Want to mount trophies on your wall without Social Justice Warriors getting on your back?
Try one of these top 10 PC hunting games
Have you moved to the city and are now deprived of the vast wilderness in which to stalk and shoot your quarry? Well then do we have a list for you. Many of us do not have the wildlife or the climate for big game hunting. To tide you over before you can get back into the hunt for real, try one of our top 10 hunting games where you can bag a stag without the messy clean up or Ricky Gervais getting on your back.
10) theHunter
Unleash your inner Dick Cheney and go hunting with your friends
TheHunter is a free to download game from Avalanche Studios available on Steam and if you want realism in your hunting games this is for you. Players are invited to design their character and stalk a wide range of wildlife across ten huge environments.
The locations range from the scorched Australian outback to the Arctic tundra of Alaska and allow players to hunt a wide range of animals including kangaroos, bear, birds and of course deer. Players most obey strict hunting regulations such as what guns to use on what animals and deal with dynamic weather all of which can change the outcome of a hunt.
TheHunter also is not limited to solo stalking, up to eight friends can play in co-op mode.
You will not find a more realistic experience for free than the theHunter.
My rating: 6/10
Hunting deers with bow and arrow
You don't mess around in my 100 Acre Wood.
9) Cabela’s Big Game Hunter’s Pro Hunts
One of the bosses is called Hogzilla what is not to like
The first entry on our list from the Tiger Woods of hunting games. Cabela are a retailer of hunting equipment and as such there is an emphasis on the hunting gear. Big Game Hunter’s Pro Hunt’s main hook though is the player gets to hunt with the pros. Real life hunters Jim Shockey, Wade Middleton, Ralph Cianciarulo and Vicki Cianciarulo join you on your hunt to offer advice on how best to snag your game.
There are plenty of animals to track and kill as well as boss style beasts that unlock new regions. Startled Moose and enraged bears can also charge the player.
The pros do add a different dimension to the game and are useful for new players. However, the game is limited to four regions and single player.
My rating: 7/10
The game focuses on the player being smarter than the average bear.
An angry bear charging at ya!
8) Cabela’s Hunting Expeditions
Hunting Expeditions allows you to drive a dune buggy after moose in Alaska.
In Cabela’s Hunting Expeditions players make their way through 15 levels across different region while hunting a wide variety of wildlife. As a Cabela game there is a big emphasis on firearm and equipment customization.
This is a game for perfectionists. Cabela’s Hunting Expeditions will judge your every movement. The quality of your stalking, the shot you choose to take and the precision of the hit will all be judged. It provides great replay value if you enjoy chasing the best score. There is a range of regions in the game covering the United States of America, Canada and Sub-Saharan Africa. ATVs and Jeeps are available for quicker movement.
Cabela’s Hunting Expeditions allows you to hunt 30 different animals. In Africa you can pursue hulking White Rhino and African Elephants, while in the North American regions you can stalk animals ranging in size from skittish rabbits to great Grizzly Bears. There is a greater level of tactics for players to have fun with, compared to contemporary games, as there is a strategic map mode is available to plan every portion of your hunt. Replace with the type of animals players will hunt and what’s fun about it.
My rating: 7/10
You will find yourself walking your character off a cliff just to stop his ‘advice’
If you eat its heart you gain its power
A great way to sneak up on prey, apparently
7) Far Cry Primal
Far Cry Primal is the only game on this list that lets you use a mammoth to hunt a sabre tooth tiger.
Far Cry Primal sees the player taken back to the Stone Age, here he must lead his tribe to victory over two opposing tribes. To accomplish this the player will have to overcome the ferocious wildlife and build a safe home for his scattered tribe.
Far Cry games have always been heavy on hunting side quests, Far Cry Primal is the first game where it actually fits the storyline. As a Stone Age Hunter and Gatherer it makes far more sense for you to have a hunter sense and spend 50% of your time hunting and skinning animals. Along with the ordinary every day sabre tooth tigers, woolly mammoths and giant bears you butcher for crafting items, there are also excessively difficult boss beasts. These boss animals once defeated allow you to someone them as an A.I companion in battle. This adds an extra tactical dimension to taking down enemy strongholds.
Far Cry Primal focuses much more on the gameplay element of hunting and is not a game strictly limited to hunting. Due to its style of gameplay it invests less emphasis on the more tedious parts of realism. Far Cry Primal is another great game in a great series, but may not be the game for a gamer looking for the authentic hunting experience.
My rating: 8/10
Real men bludgeon their prey.
It’s a Far Cry game of course strange men give you hallucinogens
Despite being thousands of years older Far Cry Primal’s bow is as effective as its modern counterparts
6) Cabela’s African Adventures
It is like GTA but with stampeding animals instead of cops.
