Hob’s influences are clear, and developer Runic Games is completely transparent about drawing inspiration from Zelda, Ico, and Shadow of the Colossus. The team’s love for large-scale, top-down action-adventure games comes to life in Hob, whose gorgeous 3D world isn’t at all what it seems.In IGN’s 20 minute demo, set shortly after Hob’s introduction, the main character had already earned a useful set of tools. His simple sword sliced through weird wolf-bug enemies and blades of grass hiding health pots; his bulky, stone glove protected him from predators, pulled big crate-puzzle boxes, and helped pull him up ledges. Hob, like Zelda, emphasizes exploration and discovery over combat, giving each action sequence against small groups of enemies greater significance. Violence is rare, but it is that particular brand of brutal Runic is so good at — Disney-esque art works well with big bursts of blood.
Hob has an eldritch vibe amid its pseudo-cyberpunk/fantasy setting.
Hob’s combat was simple, but each new discovery adds interesting depth. New gloves, for instance, make you a more capable fighter and more adept adventurer. One piece of equipment we found let the hero grapple onto specific spots on walls. This is an especially satisfying means of rapid navigation; it feels less like a grappling device and more like a powerful magnet, ripping the hero off the ground and up a wall, or across one ledge to the next. This is useful in combat as well. Pulling on the greaves of a spooky boss monster yanks the protective gear off, giving you an opening to cut through exposed, vulnerable points.“
Really, though, I enjoyed wandering these environments most. Runic’s vibrant art and distinct aesthetic gives Hob a bizarre and haunting sense of place. Obliterated robots lay dead in corners of ruined cobblestone structures, which are simultaneously ancient and rippling with electrical energy. This strange mix of older architecture and more modern technology is the heart of Hob’s mysterious world. It is also the crux of its most promising gameplay system.Levels in Hob can change in hugely significant ways based on certain switches you flip. An area you explored will tear itself apart, with new chunks of stone and forest rising out from underneath earth that’s split apart. There’s room for Runic to do a lot of interesting things here — new puzzles, new enemies, new routes through familiar places that find themselves reinvented. Environmental shifting also earns you access to previously inaccessible areas when, say, a set of climbable cliffs shoots out from the chasm ahead.
Hob has an eldritch vibe amid its pseudo-cyberpunk/fantasy setting. It is bleak but beautiful, colorful in appearance but darker in tone. Something bad happened, or is still happening here. Its wordless story explores a new Runic Games universe, giving you room to infer what it means when a wandering robot descends a futuristic elevator in an apparently undisturbed section of the world — and whether or not you want to follow it. Mitch Dyer is an Editor at IGN. Talk to him about Dota 2, movies, books, and other stuff on Twitter at @MitchyD and subscribe to MitchyD on Twitch.