteam
https://ibb.co/s6Vb5x4
Made a list of all the Predator and Fireteam perks from the demo.
I guess the final specs will be similar to the ones provided for the trial. Just follow the link and scroll down to a specifications section.
https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/predator-hunting-grounds/trial-weekend
It's good to be King of something!
It definitely sounded like Jake Busey in the trial to me when you down the Predator and OWLF comes on the radio and takes charge. Pretty sure the extras section mentioned that he will indeed be doing the voice-over work for the OWLF audio files too.
Voodoo Magic: king of horrifying photoshops.
Little girl: "Please, Predator Genie. Make sure P:HG is great."
I don't know. I think RidgeTop believed he heard Jake Busey's voice during the downing of the Predator, but unfortunately I didn't personally pay that close attention. There must be a clip of it somewhere on YouTube we can over scrutinize.
I think we do have recordings as unlockables and so he might be on those but it came as a surprise.
https://i.ibb.co/NNz02jr/IMG-20200413-115458.jpg
This reminded me a scene from Big Trouble In Little China.
https://media1.tenor.com/images/94de86251f49caf113092633e70f4a22/tenor.gif
Ha! As I read this I actually pictured him in my mind as a balloon flying away.
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/avp/images/7/73/Celtic.PNG/revision/latest?cb=20150116085401
I like Fugitive's design too. Best part of The Predator by far.
The helmet I love, but the bulky American Football armor is just too much to me.
Gort (since it was at least intended for P1), City Hunter, Damaged Jungle Hunter mask (like in Predators), and Fugitive.
If AVP was represented similar to Jungle Hunter being used for the Hunter skin, Berserker would use the AVP Predators while Wolf would be used for Scout since he's less armored. While Scar and Jungle Hunter do have slightly different masks I can imagine it might cause a bit of an uproar if they included Scar so it'd probably get representation through Chopper and Celtic.
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/avp/images/7/73/Celtic.PNG/revision/latest?cb=20150116085401
I'm not a big fan of the first AvP movie but that is one of my favorite Predator designs.
https://predator.illfonic.com/forum
Yeah. That would also make the matches more dynamic, and give more purpose to the predator taking on the NPCs, and plan ahead.
Guys, what are your thoughts in making it possible to skin and hang dead players or NPCs for a momentarily boost of some kind to the predator, or a momentarily decrease in accuracy for the fireteam if they either look at the hanged bodies, or are in close proximity? Or do you have any other suggestions in how to implement the skin & hang gameplay mechanic? Maybe we could brainstorm on this, and if we are able to come up with something good, we can let Illfonic know about it
Most of my pros and cons have already been mentioned by others and I agree with most of them. Given how many people seemed to end up saying the Predator was underpowered, at least at range, it'll be interesting to see if Illfonic ups the damage of the plasma caster or smart disc for the full release. It's definitely a tricky balancing act because it's pretty easy for him to destroy a team with the combistick if he jumps down and starts swinging away if everybody isn't shooting back at him, so you've definitely still got to give the humans players a chance.
I'd certainly be down for them making the hit feedback for the disc a bit better though. It's hard to tell if you've downed someone with it or not if you manage to hit them in flight, so that'd be nice to know for sure.
I do still worry that we're only going to end up with the three maps we had in the beta, which has been a worry I've had all along after Friday the 13th. I guess we'll see in a couple of weeks. And needless to say I hope the matchmaking is better than what we got here as well.
Then there are smaller things like voice lines not working when you're in the trees and pressing O to drop down seemingly taking ages sucks when you're in a firefight. I'll just have to get used to running and jumping away. And a better visual indication of whether you're cloaked or not when you're using thermal vision would be good too, given that one melee swing decloaks you and if you're running around on the ground it can sometimes be hard to tell whether it's on or not, since you look the same either way.
