Praey For The Gods goes hunting in early access today
The bigger they are, the harder they hit
Not every enemy in Praey For The Gods is an enormous hairy Shadow Of The Colossus-styled monster, but there's enough of the big brutes to make me excited for today's early access debut. The crowdfunded work of three-man crew No Matter Studios, it's undoubtedly inspired by Team Ico's spectacular boss-hunt, but also integrates a bit of Zelda-like exploration armed with glider and hookshot. There's a little bit of survival sandbox in here too, with the player hunting for food and building fires for warmth between giant hunts. See the launch trailer below.
I've kept half an eye on Praey For The Gods (the unwieldy title is just a way of writing its clever logo while dodging legal issues) since its Kickstarter in 2016. While it doesn't look like the game's player movement is quite as heavy and well animated as Shadow Of The Colossus, there's a lot to like. The monsters are big and intimidating and brought down in familiar ways - clamber to their weak points and stab them - but smaller enemies just require a few melee hits or a well-placed arrow to kill, and range from animals (such as wolves) to weird, sometimes-invisible tentacled beasts.
I've yet to play today's early access version, but No Matter Studios say the current early access build includes everything promised to backers. According to the Kickstarter page, that includes at least five bosses, but it doesn't sound like there's an enormous amount yet to come. They reckon they'll need another 6-12 months to polish, optimise and expand the game. They didn't quite hit their (admittedly optimistic) December 2017 target release date, but it's good to see this one out the door and playable.
Praey For The Gods is out now on Steam for £20.22/€21.24/$25.49. There's no plans on raising the price once it leaves early access, either.