There have been countless hunting-themed games in the past but FunLabs’ latest title, Open Country wanted to take what we know of the genre and implement more elements to further the gameplay. While a great idea in theory, Open Country doesn't fully come into it's own. And because of its unoptimized gameplay mechanics, I really had a hard time even wanting to play this one.

Story

Open Country’s story is pretty simple. Your character has lived in a city where all they do is work all of the time. It’s gotten to the point where you’re tired of it all and decide to take your life into your own hands. From there, you move out to the wild and live off of the land. The story is pretty resonant, especially given that many of us are still stuck inside because of the pandemic. Getting out in the wild and away from it all has certainly crossed my mind once or twice.

Gameplay

The gameplay portion as abundant as it may appear isn’t really anything new for most gamers. You can hunt, fish, craft, and drive a couple of vehicles. I’ll have to admit that I was actually really excited to see how this game mixed everything together at first glance. Unfortunately, the final product just didn't meet my expectations. I can’t really say that it has even has one thing that it does well either as everything is equally disappointing.

Hunting is stale and as simply done as you might expect. There isn’t anything fresh to make it fun. You follow trails that the animals leave behind in order to find your prey but it doesn't always work out. I followed a deer scent once and it led me to the side of a mountain. The deer obviously couldn’t have climbed it either. It’s times like these when the game pulls the curtain and breaks immersion.

The other major thing you’ll be doing is crafting. At its baseline, it’s pretty simple and as you craft things you are able to upgrade them in many different ways. It really doesn’t enhance the crafting system all that much though. I would’ve like to see more depth to it as it feels like the devs wanted it to be fuller. I just don’t think they were able to hammer everything out that they wanted to. Maybe they weren’t able to due to time constraints?

Missions are implemented in Open Country and they’re something that you really don’t see too much in hunting games. I’m not really sure how I feel about their inclusion though. While it’s good to have something to work toward as they help you to level up so that you can upgrade your characters hunting skills. The one thing I don’t really understand though is why our character is on fetch quests when they were supposed to be leaving the hustle and bustle of working day in and day out. The missions never really ask too much of you as a player but I just can’t wrap my head around this inconsistency between the plot and the gameplay.

One thing that really made my experience with the game so annoying was its health system. Like any survival game, you maintain your character’s hunger and thirst in order to stay alive. You also have to tend to his wounds like a muscle strain or if they pick up a parasite from unboiled water. The thing that annoyed me though was the fact that your hunger and thirst drop so rapidly and once they start starving or get dehydrated, your screen goes in and out of focus rapidly.

It made me nauseous and it highlights the issue that it’s almost impossible to be able to forage or hunt for any of the remedies to these problems because of it. I straight up closed the game many times strictly because I was getting so sick and/or infuriated that this kept happening even when I closely monitored my character’s stats. I like difficulty in games but this is just ridiculous.

Adding insult to injury, the movement in-game is pretty bad in and of itself. The walking can be a bit floaty at times and even though your character can jump, you’ll never find a surface to jump over. I tried so often to jump over obstacles only to find that they’re purposefully blocked. What’s the point of incorporating jumping if you can’t actually use it? Forget about the driving mechanics too because they’re a joke. It’s like driving on ice whether or not you actually are.

The movement mechanics are only made slightly bearable because of the well-crafted environments. I’d have to say that even though the graphics aren’t the best, the different locations you get to explore are very fun to traverse. You’ll stumble upon beautiful vistas, lakes, landmarks, and trails as you embark on your hunts. It’s hands-down my favorite aspect of the game and the only real reason why I kept playing. They’re the stars of the show in my opinion.

Visuals

Open Country’s visuals leave much to be desired. While there can be instances of some nice vistas, the majority of the game is so so. There’s an odd pixely look to all of the textures’ outlines. It’s kind of hard to describe as it isn’t really an issue I’ve seen in any other game aside from Cyberpunk 2077. There is a slight cartoonish vibe to the art style so it doesn’t look horrible but everything does have a plastic quality and don’t look fully developed.

Audio

The audio in-game has its highs and lows as well. The best though are the ambient noises such as twigs breaking under your feet and animals making their natural sounds. On the other side, the worst bits have to be the actor’s delivery of lines and the gunfire from weapons. It’s really lackluster especially compared to how well the ambient sounds are.

What It Could Have Done Better

While the story is centered on being out in the wild with no work, I find it pretty ridiculous that the gameplay goes against it. It kind of defeats the purpose of moving out to the wild if all you’re going to do is run fetch quests for more people.

The gameplay all around should’ve been tightened up. It all feels much too cheap and low-budget. The makings are there for a great game but I think time is why this game fell short. Had this game been in development for a few more months, I think it would be a lot better.

Verdict

Open Country had an ambitious idea of being a game that tried its best to do as much as it could. Unfortunately, the devs seemed to have been a bit too ambitious and the game suffered for it. It’s an unoptimized title that would’ve benefitted from staying in development for another few months or so to work out the kinks in order to get its performance up. The game is only $15 at launch so it’s really up to you as to if it’s worth a try. In my eyes though, I’d pass on it until they have everything worked out.