Fantasy elements offer developers the ability to re-imagine elements of the world, architecture, animals and weapons can transform into strange and interesting patterns. This gives an element of surprise and intrigue to the game world, especially with regards to spatial dimensions. Boss characters are unlike anything we would normally see in life, therefore it becomes a visual spectacle for players to experience as well as a unknown experience. Hunting games on the other hand, present a familiar experience within a realistic setting and therefore rely more on the world being accurately modelled. Is this a waste of time though, or should we all be playing Cabela instead of fighting zombie soldiers and taking down the Three Kings?
Comparing the thrill of killing beasts in the real world might not seem such a stretch from killing beasts in a fantasy world then, but is there more to Dark Souls type fantasies than simply killing beasts? I'm sure these are some of the questions developers first ask themselves when embarking on game projects. Developers would wonder if realistic style games lacked the power of fantasy themes games or vice versa.
One of the many Cabela games
I believe hunting games in particular could benefit from making the act more meaningful by using currency systems. This is what differentiates games like Cabela and Demons Souls on a core level. In DES your work feels like part of the world, and constantly the world is engaging you with patterns of combat, reward, buying, selling or trading. The fact that many of these resources are so scarce means that any hunting simulation would need to take the take approach, and give the player realistic situations to explore the wild in. This of course would have to alter the setting to be less contemporary (sporty) thereby potentially doing something that has never really been attempted in a hunting game, which is to cover the history of hunting in human culture. Would this make Cabela into a non-gun game though, is that how far back they should go to give it legitimacy? These are serious design decisions that could fragment the Cabela franchise userbase (although they don't seem to be to shy about spinoff titles). These are also exciting scenarios though, full of tension. Players would get fewer chances at success, risk their lives, hunt in groups and spend valuable resources bartering. This kind of slow, often uninteresting gameplay is very different to the fantasy world of Dark Souls, but if done properly could might be just as entertaining.
