Not only did Illfonic take a gameplay reveal trailer to GamesCom last week, they also took an early build of the game for gaming journalists to get hands-on with. Early impressions are pretty good, with emphasize on how authentic the game feels to playing as the Predator itself.
GameRadar’s Leon Hurley was one of the lucky few to experience the game at GamesCom where he got to have some fun with the game’s cloaking device!
Playing as the Predator is a fine balance of restraint and excessive power. When invisible, for example it’s hard to see a moving Predator, and impossible to be seen while stationary – during one of my matches, when I’d taken a lot of damage and been chased down by the soldier team, I was able to evade them just by turning a corner and freezing. It led to an unbearably tense few seconds as three of them circled around me, almost elbow to elbow and then walking on without realising. I don’t think I’ve ever struggled as hard to hold my nerves and not panic.
Hurley also went into detail around the victory conditions of the matches, stating they shared an understandable similarity with Illfonic’s Friday the 13th.
The average game’s push and pull comes from the fact that if anyone does actually [Arnie voice] get to the chopper, the Predator loses. So as the alien you have to constantly push your luck and take risks to stop that happening. Like Friday the 13th, the usual endgame is some people die, some get away and it’s a mixed victory on both sides. Eventualities like killing the Predator outright, or everyone escaping alive are more of a rare occurrence and all the more exhilarating for it.
Also on hand was Polygon’s Colin Campbell who was able to get an early play of Predator: Hunting Grounds and he spoke a little about the map, confirming a variety of map upon the game’s release.
The map I recently played was set in an ancient forest, but I’m told to expect a variety of maps and modes in the final release. Various installations are manned by hostile AI warriors. In the demo mode I played (which is available at PAX West this week), the soldiers are tasked with various missions which generally involve infiltrating buildings and killing swarms of AI enemies. They must survive the Predator, or kill it. The Predator’s only concern is hunting the human players, though it is also viewed by the AI as an enemy.
PlayStation Access has also posted up a nice video detailing the “7 Things I Learned” while playing Predator: Hunting Grounds. The video also contains new gameplay footage that demonstrates how the game’s Predkour system works, highlighting the path that the Predator is able to take through the top of the trees!
PlayStation Access also confirmed that there would be multiple classes of Predator. The Predator we’ve seen so far is called the “Hunter” class which has the Plasma Caster, wrist-blades and cloaking device.
We’ll be sure to keep this forum thread updated with new hands-on reports or footage as they come in!
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!
That hasn't been talked about! I think you used to be able to do that on AvP2 and it was a cool feature, disabling the vision modes.
That would also be a cool mechanic! I'd love to see something like that show up.
Plus if and when they introduce more skins, as I'm sure they will given how many different Jasons they ended up with in Friday the 13th, it'll be nice to be able to see them all the time while you play. Not that I would have complained if the Predator had been in first-person as well, but I think this is a good way to go about it.
Also it's a few days old, but I didn't see this new Playstation blog post up anywhere yet:
https://blog.us.playstation.com/2019/09/11/everything-we-learned-about-predator-hunting-grounds-at-gamescom-2019/
Some nice, hype-building descriptions in there.
So, using mud will have a drawback if the Predator suspects you're going to do it and strikes at the right time. Definitely doesn't sound like it's going to be op or something where every human player just does it the instant they start every single game. That's good.
And this definitely hasn't been shown or talked about before:
That's a really cool detail, similar to how you can knock Jason's mask off in F13, only here it actually has negative gameplay effects for the Predator! Granted I guess you could say it did in F13 too since it was one of the things you had to do if you wanted to try and kill Jason, but this sounds like it'll affect more matches in a more noticeable way.
Also, humans potentially stealing a Predator's mask? Wonder if we might get a The Predator-themed trophy for that?
I never knew I wanted it, but now I know it's a mechanic I am f**king excited for it!
One hope I have is for the plasmacaster.
Maybe they could have the plasmapistol as a quick draw but it needs to reload between shots or the rapid fire version which does less damage but you could fire longer. Dual casters might be fun if they took more energy but could do more damage or aim at other people in addition to who you target.
Yes! The Jungle Hunter. The City Hunter. The Beserker. I want them all!
I'm actually feeling a bit better about it after seeing this new footage. The gunplay looks a little smoother and less janky than it did in the trailer, and the Predator's movement in terms of climbing and running along the branches and treetops looks great (apart from the jumping, which looks like he's just sliding in mid-air). That sort of Assassin's Creed kind of movement is exactly the sort of thing I was hoping for when they said they were developing a "Predkour" system after seeing the trailer. Looks like we'll easily be able to grab the high ground and stalk people without worrying about falling out of a tree every time we take a step forward.
And that's pretty crazy that there actually is a mud camouflage system in there! That's the sort of thing that, when someone mentioned it on here I thought would just end up being one of those cool gameplay mechanics that'd be great to have but will never actually be a real thing, and yet here we are! Awesome!
I'm actually pretty happy about this. I wanted to see Predators better at different things. Same for the humans. Though one of the previews mentioned something about it being entirely customisable so maybe you choose the skills you want to focus on.
Another English hands-on: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/predator-hunting-grounds-is-at-its-best-when-playi/1100-6469489/
https://www.gamereactor.eu/predator-hunting-grounds-handson-impressions/
https://www.vgn.it/anteprima/108079/predator-hunting-grounds-provato-in-anteprima-alla-gamescom-2019/
https://www.hobbyconsolas.com/reportajes/impresiones-predator-hunting-grounds-ps4-multijugador-4-1-482665?utm_content=bufferde8ef&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter&utm_campaign=HC
https://www.eurogamer.de/articles/2019-08-29-predator-hunting-grounds-asymmetrische-multiplayer-action-im-evolve-stil
https://www.eurogamer.pl/articles/2019-08-29-predator-hunting-grounds-juz-gralismy-emocjonujace-polowanie-ktore-wymaga-dopracowania
Looks like the new gameplay footage is b-roll. The other videos on YT including footage all have the same.
https://www.gamereactor.fi/uutiset/675543/Ennakossa+moninpelipainotteinen+Predator+Hunting+Grounds/
VGN weren't fans of the technical side of the build:
You can cover yourself in mud!!!
https://www.hobbyconsolas.com/reportajes/impresiones-predator-hunting-grounds-ps4-multijugador-4-1-482665?utm_content=bufferde8ef&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter&utm_campaign=HC
I love that!!
They also talked about it being pre-Alpha.
https://www.eurogamer.de/articles/2019-08-29-predator-hunting-grounds-asymmetrische-multiplayer-action-im-evolve-stil