The Hunted

Another weird one was a PC game, but I tend to find these a little less mysterious. I got it on a CD from a friend - he knows I love these - and like Goat Jump, I don't really know ANYTHING about it. I'm gonna have to go from memory here - I lost the disc (probably got scratched to fuck, I used to take terrible care of discs), and my friend just said it came in something he bought called the "Super Multipack," one of those collections of shoddy PC games you used to see in stories all the time for like 8 bucks. Wish I could find the thing, because I never managed to finish it.

The game itself was called "The Hunted," and seemed inspired by one of those old-fashioned point-and-click adventure games. Starting it up reveals a stark splash screen with the words "THE HUNTED" and a copyright for some company - I think it was "UniGame" or "UniGames." Anyway, the splash screen goes down with the press of any button, though it got my attention once. At first, all you hear is generic creepy music; generally I just started right away.

However, I got up to get myself a can of coke once and got kinda sidetracked (bee in the house). I came back and I can hear breathing in the back of the sound track; I'd never heard it before because the splash screen ditty is pretty short and seemed to loop. Anyway, the breathing gets louder and more ragged, then suddenly stops, along with the music; a loud male scream is played, and then the track loops again. I thought it was a nice touch.

When you start The Hunted, a screen comes up telling you what's going on. Obviously I can't quote it word for word, but it tells the player that he inherited a house from his grandfather recently-dead and that you went to go check it out - pretty typical stuff.

You start the game in the house's foyer; the game is 2D and shot from overhead. Your character walks forward a bit and messes with some furniture; you find a journal and get to read the last entry. It's a suicide note from your grandfather, who is supposed to have died of cancer or something. Only line I remember specifically was "I can't run from the hunter any longer."

The game takes the form of you exploring the house and looking for clues about your grandfather and this "hunter." It's fucking huge and generally pretty bland; it's easy to get lost. Progress affects gameplay; occasionally doors won't open to the right place later in the game. Music appears to have been a fixation for the dev, and it gives you "hints" that things are going wrong/getting worse, getting more discordant and ominous with time; notably, the soundtrack is accompanied by a stylized "heartbeat" in all of its forms.

This "heartbeat" speeds up as you find out pretty generic hurp durp curse/ancient evil information about the house and your family's history. Failure is time-related and the clues branching. If you take too long (noted by the "heartbeat" speeding up to a frantic non-heartbeat speed), you'll hear a door creak open and the screen will go black. You hear the words "I've found you," and the game goes back to the splash screen.

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