The Huntsman: Winter’s Curse Review: Simple yet intriguing

I should note that I have yet to see The Huntsman: Winter’s War, nor have I heard good things about said movie. The Huntsman: Winter’s Curse sets to remove itself from the events of the movie, leaving out Chris Helmsworth’s Huntsman for a new female in a beautifully drawn Turn-based RPG.

The game starts itself off with some hand drawn cut scenes with voiced over dialogue that explain the adventure awaiting, an elderly lady gives the premise of the story from in front of a fire place.  The art style then shifts to the more comic book art direction seen in the promos.

The story that drives the game is that of a young woman named Elizabeth looking to find her brothers after their father has passed away and she no longer want to live the farm life, adventure and glory awaits. Along the way Elizabeth meets a mysterious man named Marcus, who teams up with Elizabeth but appears to have ulterior motive. Along their travels they also meet up with characters and visit locations from the movies, with their choices affecting the outcome of the game. The story tries to take some twists and turns, but it is simple to follow.

Combat is simple, in a similar fashion to Ubisoft’s Child of Light, Huntsman Winter’s Curse uses an active-time Turn-Based battle system monitored by a bar appears at the top of your screen that shows you how the combat will progress, using tags that show your characters avatar in the order of turn. This system can be manipulated using a specific card (which is the next topic) or a combat card that has an effect attached to it to move your turn up or slow the enemies down.

Attacks and spells are presented by cards in an attempt to keep things fresh, with each turn you are presented with 3 different cards that range from status effect cards, simple attack cards or attack/effect cards. It is a simple system but it is one that works.

The game is presented in a hand drawn fashion, which is refreshing because it looks like a lot of time and consideration went into the presentation of this story, although the visuals do tend to become stale as the same animation continuously repeats itself, regardless of the attack card chosen.

Audio-wise the presentation is a bit lackluster, often times in a battle I found my attention drifting elsewhere because there is barely any soundtrack to the battle outside of the sound of wind and occasional grunts.

The Huntsman: Winter’s Curse is definitely feels more of a game for those who want to continue to explore the world created by Snow White and the Huntsman and it’s sequel, Winter’s War. The game is simple, and lacks any real replay value, but it’s hand drawn animation is great to look at even as the novelty wears off.