As for the gameplay, I'm definitely going to have to get used to being a bit more aggressive. Several matches I ended up not getting full team wipes because I was stalking a bit too much without just committing to going in and murdering people, then before I knew it the chopper was coming in (I never stopped a single team from getting reinforcements, on purpose). I often play killer in Dead by Daylight where fully beating a player really early on just kinda sucks, but seeing as there's a time limit here at a certain point I guess you just have to jump in and start murdering regardless.
I do still think they could do with at least an extra 5 minutes on that, but it's probably not something they're going to change at this point.
Yeah I should've known better as none of the trees have areas to run.
What I did find though is that the top of the barrier can actually be jumped on, and from there I can perform another pounce. So I tried to jump over the invisible wall to get up on to the rocks to back track and it didn't work. As it turns out the starting location has a few particular barriers that are invisible to the player and so the Predator awkwardly slides off. That being said there's also a location that lacks geometry so you can actually go right through it. I don't blame the developers for not putting a barrier there as I'm not supposed to be here anyways (especially not seeing as the trial has ended
Also weird aside is that the location the player is introduced to crouching at can't be jumped over. It has an invisible wall meaning you have to pounce to the sides or crouch under it like intended.
EDIT: So just screwing around the same place you can hop the barrier you can reach a point on the map that the Predator can reach via pounce. This location is the highest point on the map which means I could actually see over the rocks into a white void. Turns out the foliage is also a cut out but that high up I see no reason why it wouldn't. As a result of being so high the Predator could not jump further. I actually nearly went over the invisible barriers so I might break this game yet.
So I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier but I still had the Smart-disk equipped on my Predator. So instead of simply jumping over the barrier I realized I could probably throw the disk since it would be able to be guided and provided I didn't hit anything would be able to have it return to me.
So the ship looks like it's a blue rendition of Fugitive's ship from The Predator. I'm actually kind of impressed with how large this thing is and especially that it's either geometry or an object. Like I really want to see players getting up to this to really appreciate its scale.
EDIT: Turns out the trees you cannot climb in the starting location
Indeed!
I'm wondering if we can boundary break this seeing as the ship is out there, I'm wondering if it is an object and otherwise I'd like to get an up and close look at the model.
PS4
'It is actually easy on ps4 just open the trial while your ps4 is not connected to internet... The game will automatically ask you "play offline" and boom you are set... No files no bullshit just have fun!'
PC
That sounds like a cool idea. The player playing the Predator would actually have an incentive to do it because of the bullet spread.
I just want to share my thoughts of the Predator: Hunting Grounds demo and the things I enjoyed about the game.
A little background first. I have played most if not all the Aliens and Predator games and many others. I have also watched the the films countless times. That being said of course I am a fan but also hope the game is improved so that we can continue enjoying it for many years.
The Positives
Music and Sound
My hats off to the developers of Predator Hunting Grounds for absolutely nailing the music. It is great. In fact it may be one of the best things about the demo. It cannot be understated. It modernizes the Predator theme without compromising the original motifs. A lot of time developers pay tribute to a musical movie theme but ultimately end up creating something that feels too unfamiliar. This game however has the best Predator game music I have heard. It makes it feel like you are in the movie. Helicopter drop sequence anyone? Let's hope they have Long Tall Sally somewhere in the full game. Predator sounds are equally nicely recreated.
Sidenote: It would be even nicer if they displayed gamertag when they show everyone sitting in the chopper before the drop at the start of the match. Would make it feel like every player is a character in their own movie.
The Environment
I believe the developers did a great job on creating a lot of density in the jungle. There are lots of trees and foliage. I do not mind if they reused some of the same assets to create the density because it feels like you are in the middle of a jungle. I like also how the terrain is uneven giving the space some verticality. Also love how you can break tree branches with firepower like the film. I can totally see the developers releasing some Predator 2 city map down the line. Meat freezer anyone?
