The Hunter: Call of the Wild is back with a new map DLC: Te Awaroa National Park. I picked up The Hunter Call of the Wild (COTW) during quarantine thinking it would be a fun game to kill a bit of time whilst pretending I could still enjoy the outside world.

I should preface this by saying I am not a hunter. On the one hand, I don’t enjoy hunting real animals for sport unless it is to fill a freezer over winter. But I fell in love with The Hunter: COTW deeply and it has quickly become one of my go-to games.   

Whilst I haven’t seen any Hobbits yet in the beautiful park in New Zealand, the new map introduces several new species. These include Feral goat, Feral Pig, Chamois and the long-anticipated fan favourite, Sika deer.

Old-time classics including Fallow deer, Red deer and Turkey are featured in Te Awaroa, as well as the recently introduced European rabbit. 

The map itself is stunning. Gorgeous mountain backdrops, lush forests and beautiful open areas are scattered across the new map. Te Awaroa has something for everyone to explore and enjoy. 

The Hunter forces you to slow down and actually think about how you hunt animals as opposed to just running and gunning them down (which took me longer to figure out than I’d like to admit).

You have to make sure you use the right ammunition in the right gun to preserve the animals score. You have to watch the direction of the wind and how much noise you’re making so you don’t spook any animals.

Finally, you have to shoot the animals properly to preserve their integrity. The Hunter: COTW is possibly one of the only games where most of the time, headshots don’t work! (again, this took me far too long to learn.)

Despite my admittedly steep learning curve, I’m finding continuous enjoyment out of The Hunter: COTW. That is in no small part due to the breath-taking landscapes the game has to offer. You can likely imagine my excitement when the developers Expansive Worlds released a trailer for the new map.

The questline in Te Awaroa is fun and interesting and gives nice reference to a certain fantasy franchise throughout. My one complaint would be the lack of side quests.

These can give some fun challenges to do when the main quest is complete. This seems to be a trend in many of the newer maps and I hope soon we can see some side quests return. 

I love the atmosphere and the new animals can get up to impressive sizes! I’ve been very excited to see some impressive horns on feral goats many times.

Although I have yet to find an elusive diamond, Te Awaroa is teeming with animals. You never go too long without seeing anything which keeps the game fresh and enjoyable. 

This map was a nice refresher to the end of an otherwise cold and dreary year of 2020. I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next for The Hunter: Call of the Wild.

The Hunter: Call of the Wild is available now on Steam for £19.99. You can get the DLC: Te Awaroa National Park for an additional £5.59.