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Mistfall Hunter kicks off in a familiar fashion for anyone who has played Dark Souls, or most any other Soulslike – I'm a husk revivified by a mysterious energy and shunted off to fight through a dying land. Shambling dead lunge at me, huge gates must be opened, and I'm jumped by a hulking monster right at the end and smashed into pieces. But, this Steam Next Fest beta has a twist of its own to offer.
Along the way through this brief tutorial, I've been shoving loot into a swelling inventory, and once felled by the boss monster at the end I have one more chance to steer my spirit back to my body to get back up again. From there, I summon a strange bell creature onto the map, tracking and slaying it to gain the ability to make it ring and extract with my collected loot. From here, it's all about deploying into and extracting out of bigger fantasy maps, filled with goodies to collect, monsters, and other players (and if you want to give it a go, you can check out our Steam Next Fest guide for more).
Misty mountains
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Mistfall Hunter is the debut project from Bellring Games, and it feels like the purer action RPG take on the extraction genre that I expected from Elden Ring Nightreign pre-release (which is more focused on providing a randomized co-op challenge). Mistfall Hunter has more in common with the likes of Arc Raiders or Marathon, except, of course, it's a fantasy ARPG. One we've been hotly anticipating since we first played it last year.
I spend most of my time playing with a melee focused build, the mercenary, just because that's what I'm used to from playing Dark Souls, but there are multiple classes on offer (which you can swap between back at the hub – though you can also level up a skill tree to enhance each). Archers and sorcerers round out available weapon types, but more specialized roles are in the mix too – such as the stealthy Shadowstrix or the magical healer Seer. Able to group up, assembling a varied team will give an edge on being able to extract with the best loot possible, and keep rival players at bay.
Naturally, some of the loot dropped by monsters can be equipped there and then – important if you've lost all your stuff or are just starting out. But, the best goodies I find are locked in chests, or dropped by boss-level foes (and usually, to unlock the former, you must defeat a stronger enemy anyway). Rare ingredients are handy, but precious Gyldenblood will goop out of certain foes, the major currency that's used for core progress. There's a time limit on each match too as the Gyldenmist threatens to corrupt everything in the land, so extracting before then is vital if you can fight it out over a bell or come to an understanding between fellow players.
Playing as my melee character, combat is familiar – hitting the right bumper to slash with my sword, and the left to raise my shield to defend. Triggers, meanwhile, are essentially weapon arts, which operate on generous cooldowns so I can drop deadly abilities with ease. Swapping to a big hammer changes these abilities instantly, while giving me more powerful attacks with, as expected, more wind-up.
Combat itself isn't as refined as FromSoftware's Soulslikes – what is? – meaning there's an amount of chafing against hitboxes and animations that can at times feel weightless, but with the dip in and out extraction structure the lightweight nature suits it so far. Will I feel the same if I lose gear I've spent hours collecting in the full release because of it? Perhaps not.
Yet, I find my first few loops through Hallowgrove, on the path to Brandrgarde (the two maps in the current build, which also have 'chaos' variants) compelling. In the past, I've struggled to get into extraction shooters because I prefer my blasting to come in the deathmatch variety.
Something about considered fantasy RPG combat – the hallmark of the Soulslike – just fits the extraction vibe better to me, and I definitely wish instead of writing this I was stepping into the Gyldenmist afflicted land to hoover up more loot for more go-around. It's easy to see why Mistfall Hunters has been Steam Next Fest's top demo so far – so play the beta while you can.
If you miss it, there's not long to wait. Mistfall Hunter launches on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on July 29, with its beta running through Steam Next Fest.
Looking for more along these lines? Check out my best Soulslike games list!
