The Huntsman: Winter's Curse

Decently good game. Good story. Very linear. Simple turn-based, card battle, RPG game. You can finish the game within the day. No replay-ability. Like others say, the first book is free. The rest is paid. Not worth at it's retail though. Wait for some 50% sale or smth. 3.75/5 rating

Boring and simple story. Combats are repetitive and there are not so many abilities. Sidequests are a joke and choices doesn't matters.

A fairytale with an art style darker than the story itself. POV changes between two characters: the protagonist: Elisabeth and Marcus, her main companion. While the store page mentions it being in the same universe as Snow White, I didn't see a connection to the story other than a very brief appearance of a huntsman and a few dwarfs. I feel like the title could've just been "Winter's Curse" and it would've been less confusing.
The gameplay is entirely linear, as there is no exploration or even choice in where the protagonist goes unless a sidequest pops up. But that's a minor issue to me. The story and gameplay were interesting and fun, so I still recommend it.
I don't know if each chapter is worth $5, so maybe get it on sale. The first chapter is still free-to-play if you want to try it before buying the other chapters.

I found the gameplay relaxing and the story good. A nice way to relax when you've got a lot going on and can't play anything too demanding. A satisfying way to spend a few hours.

I mean, I have very little to say about this title.

Bought it awhile ago, let it sit in my play list for a good chunk of time. Decided to take a stab at when I was utterly bored out of my mind.

The story is coherent, maybe based off a movie or something, or at least in the universe? Not entirely sure. Even if it is stand alone, it's well written, and for the most part thorough.

No real stand outs with the ST, or but the voice acting for the chapter start and ends is actually rather well done. Surprised me.

I would recommend it to folks who are looking for a distraction, albeit in depth. It's not exactly stand out among all the other titles out there, but it does hold its own and is head and shoulders above the pile of games that are nausea inducing whale excrement.

The combat is well balanced and an interesting take on ATB/Card Battler/Turn Based. Found it rather interesting as game of if you'll excuse the term, chess. Between trying to either decide between going ahead, or slowing down your enemies, dealing damage, or healing, or even mitigating. It is very well thought out, and I'd like to see more of it personally - I get the feeling it will be unique to this title though, and that isn't a bad thing.

I was confused on why there are three slots for a party, when at most through the entire game, you only use two. Unless I missed something, it just seems a very odd choice.

If I had a bone to pick with the combat overall though, it would be the final boss. Unless you are playing on Easy, the final fight is basically luck based, not skill based. Boss has three attacks out of five that when used in even a 1, 2, 3 cycle will absolutely deny you any chance of success. First one is buffing defence and then getting a boost, second one is dealing massive damage, and dumping your speed, the third is healing AND getting a shield. I do not joke when I said the boss stacked the shield buff six times in a row, nullifying any and all damage I could deal. Would dump my party members speed along with the massive damage, and then follow it up with getting a shield boost and going first. More often then not I was having one set of actions per the bosses four or five, and lost because of it just under half a dozen times in a row before the boss instead decided to spam its general AoE damage, or it's Life Siphoning. The only reason I was able to finish the fight was purely because of luck. Not skill.

Needs to be rebalanced heavily - however looking at the release of the the title, I would be extremely surprised if that happened.

While playing on normal in addition to this, I actually found myself not using, or close to zero healing skills prior to a handful of fights before the Final Boss. It could be I was just playing well, but it could also be, that it needs to be slightly reworked. I leave that to the developer, and personal opinion.

Overall, it's quite short, and despite my playtime being 6 hours at the time of this review, I actually spent roughly an hour and a half not at my computer, or trying to find ANYTHING on this title at all. It is damn near literally almost non-existent. Actually did the time in a single session, with a single crash. Dunno why it did though.

Would I recommend people pick it up? Yeah, actually I would. It's a nice succinct reasonably well written story, that's really just nice to go through and enjoy for what it is. It's not too heavy, and it's not too light. Very similar to a Visual Novel in how it presents itself, with a take similar to that of Tell Tale style games where you do need to purchase each chapter to see it through.

Overall, I enjoyed it, and I would say, grab it you want something a little different, and not too much of a time sink.

I really loved this game! The music and artwork are quite beautiful. The story is nice. If I had to make any changes, I'd like to see a longer story, with more side quests. And I'd like to see the skill tree be larger, so that you could truly choose a "build", instead of having all skills at the end. That being said, bravo! Looking forward to more!

It is a bit short but has it charms. Nice style, gameplay is simple but because of that it is easy to get into. I bought my chapters from sale, which is I also recommend because of full price being bit pricey.

I expected story to continue to end at defeating Freya.

I really enjoyed the first chapter, but I was skeptical on buying the rest. I waited until the fall sale to buy the season pass and I was not disappointed. It would have been worth it to pay full price for the rest of the chapters as well. It's a really great story.

I love the art and the dynamic movement. The story was good. The battle system is easy to get used to.

