When Bethesda tells you it has a new IP to reveal at a show like GDC, you clear your schedule. During the show, the company camped out in a suite with small sign taped to the door, and we were asked to keep the very existence of the meeting under our hat until the embargo was up. Luckily, we're now able to tell about the publisher's newest game: it's coming to the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, it will be out "when it's done," and it's a two-player co-op dungeon crawler called Hunted: The Demon's Forge.
Coming out of the tradition of Dungeons and Dragons and multiplayer MUDs, Hunted is a two-player co-op game focusing on a pair of heroes: E'lara and Caddoc. E'lara specializes in ranged weapons, while Caddoc prefers to wade in with his melee weapons. They look how you'd expect: a very attractive female and a muscular hulk. (Remember kids: the best armor for females in video games is something that shows as much skin as possible.)
The two players that control these characters are able to play with each other online. No split-screen, as the team wanted to keep up a certain level of graphical performance. The game has been in development for two years, and the work is easy to see: it looks beautiful, with detailed weapons and enemies. The environments are likewise large in scale. While this is a dungeon crawl, be prepared for some sweeping vistas and epic set pieces.
The perspective is third-person, and co-op finds its way into every aspect of gameplay. You'll be able to carry three potions to resurrect your partner and, in a nice twist, you can see them on your belt; you visually know how reckless or tight you have to play the game. You can throw these vials across the level as well... if you can see your downed comrade, you can rescue them. Both characters are able to use magic to buff the other, and we had the chance to see this in action during a boss fight. Caddoc used his strength to hold down a weakened monster so that E'lara could shoot an arrow into a weak spot to kill it.
