The Blood of Dawnwalker
The Blood of Dawnwalker
Game
Game2017
theHunter: Call of the Wild™
Developer Expansive Worlds
Discover an atmospheric hunting game like no other in this realistic, stunning open world – regularly updated in collaboration with the community. Immerse yourself in the single player campaign, or share the ultimate hunting experience with friends. From the Steam store page
475 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon, Lemmy) · newest Nov 5, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
75
LovedLoved
338 positive · 114 negative
95% range 71–79%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 338 | 114 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 6 | 0 | 14 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Lemmy * | 1 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
68,504 of 76,360 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
73% recommend · 184 yes, 68 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 252 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (181,673 of 203,975 positive).
Players praise the game's stunning graphics and immersive atmosphere. [1][2][3] Many find the slow-paced gameplay relaxing and rewarding. [4][5][6] Some criticize the heavy reliance on paid DLC for essential features. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [7]
The game is fun, but it is egregious how much of the content is locked behind a paywall. So many paid DLC's and a fair ammount of them are NEEDED just to enjoy the game at a reasonable level.
- [16]
started this game thinking “haha deer simulator” and 20 minutes later i was crawling through a bush at 0.3 km/h because i sneezed and scared away an elk from another postcode. graphics are so realistic i started apologising to animals before shooting them. half the gameplay is: walking hearing a noise panicking accidentally equipping the wrong item getting attacked by a moose built like a tank the animals somehow …
- [3]
The Hunter: Call of the Wild isn’t a game you just jump into - it takes time to learn, but it’s absolutely worth it. The graphics are stunning, the world feels alive, and once you understand the mechanics, the mix of peaceful exploring and intense tracking is incredibly satisfying. I’ve put 743 hours into the game so far. Getting all achievements took me roughly 400–500 hours, if I remember correctly. The devs are …
- [4]
You will love it if: You enjoy immersive, beautiful open worlds, appreciate realistic ballistics, and find a slow-paced gameplay loop rewarding. It is a fantastic game to put on headphones, relax, or listen to a podcast to while tracking game. You should skip it if: You are looking for fast-paced action, instant gratification, or direct mission structures. If you don't possess a high tolerance for tracking a single …
- [1]
---{ Graphics }--- ☐ You forget what reality is ☑ Beautiful ☐ Good ☐ Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐ MS-DOS ---{ Gameplay }--- ☐ Very good ☑ Good ☐ It's just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Watch paint dry instead ☐ Just don't ---{ Audio }--- ☐ Eargasm ☑ Very good ☐ Good ☐ Not too bad ☐ Bad ☐ I'm now deaf ---{ Audience }--- ☐ Kids ☑ Teens ☑ Adults ☐ Grandma ---{ PC Requirements }--- ☐ Check if you can run paint ☐ …
Summarised from 34 of the 270 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 10, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
73% of the 252 Steam reviewers we collected recommend theHunter: Call of the Wild™. The complaint that keeps coming up: too many essential features locked behind DLC. Deal-breaker or nitpick?
Reactions
60 of 475 · most liked firstThe game is fun, but it is egregious how much of the content is locked behind a paywall. So many paid DLC's and a fair ammount of them are NEEDED just to enjoy the game at a reasonable level.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I shot a turkey with a 500 magnum. It survived and I proceeded to chase it for 10km. I lost the tracks and punched a hole in my monitor. 10/10 game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →---{ Graphics }--- ☐ You forget what reality is ☑ Beautiful ☐ Good ☐ Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐ MS-DOS ---{ Gameplay }--- ☐ Very good ☑ Good ☐ It's just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Watch paint dry instead ☐ Just don't ---{ Audio }--- ☐ Eargasm ☑ Very good ☐ Good ☐ Not too bad ☐ Bad ☐ I'm now deaf ---{ Audience }--- ☐ Kids ☑ Teens ☑ Adults ☐ Grandma ---{ PC Requirements }--- ☐ Check if you can run paint ☐ Potato ☐ Decent ☑ Fast ☐ Rich boi ☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer ---{…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is fun... Only if you own DLC for it. There are 59 DLCs that are (according to the "Content For This Game" tab under the bundles) $313 and most, if not all, should be in the base game. Sure the hunting lodges somewhat make sense as a DLC but nothing else does, the tents, ATVs, and High-Tech Hunting Pack are a must have if you want to play for longer than an hour but cost $3.99 each. The game is quite repetitive without the ATVs and tents because it takes forever to get somewhere that…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →started this game thinking “haha deer simulator” and 20 minutes later i was crawling through a bush at 0.3 km/h because i sneezed and scared away an elk from another postcode. graphics are so realistic i started apologising to animals before shooting them. half the gameplay is: walking hearing a noise panicking accidentally equipping the wrong item getting attacked by a moose built like a tank the animals somehow hear me blink from 8 kilometres away but my character can sprint…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Please for the love of god let me download the game without downloading every single locked DLC map. It's over 100 gigabytes. Why. This is literally the only reason I don't play this game anymore.