My only complaint is that, on the Party Detail page, it sort of hinted that there could be up to 3 individuals in your party, due to the character names on the left side, but throughout the game, the max that I had in the party was only 2.

I definitely enjoyed the game and played through it all. Desert Owl Games should produce more similar games like this one.

This is an amazingly fun game. The first chapter of 5 is free but the rest will cost you. Not sure if they're worth the asking price but when they're on sale, definitely worth it.

The Huntsman: Winter's Curse is a turn-based RPG where the skills you use are based on a deck of cards. Every piece of equipment you use (weapon, armor, and 2 accessories) will give you access to a different set of cards and sometimes a special bonus (or negative effect). So there's a lot of strategy in what you decide to equip. On the same page where you choose your equipment is also a skill tree. Everytime you level up, you get to choose one perk - all passive.

Battles, as I've said, are turn-based. There's a bar on the top of the screen that your characters and the enemies move along and get an action at the end of. Many cards have effects that push the enemies back on the bar. Of course, they can do the same to you. You get 3 cards to pick from (you can only choose one) each time you can perform an action. They're random. As soon as you use one, another random one will take its place. Some of the perks on the skill tree will allow you access to more cards in each hand - for a total of 5. It's definitely nicer to have more choices. At the end of a fight, all your HP is refilled. (YAY) I really loved the battles.

The art in this game is lovely and the music is pleasant though there's not much variation.

The story.... it's interesting, to be sure. But the main characters always seem to be bickering so I kinda want to smack them. Still, I'm enjoying the journey. Throughout the plot, you get to make many decisions and I'm sure these affect how much exp you get sometimes and items you can find. At some point, I'm sure I'll play this again just to see what different choices offer. I've completed 4 of the 5 chapters so I can't tell you if the ending of the story is any good. Let's hope so!

This is not an action game in any form. It's strategy all the way. This has been one of the more enjoyable games I've played this year so I definitely recommend it. Oh, a heads-up for achievement hunters. All you have to do to 100% the game is play through all 5 chapters. That's it.

Additional: I played the game again, making different decisions and using different strategies. I can indeed attest to the fact that decisions matter. They change exp gained and what items you may or may not get. They determine how many enemies you face or if you face any at all. It was neat to see the differences. I really love this game.

Winter's Curse is really pretty to look at. There's a lushness to the art that reminds me of Child of Light, and a consistent, immersive dark-and-beautiful feel to the visuals.

Unfortunately, that's almost all there is.

Winter's Curse does deserve some praise for all the ways it doesn't fall on its face as a licensed game. It isn't just a re-tread of Huntsman movie stuff. It develops its own characters, independant from the ones in the franchise. It also builds its combat system around a few simple gimmicks that, nonetheless, are pretty fun. Most in-game encounters come with dialog choices, most of which feel meaningful.

Winter's Curse's problem is that, apart from the art, it doesn't really excel anywhere. Equipping new items is fun, but then the inventory starts to fill with cloggy nonsense. Battles load quick and look nice, but combat feels a bit draggy after the third encounter. The art brings the setting to life, but the writing sometimes undercuts it. The first piece of the game is free, but it's also the most generic part. Things pick up considerably in the following chapters.

I can't bring myself to condemn Winter's Curse for only being kinda fun, though. Still, there's such a wide swathe of other games out there that I can't really urge people to jump on it either.

If you like the art style, you like lighter RPGs, you don't need a game's writing to be Planescape: Torment caliber, and you want the opportunity to frantically spam makeouts on your sorcerer companion in hopes of "breaking his curse", this is a pretty reasonable buy. I wouldn't pick it up for full price unless you *know* it's going to be your jam, but having bought it at ten bucks, I don't have any regrets.

Very enjoyable gameplay and beautiful story. The only downside is the combat turned a little boring towards the end.
Recommend!

A beautiful fairytale which is quite pleasant to play, watch and listen to.
Great combat system which is easy to master and yet gives a fair amount of challenge.
The only thing it lacks (for me) is a voice-over.
Apart from that - this is a charming visual novel and RPG hybrid that is worth every penny and will definetely keep you immersed for a couple of evenings.

TL:DR: I would reccomend this for 10€ or less

Pros:
Fun turn based rpg
Neat art
Free 1/5 books "20% of the game" to give you a good feel of the game

Cons:
Extremely linear, small number sidequests that rewards you with more equipment
VERY short game
Bland story that reads like teen tumblr fanfic

With all that said, I loved the game mechanics and you can skip the story or click through it faster.

Try the demo, and if you liked it so much you want more, go ahead - at its current price of 17,99€ I would not reccomend it unless you loved the demo

Not very much tactical about the fights. If you like a story told with some fights its a nice enough game to pass the time, but its incredibly short. Each chapter takes only 1-2 hours to complete and 5,- is far too much for such a short game with little to no replay value.

Nice game!

