Release Date: September 26th, 2017
Platforms: PS4, PC
Price: $19.99 / £15.99 / €19,99, 10% off pre-orders, 20% off pre-orders with PlayStation Plus
Genre: Action, Adventure, Indie
Developer: Runic Games (Torchlight, Torchlight II)
Publisher: Runic Games
Bonuses:
Pre-orders through the PlayStation Store also get the Hob World Raise Dynamic Theme.
Pre-orders through Steam also get the full soundtrack.
Purchases through GOG prior to October 10th also get a free copy of Stories: The Path of Destinies.
Also Available: The Runic Games Collection (Hob, Torchlight, and Torchlight II) for $24.99 on Steam and GOG
Hob is a suspenseful adventure game set on a stunning and brutal world in disarray. Slowly uncover your role in saving the vibrant life around you while you explore stunning landscapes, solve puzzles, and transform the planet itself.
Wordless Narrative: Presented without text or dialogue, Hob's story is revealed as you explore the planet and interact with the strange lifeforms that inhabit it.
Transform The World by solving puzzles and repairing the planet. The landscape will change before your eyes, opening new areas to uncover and explore.
Grapple, Punch, and Warp through the world! Use your mechanical glove-arm abilities for traversal as well as combat.
Adventure in an open world, explore ruins, befriend sprites, and battle the rogue creatures that threaten their extinction.
Hob Official Website
Hob: Prelude (A digital comic introducing Hob's lore.)
Purchase at: PlayStation Store | Steam | GOG
Runic Games on: Twitter | Youtube | Discord
Facebook pages for: Hob | Runic Games
Soundtrack on: Youtube | Bandcamp ($9.99)
Reddit AMA
Review Thread
Metacritic: PS4 | PC
Opencritic
9/10 - "Hob is definitely larger than the sum of its parts, which come together almost perfectly to create a truly singular adventure. Hob may not have the AAA budget and polish of the franchises it draws inspiration from, but it has lots of heart and something to say, which is impressive for a game without a single spoken word." - PSX Extreme
8.5/10 - "Overall Hob is a fantastic game and just be on a play list for anyone who enjoys puzzle platformers and wouldn't mind some light RPG elements thrown in. The story is told organically and beautifully through gameplay and has some of the best sound design I've seen in a game." - MMORPG
8/10 - "Hob delivers meaningful, wondrous exploration in an alluring and enigmatic world, but the combat and technical issues hold it back" - Game Informer
8/10 - "With great level design and a satisfying mixture of puzzles and combat, Hob is one of the most beautiful adventures in a while. From humble beginnings, its scope will often take your breath away." - God is a Geek
8/10 - "Runic Games take you on a wondrous mysterious journey through fantastic environments making HOB well worth your time." - PC Invasion
7.8/10 - "Hob is a beautiful Zelda-like puzzler with fun combat elements that takes place on an enchanting world where nature and machinery alter the landscape as easily as a twist of a Rubik's cube. The wordless approach to the story creates some confusion and the fix camera sometimes results in unnecessary deaths, but never does the time spent with Hob feel wasted." - IGN
77/100 - "A gorgeous world eager to be explored with satisfying puzzles and fun, if occasionally clumsy, action." - PC Gamer
7/10 - "Hob is an enjoyable experience, providing hours of great puzzling and platforming fun – despite the game's face-value story and technical issues." - PlayStation Universe
Recommended - "Intricate and ingenious, Hob is a true spiritual successor to A Link to the Past." - Eurogamer
No Score - "Were Hob a tightly-scripted action adventure that guided the player from point to point and told them exactly what was expected of them, it wouldn't be nearly as magical an experience, and certainly not as personal." - Kotaku
No Score - "Hob is like a beautiful example of how to make a third-person action game. Like a filmmaker who has learned every detail of cinematography, direction, lighting and set dressing, but never thought to care about the script... It's fun to play, it's often extremely clever, but – well – it lacks at the same time too." - Rock, Paper, Shotgun
Length?
- "Playtesters are averaging 12-15 hours!"
- Some reviews say about 8 hours.
When does the game release?
- "Steam at 10am PDT but PS4 is at midnight eastern."
Will there be a physical disc release?
- "No plans yet!"
21:9 support?
- Yes.
Will there be a new game plus mode?
- "We've talked about new game plus, but we never had time to implement it in a meaningful way. We did expose difficulty modes and there are ways to drastically change play styles that will hopefully make people want to try playing it multiple times."
Are there any secrets or hidden areas that aren't part of the main story that also include lore and world building?
- "There are numerous out of the way secrets and rewards. Some for lore, some merely for feeling at home in the world."
Is their any possibility of a multiplayer update?
- "Hob is a single player game."
Have you considered releasing the game on the Switch too? (AKA the "I Appear In Every Thread" Question)
- "There are currently no plans to release on other platforms besides Windows PC and PS4 atm."
What can you say about replayability and overall length of the game? Also what about difficulty?
- "This is the question I was waiting for, because I want to beg you guys to check out the difficulty settings!
If you're experienced in games where you roll around and stab monsters, please consider bumping the difficulty up to hard. It doesn't reduce how much damage you do or increase how much damage you take, it just makes the monsters a bit more aggressive. They'll hesitate less, and you'll have to be quicker to take advantage of openings and get hits in. It's fun! If combat isn't your thing, bump it down to easy. Pick the experience that suits you. Play time depends on how much you want to explore. You could get to the end in a dozen hours, but finding everything will probably take a lot longer."
- "The default is medium, but you can change it at any time with no penalty."
Is the game set in an open, expanding world or individual and separate levels / maps? Or is it more like Zelda with a giant overworld and instanced dungeons?
- "Hob is set in an expanding world that opens up to it the more areas you "fix" and the more traversal options you unlock! There are dungeon levels, but sharp-eyed players will notice that they're connected to the overworld, and what you interact with in the dungeons will affect how the world above looks! There is also an in-game map to help you out."
Is Hob using the same engine as Torchlight 1 & 2? (AKA the 'I Hate Unity' Question)
- "Hob is indeed made on the same engine as TI & II. No Unity for us!"
I see that the plans are for a PC and PS4 release, but from a development perspective, what's the consensus around the office about the Nintendo Switch? (AKA the "See I Told You It Always Gets Asked, Sometimes Even Twice" Question)
- "There are currently no plans for release on any other platforms! The consensus about the Switch is that we have one in the office and we love playing it."
Could you elaborate on what sort of gamer would you recommend Hob to?
- "Do you like - Exploration? - Collecting items? - Upgrading your player? - Seamless worlds? - Puzzles? - Deep and atmospheric sound design? - Bright and colorful art? - Snappy combat? - Brain teasers? If yes, then Hob might be for you."
had the privelage to work on the dynamic theme. The visual style is very well suited, and the music is excellent. