BIGFOOT Preview

I’m sure you’ve all heard of the elusive bigfoot. Sightings have been reported for a few hundred years now, not just in North American National Parks but also in Europe, particularly the yeti in Russia; the Orang Pendek in Southeast Asia; and the Almas in Central Asia. Whatever you believe, it’s clear that there is a lot of lore for something like BIGFOOT, currently in early access, to draw from.

It’s slightly disappointing that currently, BIGFOOT is focused solely on two locations in North America, although at least both are different. One is located in a dense forest (Ross Lake), with intermittent rainfall. The other, Glacier Bay, somewhere up north with plenty of fallen snow and freezing temperatures. You’re dropped into one of these two maps with simple directions: locate the lost search party of four who’ve gone missing, and capture bigfoot.

Ross Lake is the easiest map for a beginner. You begin close to the missing search party’s camp, with a slew of tracking supplies: cameras, meat, traps, a drone, ammo, sniper, tracking bullets…all highly desirable in a game where items are, sometimes, frustratingly rare. Cameras can be placed strategically around the map, allowing you to press tab and select any of them to view their feed. Same with the drone, too, with its onboard camera. The idea is to place a trap with meat somewhere and keep an eye on it remotely as you wander off to search the map.

In truth, all this equipment is great, but I never really felt I got the most out of it. None of my cameras caught anything (though that’s probably partly down to my own ineptitude), my traps never wielded any results, the only one that was helpful was the tracking bullet. When used, a red dot flashes on the map (shown right) in the bottom left to let you know where bigfoot is once you have encountered it. The night vision goggles help you to rest easier when it’s pitch black, but not when you see a pair of eyes staring at you…

I’d even say that the sniper wasn’t helpful. It’s good for killing the other wildlife that linger the forests, such as bears, wolves and foxes, all of which you can harvest meat from. But when it comes to attacking the main villain, the bigfoot that is supposed to appear at random intervals, it’s really an impossible task. That is, unless there’s a big group of you to front an attack.

Once you’ve played a few rounds, the frequency to which the bigfoot appears becomes a little repetitive. The first is usually just after the transition to day two, at which point you find out that it’s very difficult to complete this game on your own. With the aforementioned sniper, the damage it does to the bigfoot is miniscule, and the anger it exerts on you is pretty massive. Over half of your health bar gets sapped from its outbursts. As a squad, it would definitely be a lot easier, however there’s no matchmaking so you’re reliant on trying to join somebody else’s lobby…which is difficult when they’re all set to private.

What BIGFOOT really does do well, though, is capture an atmosphere of dread. With nothing particular to focus my attention on, whenever something did come at me from the forest, it left me startled, heart racing. Or maybe I’m just a big baby. What I would like to see implemented to make it even creepier are something like the Sierra Sounds, that unexplainable chatter in the distance would really add to the unknown feeling in the forests or snow.

There are some survival tactics you need to be aware of, but it’s not very in-depth at all. You don’t need to worry about food or shelter per se, but you do need to watch your health and your body temperature. Collecting sticks and stones won’t break your bones, but they will allow you to build campfires to raise your operating temperature back up. Not doing so will cause you damage, where the infrequently placed first aid kits become a necessity.

Saying that though, I did manage to successfully capture the bigfoot just playing on my own! But that was thanks to the creature unfortunately glitched in a rock inside its lair (yes, there are hidden lairs too), so up I ran to knife it to its demise. I didn’t count the clicks, but I’ll just say that it was a lot.

So, could I recommend BIGFOOT right now? For £12.39, it’s a tough one. After the first game, I wasn’t looking forward to getting into more games. But after I got the hang of it, it’s actually quite enjoyable, and it would be even better in a group of four friends working together to track down the bigfoot. What I would say though is that it really needs more maps with more variety, with perhaps some more investment in personal survival elements. Dealing with hunger would add another good dynamic, I feel.

Oh, and make it easier to kill the damn thing if you’re playing solo!