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hunter call of the wild (cotw) was, at first, an enjoyable game about tracking, unlocking abilities and enjoying a wonderfully crafted lanscape. The base game is priced fairy and you get an ok amount of content behind it. The rare fur types are fun to hunt for... for the first 50 hours, honestly after my 800th red fox without a diamond I stopped enjoying the grind. But that wasn't the only thing that killed the fun for me. Frequently added DLCS are ALWAYS priced, since I bought the game and…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is not feature complete without purchasing DLC. I am trying to do the quests in Hirschfelden Hunting Reserve and it wants me to use a Ground Blind. You cannot use a Ground Blind without purchasing the Tents & Ground Blinds DLC. This should be illegal.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →After the shutdown of other theHunter* games, such as Primal, angler, and most recently classic, I can't personally recommend investing your time and money into this game. Please! Stop killing games! Give back to the community, fulfill empty promises, and show you care. I'd love to continue supporting the studio and devs but I can't keep throwing away my paychecks based off of empty promises. Do better. Stop killing games.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →As someone with almost 2000 hours in this game, it has gone downhill very fast. I am a great one grinder. There was a time when animals where in their zones, they respawned consistently, and I could play for 8 or more hours a day and never got bored. It could take 5k animals to get a great one, and I would enjoy every minute of it. I have all the dlc's, all the maps, everything. The developers keep making changes for the worse and make excuses for it saying thats how they want it to work. This…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →this game is pretty cool its kind of like pokemon and shiny hunting for different animal fur types but instead i get to blow Pikachu's skull clean off with a 300 canning magnum
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Trash game, trash company. Closing the hunter classic forcing supporters to loose everything they paid for. They will eventually do it here, avoid the developer and the publisher like the plague.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I would have recommended this game before they kept coming out with more and more stuff as paid dlc that should just be part of the game. I would prefer to support developers and purchase their games but when they wanna make us pay for things that need to just be part of the game, it makes us not want to pay for these games.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →EULA is totally ♥♥♥♥♥♥, won't even let you play offline unless you wave legal rights and allow a ton of personal data harvesting
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I’ve been playing this game for 7.5 years, and I can confirm that if you’re not a fan of grinding and extensive progression systems. This game will likely not be for you unless you really appreciate hunting. It is also has somewhat of an arcade feel. I wouldn’t neccesarily call it “unrealistic”. However, if you get better at the game, you can get a lot done in 1-3 hours. The introduction of Great One species which are incredibly rare, has added a lot of “grinding” for players, which can…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →---{ Graphics }--- ☐ You forget what reality is ☑ Beautiful ☐ Good ☐ Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐ MS-DOS ---{ Gameplay }--- ☐ Very good ☑ Satisfyingly immersive ☐ It's just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Watch paint dry instead ☐ Just don't ---{ Audio }--- ☑ Eargasm ☐ Very good ☐ Good ☐ Not too bad ☐ Bad ☐ I'm now deaf ---{ Audience }--- ☐ Kids ☑ Teens ☑ Adults ☑ Grandma ---{ PC Requirements }--- ☐ Check if you can run paint ☐ Potato ☑ Decent ☑ Fast ☐ Rich boi ☐ Ask NASA if they have a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Hunter: Call of the Wild isn’t a game you just jump into - it takes time to learn, but it’s absolutely worth it. The graphics are stunning, the world feels alive, and once you understand the mechanics, the mix of peaceful exploring and intense tracking is incredibly satisfying. I’ve put 743 hours into the game so far. Getting all achievements took me roughly 400–500 hours, if I remember correctly. The devs are still actively improving the game, and they even removed the old impossible…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I do /like/ this game but there is a lot to say practice wise that I very strongly dislike: A. The game is optimized terribly. Why is this game 115 GB? That is insane. It is bad that games like Baulder's Gate are that big, this game has no excuse for that aside from terrible optimization. This is an issue with modern games, generally, with HD textures and so on. That said, compress some stuff down. B. The entire "experience" of this game will cost you over $300 to own. That is downright theft.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →played for 2 hours straight and haven't caught a single animal 100% would recommend peak game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There was a time when I might have recommended this game, or even bought it for a friend. I have over 1000 hours on this game, and it can still be a fun game at times, owing to the fact that it's easy to jump on and play just to pass the time. But over the years it seems like this game has just become one big lazy cash grab, and it feels like the developers just don't care about what the community wants anymore. As such, I feel like I simply cannot recommend it at this point. It seems like the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I would really like to give this game a thumbs up, because this game has moments where you genuinely feel like part of a living ecosystem. You walk through the early morning fog, hear the distant call of a deer, and the entire experience feels almost meditative. Unfortunately, the moment you progress into the endgame and encounter the Great One grind mechanic, that atmosphere completely dissolves. What begins as a hunting game slowly