The Weapons
Again, hats off to the developers. They included some bad@%* guns for the fireteam as it should be. AA-12, 50cal, minigun, grenade launcher, MP5, etc. I have to point out the fireteam in the 1987 movie were packing major heat, and it is nice the game here lets their weapons be equally cool. The Predator should be toast when caught against a fully loaded fireteam which is why he picks them off one by one hit and run. I think the demo did a good job of that. 1v4 is hard. 1v3 is still hard but not as hard. 1v2 is ok with combi-stick. 1v1 is a predator trophy in the making.
Also they put in most of the Predator main arsenal which is nice. I have to say the plasma caster felt a little weak. Maybe if the charging time is reduced it may balance better. Every game the most viable option always seemed to be combi-stick because ttk was faster against a pro team. Also, opponents spamming spot and the cloak being useless while moving made it difficult! Also the big red lasers give your position away too fast. In the movie the Predator trained his lasers without being spotted. Despite this I still managed to win as Predator with some effort. The only thing I want different in the main game is make the cloak more effective or remove the ability to spot while cloak active.
Sidenote: If one day there is DLC with the suits from the fireteam in Predator 2 and a meat fridge level, I hope they add Predator EM vision to see them. And don't forget the UV lights.
Customization
I like the customization in this. It feels nice to change your appearance and create a fireteam with unique loadout or Predator type. I still do not know how I feel about the bow. I wonder why the bow is a Predator weapon and not fireteam? Only Dutch used the bow in the film. I would have replaced the bow with his wrist projectile from Predator 2.That being said, I enjoy how you can customize the hats, face paint, and other throwbacks to the films.
Well, that is all I can think of for the moment. I enjoyed the demo and I think the developers paid attention to the films which is good and needed. The framerate needs to be fixed for smoother gameplay. Some of my teamates complained about that the most. It was a fun demo however. Hopefully Illfonic can put in the extra work to iron out the game's problems before release. Especially the time to find matches because for an online ONLY game this is most important.
Thanks for reading. Feel free to share your thoughts.
Predator: Hunting Grounds Mostly Captures the Thrill of the Hunt
https://www.ign.com/articles/predator-hunting-grounds-mostly-captures-the-thrill-of-the-hunt
They could implement gameplay aspects on it as well, like when players look at the skinned bodies or is in close proximity, they become nervous and their bullet spread is increased for a limited time. But to balance it, the bullet spread increase can only be applied once or twice. Just a thought. I just want to be able to skin and hang prey. That would definitely make the Predator gameplay experience complete. 😈
What exactly is broken? On PC or PS4? Is it something that can't be fixed?
If I were to expect a sequel, I do not want it right away. Overdose of anything is never good.
So the first things you associate with Alien or Predator are ladders, hiding and water? Interesting.
I do not see any need for them if a game does not require it.
Correct, but also aesthetics based on AvP movie.
You are a funny guy too like Sully from Commando movie. I like you.
Anyway I know what you can do with a toolkit but it does not change a fact that the most people move to a new shiny thing.
Again, everything is explained in the game through gameplay menus and mission briefings. So you can rest easy.
Cross your fingers very hard on that.
Considering how ladders, hiding and water are omnipresent in every movie... yeah it's important.
Unless you are satisfied with an Alien/Predator game that has... no Alien or Predator in it.
Let me guess, the gameplay
"Just" cos obviously it's just what I am, do and think.
I like how you try to force your way of imposing my own thoughts
No I like to play. Eventually do maps if allowed but it's not a priority.
But, one thing you must understand is game with toolkit ends-up uplifted, even terrible games like A:CM.
Never said I want more customization, just a clearer statement of what the **** I'm even doing in this game beside pressing the trigger.
The state of the game right now only has a briefing to read, ambiguous and this poor cinematic having "Fireteam Go Go Go".
But Go where do what? And Why should I even do that?
As I said for the predator it's clear: You are a Predator, a Hunter. You kill people and take their trophy.
For the human what? You're special Force? Special Force of what? Is your objective complete the objective? Kill the Predator? It's a mystery of steam and I don't see what justify any of the objectives I'm doing so I just press the trigger and follow the white rabbit where it want me to go.