Y
ouwouldn’texpecta nichehuntinggame
tofeaturesomeofthemostrealistic
naturalenvironmentsonPC.TheHunter:
CalloftheWild, developedbyAvalanche,
featuresa seriesofmassive,gorgeous
huntingreserves– fromthegrassyplainsofAfricaand
thelushforestsofGermanytothefrozenwildsof
Siberia– andthey’reallstunninglybeautifultolookat.
Thegameis developedbya smallteam,yetdespitehaving
a fractionofthebudgetofsomethinglike,say,FarCry, its
landscapesareaboveandbeyondanythingI’veseenin
anyothergame.AndasI wanderedtheautumnalforests
ofHirschfelden,I wondered:howdidtheydoit?
“Alotoftryingandfailing,”saysPeppePihl,world
designer.“Researchandmoreresearch.Blood,sweat,and
tears.I wasbornonthemountainsideand,likemany
othersatAvalanche,I lovebeinginnature.It’seasierto
makea forestfeelconvincingwhenyouknowthe
environmentlikethebackofyourhand.”
“Usuallyingamesnatureis a backdrop,”hecontinues.
“Somethingyoudon’tnecessarilyexplore.ButinCallof
theWildit’stheopposite.Natureis whereeverything
happensWespenta lotoftimecreatingtoolstodevelop
whatwe’veenvisioned.Butreallyit allboilsdownto
craftsmanshipandpassion.”
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SURROUNDSOUND
Another part of the game’s magic is the sound design.
Rather than just loop a recording of a forest, the game
uses dynamic environmental audio to give the impression
of being outdoors. There’s no music in the game, and it
doesn’t need it. The ambient sound really draws you into
the world, from distant animal calls to the sound of the
wind gently rustling the trees.
“For the sound design, a lot of hard work and careful
consideration goes into the process, coupled with the
strength of the Apex engine for creating open worlds,”
says Mattias Wennlund, sound designer. “We always need
to start with good source recordings of natural sounds. We
then need to edit those recordings to capture the essence
of the place. To get those files to play back in a believable
way, we need them to ebb and flow like sounds do in
nature in real life. In addition the sounds need to feel like
they’re coming from a place in the world, from the
context they are in.”
Wennlund explains that, for tree sounds, the engine
takes into account if the wind is blowing, the altitude, and
its distance from the player. “A tree right next to you will
sound different from one 300 metres away,” he says. “We
also research the fauna of each reserve to represent it in a
believable way. As an example, all the birds in Parque
Fernando are native to that region.”The forests of the
Hirschfelden reserve
are broken up by
cornfields.Hunting
party
Expansive
Worlds, the team
behind The
Hunter, is an
independently
operated
subsidiary of
Avalanche
Studios. It
released its first
game in 2009, an
online-activated
hunting sim
called The
Hunter. In 2017 it
released the
sequel, Call of the
Wild, which is
now the team’s
main focus. In
2019, Expansive
Worlds also
released
Generation Zero.REATING NATURE
THE HUNTER: CALL OF THE WILD devs create the prettiest forests
PCG INVESTIGATES
Special
Report