The dissapointing sequel to a great game.
Story/Gameplay: The story takes place three years after the other sequel, Wayward so about... 7 years after the first game, i believe. When a fellow hunter calls in the gang to take care of a werewolf problem, the group is happy to comply. Joined by Kaylie, the little girl who watched her parents butchered by a demonic teddy bear, who has undergone much hunter tutelage by our good friend, the judge, the group is ready to wipe out all the forces of evil. With plenty of twists and turns, you are thrown towards the... completely terrible ending that will leave you saying. "What the heck was that??!! It can't be over like that!"
The gameplay is much like the first game but worse in various ways. I'll start with the good. The level up system has been given a major overhaul and is one of the few good changes to Redeemer. Now instead of leveling up your character which granted you set bonus's that really didn't make that much of difference, you level up your weapons and conviction. The more you use melee, your melee weapon will increase in level and will transform into much stronger weapons. Likewise with ranged and conviction (instead of transforming weapons, conviction gives you more edge's.), the level up system is far more interesting than the first game in that you actually have a choice.
Unfortuantely, for this good change comes a million more bad things. For one, they decided that they would try to make the battles scarier rather than the hack-n-slash that the last two provide. This entirely wrecks the game because what this does, is takes away the giant groups of zombies that made the first game so fun, and gives you some slightly more detailed models that still aren't scary at all. The fun of the first game is basically taken away entirely. Also, the game is so unbelievably short. I beat it saying... "what thats it?" and i couldn't believe it. Throw in a few good extra's with far more stupid ones, none of the changes are very worth while.
Graphics: Well, like i said above, the more detailed corpses and monsters just end up looking stupid. This in itself wouldn't be a huge problem except that it takes away from the large groups of monsters so it becomes a huge downfall. The characters look alright but nothing special. Overall, pretty average graphics except for one major thing. It's christmas time, and the entire town is empty!! What the heck is this! Literally, throughout the whole game, walking around the center of town, there are no people other than the zombies you see. Since the people of Ashcroft don't know about the danger, why are they not outside? Weird.
Sound: Well, as the sound effects aren't really worth mentioning, i'll go straight to the voice-overs. They're alright actors EXCEPT for the main character! The Redeemer herself! Whenever she talks, i instantly wanted to mute the game, just for her lines. She is the most aggravating voice actor i have ever heard in my whole history of gaming. And since she's supposed to be the main character, this detracts from the story a lot.
Value: Well, if you've got three friends that wanna come over and beat the game a hundred times, then yeah go for it. Otherwise, single player gets boring really fast and it probably won't take you more than 5 hours to beat anyway. Thankfully, it's really cheap now so maybe it's worth buying for 10 bucks.
Overall, Hunter: The Reckoning Redeemer isn't even a game for fans. If you are a fan, you will only be disgusted by how far down the series has fallen. Stick with the original everyone. Hunter: The Reckoning Redeemer is beyond redemption.