Pretty visual style (Elisabeth is especially cute, yes), good card-based battle mechanics, and quite an interesting story. A fantasy visual novel combined an RPG-lite - don't hesitate to try the free first chapter!

One disadantage is that the intro movies for all the books have no subtitles.

I bought all DLC and played through the entire game. It's a simple, very enjoyable game for some chill gaming. Uses a time bar in combat which controls turns, players can manipulate the speed and movement along the time bar using different abilities.

GAME IS UTTERLY RUINED BY FINAL BOSS (at the end of chapter 5) WHICH IS AN ENORMOUS LEAP IN DIFFICULTY AND USES EXTREMELY ANNOYING MECHANICS. Bad balance, don't waste your time with it unless you're a sadist.

Great storyline and the card/turn-based type combat mechanics make it very enjoyable. Characters are upgradeable via equipment or skill stats. I applaud the developers for making the 1st book FTP so people can get a feel for the game. Made it a definite buy for me. Hope to see many more stories with this type of player interaction

The Huntsman : Winter's Curse is a surprising gem in a fairytale universe, totally worth its price in my opinion. The first book is free to play : a perfect way to make your own opinion about it. And since this is a fairytale, your steam wallet will magically decrease in order to purchase the season pass. Remember : magic always comes with a price.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=691908110

This game is so much more than a Visual Novel, I just fell in love with its unique type. The story is about Elisabeth, a stubborn girl who used to live in a farm with her father and decides to leave her village to start her own adventure. Her brothers left home years ago and it's time for her to look for them and discover what happened. During her journey, she will meet many good or evil characters / monsters. Many dangers await but sometimes, fear and inner self are the worst enemies.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=673355066

But this isn't only a narrative and interactive game : it has several RPG principles. The game is linear, with a few side quests and choices to make (actions and dialogues). Your characters will get experience from the fights and quests and you'll have to manage their ability trees and inventory. The turn-based combat system is quite special and interesting : every character has skill cards depending on their equipment. Up to you to find the most effective combinations to get rid of your opponents. However, the combats aren't too challenging, except for the final boss.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=673377598

One does not review The Huntsman : Winter's Curse without mentioning its beautiful and elaborate art style : unique, refreshing, a personal and authentic touch. The soundtrack is also particularly pleasant ; wouldn't mind to pay for a soundtrack edition (Edit : there is a soundtrack DLC now !).

This game is simply mesmerizing, captivating and worth playing. I sincerely hope that Desert Owl Games, LLC will come back with other gems.

So far I am really enjoying this game! I bought the season pass after playing the first episode, and so far have played three episodes in total. The plot as well as the characters are all interesting, if not slightly cliche. But that doesn't really bother me as I don't mind hearing a familiar story again as long as it's told well. Also, something I really like is the fact that you can change the story based on your choices. I don't actually think your choices affect the main story, but it's nice to have the illusion of choice, I guess!

I am a huge fan of turn-based combat systems, and this game happens to have turn-based combat. During battle, you choose skill cards which you get by equipping items you pick up through the story. I liked this system, since it allowed you to mix things up whenever you wanted. I found it quite difficult to find a good skill card combination, and a lot of the time while in battle I was stuck with cards that I didn't want to use. I don't think this game is too difficult - I played it on the default difficulty setting and managed to get through the game without dying. You can switch the difficulty however, if you want more or less of a challenge, although I am not sure what that would be like.

Finally, there were one or two things that annoyed me. When allocating ability points on the character page, I couldn't see the descriptions as the fonts were too small. A lot of things on that page were basically kind of glitchy. Besides that, you can't save your game. It automatically saves, and once you do something it is done forever. A few times, I wanted to see if choosing a different choice would change the outcome but I couldn't. While that sort of save system makes sense for some games, I don't really think it's neccessary here.

9.3/10 - Exciting New Visual Novel/Card Combat Hybrid!

I just completed the first episode in a little over an hour. This one was free but the remaining 4 episodes are $5 each; which I am seriously considering since I really dig this game! You are Elisabeth a girl who must leave the farm and embark on an epic and perilous journey to find her brothers.

This visual novel blends perfectly with card/turn based combat and RPG elements; I’ve never been into card based games but this may have changed my mind. The graphics and story are both well done and I can't seem to get enough of this game! I wish the first episode was longer! I love the use of the map; it's interactive and serves as your hub for travel, quests and character items and gear.

Worth $5; this first episode is free. I'm hoping the remaining 4 prove as fruitful! Update soon

(EDIT): Just completed the Fifth episode and I was equally if not more impressed. The length was about 2 hours which I was pleased with for about $4! This game still has me hooked; if you enjoyed the first grab this on sale! Total length of all 5 episodes was 9 hours and some change

Accidently Reviewed

Book 1 [noparse][Free][/noparse]

Book 2 [noparse][DLC][/noparse]

Book 3 [noparse][DLC][/noparse]