HunterX is an action-focused Metroidvania that combines interconnected exploration, character progression, and demanding combat built around precise defensive timing. Developed and published by ORANGE POPCORN, it follows a teenage devil hunter whose seemingly routine supernatural work takes an unexpected turn beneath a mysterious purple moon. After discovering a crack leading into another world, she enters an unfamiliar realm filled with hostile creatures, dangerous bosses, hidden pathways, and valuable equipment. The premise is straightforward, but it provides an effective foundation for a game that places its greatest emphasis on combat and exploration.
Combat is easily one of the most engaging parts of the experience. Basic attacks can be developed into combinations, while dodging, guarding, and parrying provide several ways to survive enemy assaults. This means success is not simply determined by how aggressively the player can attack. Stronger enemies encourage careful observation, particularly when their attack patterns become more complicated. Learning when to evade, when to defend, and when to risk a parry creates a satisfying rhythm. The system is accessible enough to understand quickly while still offering room for players to improve their timing and efficiency.
HunterX also gives players considerable freedom when developing the protagonist. Weapons, skills, character parameters, and Occult magic can be combined to create different approaches to combat. The skill board provides a visible sense of advancement, while more than 170 collectible items, including weapons and supernatural abilities, make exploration worthwhile. Finding new equipment can provide more than a minor numerical improvement because certain discoveries can encourage experimentation with a different offensive strategy. This relationship between exploration and character progression helps prevent optional areas from feeling pointless.
The world follows the interconnected structure associated with the Metroidvania genre. Players are encouraged to investigate different routes rather than simply moving through a rigid sequence of stages. Hidden locations and useful discoveries reward curiosity, while progression gradually expands what the protagonist can accomplish. There is an enjoyable feeling of entering an unfamiliar location, encountering obstacles or branching routes, and wondering what might be concealed beyond the obvious path. The overall scope is more concentrated than some of the largest games in the genre, but that smaller scale helps keep the adventure moving at a comfortable pace.
Boss encounters provide some of the game's strongest challenges. These fights require players to understand distinctive enemy behaviors instead of repeatedly attacking and hoping to overpower everything. Recognizing telegraphed moves, maintaining an appropriate distance, and choosing safe opportunities to retaliate become increasingly important. Parrying can be particularly rewarding because successfully executing it requires confidence in the enemy's timing. Defeating a difficult opponent after learning its behavior delivers the sense of progression expected from a combat system with noticeable Souls-like influences.
Visually, HunterX uses a 2.5D presentation that gives its side-scrolling environments additional depth. Three-dimensional characters and scenery are combined with movement largely confined to a traditional side-view perspective. The protagonist's anime-influenced appearance contrasts effectively with the darker supernatural creatures and locations encountered throughout the journey. Although the production values are understandably more modest than those of a major-budget release, the visual direction remains consistent and gives the adventure its own recognizable identity.
The story serves the gameplay adequately without becoming the primary attraction. The mysterious alternate world and devil-hunting premise establish enough intrigue to motivate continued exploration, but players expecting a deeply elaborate narrative RPG may find the storytelling relatively restrained. HunterX is more interested in giving the player another dangerous area to investigate, another weapon to experiment with, or another boss to overcome. For an action-oriented Metroidvania, that focus works reasonably well, although stronger characterization and more substantial narrative development could have made the adventure more memorable outside its mechanical strengths.
Progression remains satisfying because several systems operate together. Improving character parameters provides straightforward growth, the skill board expands available techniques, equipment changes combat potential, and Occult magic adds another offensive dimension. Players can therefore adjust their approach when a particular encounter proves difficult rather than relying exclusively on mechanical execution. The variety does not transform HunterX into an enormously complicated RPG, but it gives the player enough control to make character development feel meaningful.
Steam Deck compatibility is a positive aspect for portable players. HunterX is listed as Steam Deck Playable rather than fully Verified. It can be played on the handheld, but players should expect that some aspects may not meet every requirement for the highest compatibility rating. Its side-scrolling design and controller-oriented action are nevertheless naturally suited to portable play, making the Steam Deck a practical way to experience the game.
HunterX ultimately succeeds by concentrating on the fundamentals that matter most for this type of adventure. Responsive action, rewarding defensive mechanics, challenging bosses, numerous collectible items, character customization, and interconnected exploration create a consistently entertaining foundation. It does not attempt to revolutionize the Metroidvania formula, and its relatively modest narrative prevents it from reaching the strongest examples of the genre. Even so, its combat has enough depth to remain satisfying, while progression provides a steady incentive to keep searching for the next upgrade or ability.
Players who enjoy side-scrolling action RPGs with demanding battles and meaningful character development should find plenty to appreciate here. The combination of parrying, dodging, guarding, weapon experimentation, magic, and exploration gives the adventure greater depth than its simple premise initially suggests. HunterX is a focused and enjoyable indie Metroidvania that understands the appeal of becoming progressively more capable while confronting increasingly dangerous enemies.
Rating: 8/10