turns into systematic map resetting and mechanical herd…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Don't waste you time on this S L O W "game" . "theHunter Classic" should be made into a stand alone game without all the side BS like "competitions" and friend hunts which only call for more support from game maker staff. We want THIS GAME- Hunter Classic as a stand alone hunting game without all the BS. 10 years I played Classic, spent lots of coin not because I had to but because I wanted to. NOW YOUR DUMPING US LIKEA SACK OF POTATOES! "theHunter Call of the Wild" sucks. Slow movement,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pretty solid, def improvement over classic. I will say, the ATVs shouldn't be a DLC, not only are they in the game cover on steam, the maps are huge. traversing a whole map just by walking/running just isn't realistic. Unless you really have the patience to do that; however, without the ATVs the game can suffer a lot of what Starfield suffers from. A whole lot of nothing. There are times where you can spend 5-10 minutes getting absolutely nothing. When you do find something and if you…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →You will love it if: You enjoy immersive, beautiful open worlds, appreciate realistic ballistics, and find a slow-paced gameplay loop rewarding. It is a fantastic game to put on headphones, relax, or listen to a podcast to while tracking game. You should skip it if: You are looking for fast-paced action, instant gratification, or direct mission structures. If you don't possess a high tolerance for tracking a single prize elk through a forest for 30 minutes, it will feel like a tedious "walking…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've owned this game since launch and never managed to figure out what a good review for it would be. Now, due to a factor relating to the total amount of played hours, I feel obliged to. This is a great game. This is a great game to play with friends, this is a great game to play alone, this is a great game to run on screen #1 while doing work on screen #2, and this is a great game to just chill to. I've been grinding moose for the past 300 hours, more or less ever since I picked it up…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 10/10 — A perfect chill game for a former FPS grinder turned busy dad I’ve put about 48 hours into Hunter: Call of the Wild, and it’s honestly become the perfect game for where I’m at in life. I’ve always been a Call of Duty and Battlefield guy — that used to be my whole gaming identity. But as I got older (and became a father of four), I found myself drifting more toward single‑player games and experiences I can enjoy at my own pace. This game hits that sweet spot. It’s calm,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →if you love to walk around for 3 hours following one fox just for it to evaporate right infront of you. then this is the game for you 10/10 i love it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Stalk an animal for an hour. Friend fast travels to a tent and scares the animal off. Get ambushed by a jaguar and die because your friend made too much noise after fast traveling. 10/10 no notes.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Got the game, shot a deer, then tried finding it with the blood trail. I couldn't find it, so i immediatly bought dlc and tried again. Then I emptied a glock on the deer. 10/10 would recomend.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I was a huge fan of Hunting Unlimited 2009 as a kid, I started off playing free trial versions from different game providers until I eventually got the disc. Flash forward to 2025, I see theHunter: Call of the Wild. It's a very pretty game, surely a continuation of what we had before but better, right?? I can't even describe my disgust at how predatory this game is with its paid DLC, it's so shameless that I feel bad for anyone who laps it up without any reference. The fact the difficulty…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →great game other then I can run for 5km without a drop of water but cant hold my breath for more then 2 seconds lol
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →3/5 I always had a thing for hunting games ever since I was a child, simply because of how relaxing they can be. Hunter: Call of the Wild is no exception. It's a good hunting game, but there are things I don't like about it. Playing Hunter: CotW, as a base game, feels like playing a barebones demo of the Hunter. I absolutely dislike how so many essential features that should have been there need to be bought as DLCs. The good thing is that the game is often discounted. But even then, I feel…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →9.0/10 A game that makes you slow down. I’ve owed this game a proper recommendation for a long time. If I had to sum it up in one sentence: this isn’t really a game about hunting —it’s a game about stopping . Released back in 2017, its visuals still hold up today. What’s truly impressive isn’t just fidelity, but atmosphere—the way the light breaks at sunrise, the subtle movement of grass in the wind, the distant calls of animals. All of it layers together into a kind of illusion: you’re…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The ultimate test of patience. I spent an hour trying to hunt down a red fox then i decided to do something else 10/10
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →game is fun but a 45 mag hitting a moose in the head and it being at a "very low" bleed rate is a level of inaccuracy that cannot be tolerated in a simulator
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Dear COTW players, prepare to end up like us Classic players, our servers will be shut down and our profiles with all purchased items and trophies will be DELETED!!! EVERYTHING WILL BE DELETED, enjoy the hunt, COTW is worth it
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Shoot a lot of animals. Explain your finest kills to your wife. She will ask, "Do you have to do that?" You must tell her, "It's kind of the point of the game."