Hunt Africa’s deadliest animals in a free roaming environment. Traverse the wild continent on foot or take command of numerous vehicles to traverse the dusty landscape and locate wild game.
Gameplay centres on a search for hidden tribal idols which are located in the dens of the most dangerous of Africa’s animals. The game provides a series of missions that lead towards epic boss battles with Africa’s Big Five; Rhino, Lion, Leopard, Elephant and Buffalo. There is also a massive free roaming world for the player to explore at will. African Adventures finds a good balance between realism and fun game play.
My rating: 8/10
There is a slight issue with the forward roll being the quickest form of transport.
Bring Mufasa’s killers to justice
A-weema-weh A-weema-weh A-weema-weh
5) Hunting Unlimited
The menu music was enough to get this game a mention on this list.
We’re going old school here, the graphics have not stood the test of time but there are a 110 missions to complete in Hunting Unlimited 2010. Across these missions you can hunt a plethora of animals, you have your easily startled red deer and moose, your hard to take down grizzlies as well as lumbering giant African elephants.
If you can look past the blocky graphics there is still a very good hunting game at the heart of this platform and the maps are enormous.
My rating: 7/10
To answer your question; yes, you can kill yourself by driving a quad bike off a cliff.
And for the gamer that finds virtual hunting objectionable we have inanimate targets.
He doesn’t look like much now but wait till he’s mounted over your fireplace
4) Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter
Scholars still debate over how effective gunfire would have been against triceratops
Finally a game that lets you live out the dream we have all had since Jurassic Park 2.You are on the dinosaur planet discovered by dino-corp which allows heroic and fool hardy hunters such as yourself track and kill dinosaurs.
Players choose from a pistol, shotgun, crossbow or rifle to hunt their prey, a location and a dinosaur species to hunt. As you hunt you earn credits which unlock additional perks as well as more deadly dinosaurs. It has a limited number of options but has the added excitement of the dinosaurs being able to kill the hunter. Work your way up from stalking the lumbering Amargasaurus to stealthily sniping the king of all predators the T-Rex.
So if deer are too timid and bears don’t offer enough of a threat then test yourself against the colossal monsters that inhabit Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter.
My rating: 7/10
Instead of a pick up truck you instead get around via a 20 foot drone.
It’s not the land before time. It’s actually the future, on a different planet, with dinosaurs.
Going Medieval on their prehistoric asses
3) Cabela’s Outdoor Adventures 2009
One of the few times it is socially acceptable to say ‘that’s one heck of a rack’
Not content with just butchering the multitude of mammals that inhabit the land of North America, Cabela’s Outdoor Adventures 2009 takes your quest to kill every living creature to the skies and seas. You play a kind of reverse Noah as you hunt and fish across North America’s top hunting regions. The game does include strict hunting rules and thus limits the guns that can be used on certain animals. You can compensate for this by making use in tactics and animal calls. Your friendly walkie-talkie will guide you throughout.
There are plenty of options for customization and 50 regions providing plenty of gameplay as well as realism. The game’s best feature is an ability to aim for an animals vital organs for a top score.
My rating: 8/10
Your best friend is a walkie-talkie.
The only way this could be less fair is if you called in an airstrike
If you can think of a better way to teach kids anatomy I’d like to hear it
2) Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2013
This game is a representation of what PETA thinks hunting is like.
To avenge your father and save your brother you must massacre your way across Africa. You play Jacob, a man who lost his father in a bear hunt and must find his brother who set off on a revenge mission. On your way you will slaughter a genocidal amount of wildlife.
The gameplay is arcade in style with an emphasis on blowing a way large packs of animals. Two player co-op allows players to join forces to wipe out wave after wave of animals
If you don’t want too much realism and enjoy trigger happy shooters then this is the game for you.
My rating: 9/10
Hyenas are nature’s fast zombies
I’m sure I have wandered into worse situations, but I cannot think of any right now.
Time to channel your inner Liam Neeson
1. theHunter Call of the Wild
This game is so beautiful a vegan would play it
The most immersive hunting game out there, with graphics so sharp you could skin a deer with them. This game is like the Matrix if it was built for hunting fans. You can stalk the majestic deer, marvel at the countless birds that populate the sky and kill them all with the realistic in game ballistics.
You are given a fifty acre visually stunning world to roam and scout for prey. Players can undertake an atmospheric single player campaign or go online and play with seven other players.
Quite simply this is the greatest hunting simulator out there.
My rating: 10/10
You may never go outside again after playing this game
The best defence against hunters is cuteness
A cabin in the woods too pretty for even the worst of teen slashers
So that was our list of the ten best hunting games on PC, please share your thoughts and views in the comments.
You may also be interested in:
10 Best Deer Hunting Games for PC
Far Cry Series: 10 Things We Love Most About The Far Cry Games
