Deer Hunting - The Season 2

This is the hunting game I always wanted. I was even considering developing a game like this myself but this came first. It took me 12 hours to get my first deer and it was very rewarding. Other people got theirs sooner, I was still learning the basics. It WILL take longer than the Steam refund window to learn how to play the game so keep that in mind before you buy it. The realism in this game is insane! The game will be super frustrating at first. You may even have to start a new game several times until you figure it out. Money or "exp" is very hard to make until you learn how to fill all your deer tags. That's right you can only shoot a limited amount of deer depending on the state you hunt in. It is vital to fill as many tags as possible so you can earn money. Once you get the hang of things you will enjoy the game a lot. The discord community is very nice and helpful and everyone will be willing to help you get started. The developer reads the discord server and replies to questions. He's patching bugs as quickly as possible, and keeping community suggestions in mind. You can actually find scrapes and rubs while scouting, and see deer going about their business. There are no need zones so the deer will just do whatever they need to, whenever they want, in order to sustain themselves. The deer go through full life cycles from year 1 - 8 and only age up after each season has ended. There are trail cameras already placed so you can view some of the bucks on your property once per day. Some people were unhappy that they are in preset locations and you can't place your own, but it was announced that having our own placeable trail cameras would drop our performance. Each season has days that you can go hunt. For instance, and early archery season, and all weapons season, and a late archery/muzzleloader season. During the middle of the season the deer go into the rut and you can see bucks chasing does around. The weather and outside conditions can impact how active the deer are. You have to take care of your character too! If your clothing isn't suited for cold weather then your aim wobble will get worse. It can even affect your ability to stay concealed in a tree stand. You also have to make sure that you are wearing the correct season's camo color, the deer WILL notice. There are several weapons in the game that can be used. The compound bow, rifle, shotgun, and muzzleloader. Out of all the weapons, the bow has largest amount of legal season days. There are also two stand options. A tree stand and a ground blind. Ground blinds make it nearly impossible for the deer to know you're there unless you accidently walk out of it. Tree stands only work under perfect conditions (right camo, over 20 feet in tree, character is in the correct temperature range). For newer players the tree stand may sound tempting because of a better view. But the ground blind is actually better for the early game. Deer racks in this game are completely unique. But since they are made to be as realistic as possible some players noticed they looked similar. Deer can develop or lose brow tines at any point in their life. The same goes for stickers and drop tines. Each buck has a "prime" year or two of his life. He'll keep getting bigger until his prime has ended, then he will shrink in rack size each year. During the year new bucks that are not tied to your property will come in and chase does. After the rut has ended these bucks will leave but your original bucks will remain. While I've only seen rare furs for whitetail so far, there are several variants for each type. There are three rare furs, albino, melanistic, and piebald. I personally have seen two albinos in my own game. Several other people have gotten albinos. I've seen two piebalds on the discord, and a melanistic on the discord. Feed plots can be placed during the scouting phase of your season. They will act as deer attractants until the crops die. You have to pay attention to what se

This is not a run-and-gun deer hunting game, and honestly that is what makes it fun. You have to scout, learn the land, put out trail cameras, find where the deer are moving, and actually put in some work before everything starts coming together. You are not just walking through the woods seeing deer every five minutes. The trail cameras are easily one of the best parts of the game for me. Seeing different bucks show up, checking their racks, figuring out where they are moving, and then trying to hunt that specific deer gives you something to work toward. The antlers are another big thing I really like. The racks have a lot of character and variety, so when a really good buck finally shows up on camera it actually gets you excited to go after him. That is where this game is at its best. When you have been watching a buck, learning his area, and finally get a chance at him, it feels rewarding because you actually had to earn it. The biggest problems right now are the performance, bugs, and deer movement and population feeling inconsistent at times. There can be stretches where it feels like there just is not much happening, and that can make the game feel slow in a bad way instead of a rewarding way. The game still needs more optimization and polish, and some of the bugs can definitely hurt the experience. That being said, the dev team has been active, fixing things, helping players in Discord, and even playing the game with the community. That gives me a lot more confidence that the bigger problems will keep getting worked on. If you like scouting, trail cameras, trophy bucks, and a slower style of hunting where patience matters, there is a lot to like here. It still needs work, but when everything comes together, it can be really rewarding.