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →THE GOOD: A stunningly beautiful game that you won't regret. There are times when I'm traveling outpost to outpost where I just slow down to take in the atmosphere and gorgeous views. The animals tend to react naturally though I've noticed recently they seem to spook easier. If you are looking for a good immersive hunting game, this is for you. THE BAD: It sucks that you can't do multiplayer missions, and I feel like the leveling and perk system moves very slowly. THE UGLY: It takes up…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Perfect for difficult realistic gaming experience!!! you cant just run around unless you're a good shot with long distance and a moving target lol. Relax, hop in a blind/stand, or crouch around bodies of water if you gotta move cause almost everything drinks water! hunting requires patience believe it or not
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Played since release pretty much, great graphics, fantastic Animal selections. Can be very like a walking simulation until you get to grips with how game works and start unlocking zones on maps etc but worth a dable if you enjoy your Hunting games.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I consider this as one of the "hidden gems" during this spring sale. For a dollar or less, (depending on your currency) you'll get an immersive realistic hunting game. Definitely not a game for the majority as people refer to this as a "walking simulator". It is a slow-paced reward system, favoring patience and consistency of the player. - Hunting surely feels realistic as footsteps to surroundings matter. Even walking into trees and bushes, the noise / noises that you make affects the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Too much content locked behind DLC. Refusal to add meaningful new content. Denying the community things they've been asking for, FOR YEARS. And there are much better and much more likable hunting games very soon to come out. If you see this review then go look at way of the hunter 2 or ultimate hunting. Thank you for your time.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →theHunter: Call of the Wild is a beautiful and aesthetic hunting experience. The DLCs are good value for money, tons of animals to hunt, maps to explore and weapons to play with. Here are some pros and cons according to me. Pros -DLC pricing is decent as of December, 2025. Lots of DLC maps to choose from and having bought most of them, I can say their gameplay is different enough. -Good weapon ballistics and physics. -Multiplayer is fun, tracking and hunting an animal together with a group…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Got this on supersale for $1.99 and didn't know what to expect. I also know nothing about hunting. Graphics are impressive for being a nine-year old game, it gets frequent updates still, and walking around in nature is just relaxing. However, the gameplay loop, while well-made, is in my opinion very hard- you can't chase animals and run becuase they'll hear you, but if you walk too slow you'll never catch up. It makes you question your sanity and everything seems to be a wild goose chase. When…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →---{ Graphics }--- ☐ You forget what reality is ☑ Beautiful ☐ Good ☐ Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐ MS-DOS ---{ Gameplay }--- ☐ Very good ☑ Good ☐ It's just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Watch paint dry instead ☐ Just don't ---{ Audio }--- ☐ Eargasm ☑ Very good ☐ Good ☐ Not too bad ☐ Bad ☐ I'm now deaf ---{ Audience }--- ☐ Kids ☑ Teens ☑ Adults ☐ Grandma ---{ PC Requirements }--- ☐ Check if you can run paint ☐ Potato ☑ Decent ☐ Fast ☐ Rich boi ☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer ---{…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Spent 2 hours chasing tracks of a fallow deer, found it, shot, missed organs, lost it. DLC/money-hungry game too. Relaxing experience tho. 5.5/10
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a game that offers a very high level of mental challenge. Players don't just walk around, find an animal, and shoot it. They have to pay attention to the wind direction so their scent doesn't drift toward the target, control the noise they make depending on the type of ground they're walking on, and learn the animals' daily behavior, such as when they drink, feed, or rest. On top of that, players need to understand the anatomy of each species, knowing where vital organs like the lungs,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →PROS - Highly realistic hunting mechanics. - Beautiful open-world environments with excellent atmosphere. - Immersive gameplay that rewards patience and planning. - Relaxing exploration alongside satisfying hunting progression. CONS - Several features and content that feel like they should be part of the base game are sold separately as DLC. - Slow-paced gameplay may not appeal to players looking for constant action. VERDICT theHunter: Call of the Wild™ succeeds as a hunting simulator by…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →DLC heavy so be ready to buy them, but best hunting game there is on the market.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I can't support a publisher that kills their games off. R.I.P theHunter Classic, stuck with you since 2012 and will be there at the end. What a damn shame. Petition to prevent the shutdown - https://www.change.org/p/prevent-the-shutdown-of-thehunter-classic-%EF%B8%8F?source_location=psf_petitions Dreamlist for GOG - https://www.gog.com/dreamlist/game/thehunter-classic-2014
