Mistfall Hunter takes the extraction genre into the land of Norse gods and dark fantasy

The extraction shooter genre is one that has always remained in my periphery, having only looked at games like Escape from Tarkov in passing, but the upcoming Mistfall Hunter from Bellring Games may change that. During the Summer Games Fest Game Days, I had a chance to sit down and try a couple solo runs through its Nordic-inspired map, slaying creatures that looked straight out of a Dungeons & Dragons manual. 

Mistfall Hunter is a third-person PvPvE extraction RPG that sets you out in an ever-shrinking hostile area in a bid to survive, gather resources, and escape with your life. The world of Mistfall has been ravaged by and left scarred by a war between gods, resulting in the creation of the Gyldenmist (this game’s take on the “shrinking barrier” mechanic that battle royal games like to use).

The general flow of Mistfall is relatively straightforward - you spawn on a map, you fight and loot the bodies of enemies you kill. These will be either random NPC foes you discover or opposing teams of players. You do this until you stumble on and kill the strange bell creature that will drop your ticket home and let you escape. Once you're back at your camp, spend your resources to upgrade facilities, level up your character, and then dive back in to do it all again. To improve your chances, you can level up your character via a skill tree, allowing you to learn new abilities, store items or equipment to keep safe, and spend materials to improve your camp, which will provide you with extra boosts.

The big thrill of Mistfall, and other games of its kind, is that if you are killed during a match (and not revived by your teammates), you will lose all the gear and items your character was carrying. Mistfall sets itself apart, however, thanks to not only the dark Nordic aesthetic of the world but also by having gameplay that feels more like you are playing a third-person action RPG. Attacks are faster and more combo-based, with nimble dodges preferred over perfectly timed parries. As a Blackarrow, Mistfall's version of the classic archer, I was charging my arrows with magical energies, pulling back and letting loose large shockwave arrows and more. It felt pretty good.

I’ve been feeling burnt out and overwhelmed lately with just how many games are trying to do their own take on the souls-like gameplay, and the fact that Mistfall never felt like I was playing a Souls game may be what attracted me most to it. Sure, it may have a health-restoring flask-like item, but by and large, this game felt more fast-paced and focused. I liked the faster-paced, more arcade-like direction that the gameplay took, and the heavier theming around Norse mythology helped too. Sure, it still has dark fantasy elements like skeletons and knights you need to contend with, but the architecture of the ruins or the glowing, very Odin-like raven you follow gives the whole thing a slightly skewed perspective, making it fresher for me.

Included in the demo that I didn’t get to try were the other classes that players can pick from, including the Mercenary, Sorcerer, Shadowstrix, and Seer. Each one has its own skill trees and different specializations that you gain access to as you increase the class’s level. For example, the Blackarrow's specialization classes (each class has two) allow you to build out to be more of a DPS / glass-cannon or focus on debuffing and afflicting enemies with status effects. The character I was playing as wasn’t a high enough level to try them, but from the descriptions I saw of the specific skills these specializations had, they seemed like they would be fun. 

When it comes to running different classes, Mistfall adopts an approach similar to Diablo, where you will need to make a new character for each class to play as. In your camp, you do have access to a stash that all of your characters on your account can access, so any class-specific gear you pick up during a run can be put in there and then picked up by your other character, for whom the gear will work. 

When it launches (there isn't a release date yet, as the team is currently planning rounds of betas), Mistfall Hunter will allow players to face off in teams of three against one another or in solo matches. What I have tried so far has piqued my interest, and I will have to see how this game feels with some friends. 

Mistfall Hunter will eventually release on Xbox Series S/X and Steam, but you can opt in for the future betas right now over on the game's website.