Over the last few days, I have spent a lot of time in Nez Perce Valley and seeing that a lot of new players are showing interest in Way of the Hunter, I wanted to put together a guide with a few helpful tips. Now when I say Beginner’s Guide, I really mean that it’s for beginners. I am confident about the tips because I myself am a beginner to this genre of games, and these are the things I wish I knew at the start of my playthrough. Whether you’re wondering how to best use Hunter Sense to find animals or how to teleport your car back from the wild, this guide has your covered.
Auto Walk | This is a big one that I didn’t really use until I was few hours into the game, but Way of the Hunter has an auto walk function where you press L1 on PlayStation and LB on Xbox to make the character move forward at your current walking pace without player input. To build on that is the option of turning on running toggle (which allows you to press L3 once and toggle into running) to make your character auto run or inversely pressing R3 to slow down from the walking speed. The R3 toggle also allows you to quickly tap into your Hunter Sense without coming to a full stop.
Hunter Sense | Speaking of Hunter Sense, while experienced players can turn off the functions of the Hunter Sense in the settings, for new players it is valuable in tracking down animals. When an animal makes a sound, be it in the environment or a call, they come up on your screen. Furthermore, Hunter Sense can highlight things to analyze points of interest on the ground like paw prints and drinking zones. It’s important to analyze as many as items as you can because not only does that give you more information about animals in the area, but it also helps you unlock the Walk and Sense perk, which allows you to, you guessed it, use Hunter Sense while walking. And that will definitely speed up the gameplay a bit.
Fast Travel | One of the other ways you can save time in Way of the Hunter is by using fast travel. The game allows you to travel back to certain cabins that you come across as you explore the map. Now when you fast travel, you may teleport away, but your car stays where it is on the map. The good thing is you don’t have to walk all the way back to it. Near every cabin/lodge area there is a parking sign with the signifying letter P on it. If you walk up to the sign, it allows you to spawn in one of the three drivable unmarked Jeeps in the game. So don’t be afraid to ditch your car and explore a random path through the wild. You can always fast travel to safety and bring your car back when you need it.
Take It Slow | All that time you’re saving with fast travel and sensing while walking will go towards hunting. In order to even be able to take your shot though, you have to get eyes on the animal first. And in Way of the Hunter, it’s very easy to spook animals away, causing them to run out of their usual zones. This is something you’ll learn the hard way in the first few hours of the game so it’s best if you know it now. Walking, not running, is recommended if you are in the area of the animal you are searching for, and crouching is encouraged as it makes even less noise and lets you get even closer to the animal. You can also go completely prone, but that isn’t really effective in most terrains so crouch shots are the way to go.
Taking the Shot | You can get the animal in your sights now but how about taking the shot. Well, make sure to use your binoculars to find out the distance to the target (the red numbers next to the center of the screen) and then zero into that range on your weapon using the left and right buttons on the d-pad. Bonus tip here, consider saving up for a high clarity lensed scope early on to replace the one that you start out with. Back to the shot, aim for the vitals (like the heart) of any animal you hunt. This is considered more ethical, and the animal suffers for a lesser time. In the gaming sense, it also means the animal’s body will be closer to the initial point of contact.
Finding the Body | Landing your shot is only half the battle. Next you have to find the animal’s body. The first thing to do as soon as you hit your shot is to press R1 on PlayStation or RB on Xbox to mark the spot where the animal was when you hit it. This will make it much easier to find the blood pool and believe me this is definitely one I wish I knew at the start. Unless your target went down on the spot, chances are it took off, and you should turn on Hunter Sense at this point if you don’t already have it on because it will highlight blood on the ground that will point in the direction the animal was headed in. Think of it sort of like an arrow. The narrow side of the blood trail is the direction you want to move in.
Hunting Population | I am sure there are more experienced players who can give you better advice about going for high-star bucks and things like that, but I wanted to throw in one last point. This one’s not about how to find the animals but what animals you should hunt in the first place. You see, Way of the Hunter alters the type of animals you see in the wild based on what you hunt. Much like in real life, going after only male deer will skew the population to be mostly female. Additionally, going after only high-star bucks will mean the bucks you find in the wild will slowly be less bucks. However, if you only take out the low-star ones, you’ll find that there will be more high-start ones.
That brings us to the end of my tips and tricks list. I hope you find these useful as you walk (not run) through the wilderness of Way of the Hunter. One point above all else when it comes to this game is to have patience, because being hasty will rarely get you great results. If you want to see me explore the Nez Perce Valley for two hours, check out my live stream below. I may not be a great hunter but that shot at the end sure was something. If you have any questions about the game, leave them down in the comments and I will try my best to answer them. My full review for Way of the Hunter will be out sometime next week.
