Unsurprisingly, given DH’s runaway success, it was joined on shelves by dozens of dopplegangers. Companies connected with rural sports milked the new genre mercilessly. Browning, Remington and Cabela all had their names emblazoned across game lids by the end of 1999. Mainstream publishers weren’t slow to jump on the bandwagon either. Soon people bored of stalking hoofed prey had the chance to bag birds, rodents and beasts that growled, gored and fought back. For a while we were spoiled for choice.

Then came the inevitable slump. A year without a new hunting game isn’t unusual these days. Thankfully, legacy titles - gems such as Deer Hunter: The 2005 Season, Trophy Hunter 2003 and Hunting Unlimited 3 - have all aged well and still offer the discerning hunter plenty of tension, atmosphere, challenge and anticipation.

“Anticipation” is our euphemistic way of saying there’s lots of preamble in these games. In the “free hunt” modes that most sims sport it’s not unusual to go 10, 20, even 30 minutes without seeing a game animal. Isn’t this target-poverty maddeningly frustrating? It is if you turn up expecting a kind of Call of Duty. Come prepared for something more akin to a Silent Hunter III patrol and the culture-shock is far less pronounced. As in SH3, all the waiting, the watching and the wandering makes that moment when you finally spot a prize all the more thrilling.