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a great game and I'm really enjoying it with the graphics, different animals, and plots, but I feel like the creators are really money hungry with how much DLC there are that should definitely be base game. PROS: -Very gorgeous game -Never gets boring -Good storyline and graphics -Very very fun CONS: -Lots of DLC that shouldn't be DLC -practically unplayable without DLC -lots of grinding (good or bad)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →TheHunter: call of the wild is the slowest fps I've ever played, its luxuriously chill. Mostly walking through beautifully executed forests during different weather and times of day to spot a group of deer drinking at a lake and then tryna shoot em all before they bolt off. Then the rest of the time is chasing down the blood trail to confirm the kill and get money to buy new weapons. Multiplayer and single player
positive · AI labelView post →i dont even have 100 hours on this game and i bought it the day it came out , have almost 3,000 hours on theHunter classic. this game is way more of a arcade compared to classic. STOP KILLING GAMES! this game is trash compared to classic and they shutting down classic to push more money out of COTW Shame on avalanche studios.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →they try to "balance" this game like its esports and want to make sure players dont get too much fun getting pretty and high rank animals while people who want to get it anyway easily can mod the game and spawn whatever they want anyway so their balancing only ruins the normal game and it turns it to long grinds of empty maps and low level animals. looks good run decent but they forgot its a video game not a full time job to grind 40 hours a week to spawn one damn ranked animal
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I was first introduced to this game from my 12yr old son playing. i thought it looked like the most boring game ever. One day as he was going to his dads, he handed me the controller and said "just try it mom." So for him I said to myself "ok, im going to play it for a hour that way i can tell him i played it and tried it and it just wasnt for me" Well, here i am 6 months later having bought the full complete game and dlcs on 3 different consoles. My favorite game of all time! Seriously you…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Now friends, this is a good game, here we have a game for those of us who are 30+, started as CS players and built a family lately and want to show our partner what we're made of... This is a perfect foundation to start with, to later take a real hunter's exam, and yes, this game makes the exam a little easier. Good luck amigos.. (For you ppl from US, you are born with a weapon, we in EU and asia are not.. Don't blame us..)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Used to be okay game, but every addition to the game just costs money now. you can spend more money on DLCs than the base game itself and theyre just gonna keep adding buggy DLCs and making you pay for it
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a great hunting game but it has it's flaws. First off if trekking slowly through the woods trying to stalk an animal cause they spook so easily sounds like something you'd really not like then this game probably isn't for you. That's not a flaw of the game but it's something worth noting at the start because it certainly isn't going to be the game for everyone. The game is DLC heavy. With a couple honestly being required. The ATV pack and a Gun pack of your choosing is honestly a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →game is all fun and when you hit a deer with a .243 in the head just to see it having a low blood loss and not even a single vital blood loss and running across 2 kilometers just to find out that deer shat 8 times while running away from you and then seeing it and finally finishing it just to end up getting rewarded with a bronze rank on that deer and 600 credits, love this game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →game doesn't have much character. Everything must be paid for separately. Fun if you like swiping your card.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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