The Hunter, developed by Avalanche Studios (the creators of Just Cause), promises to be the most true-to-life simulation of buck hunting ever designed. With a mixture of different gaming features, from social networking to online play, The Hunter provides a sandbox island where patience and careful planning win out over run and gun play.

The game is just recently out in Open Beta, utilizing the same “login to play” system alongside ID Software (Quake Live) and EA (Battlefield Heroes). It’s currently free to play after making an account and grabbing a 400mb file from download. From the brief moment of play I’ve had, the presentation is nothing short of stunning. Birds fly in random patterns, deer sniff the air and scratch themselves. The graphics are phenomenal for such a small install, so it’s definitely worth a look.

So load your bolt action, grab the camo and head over to the website.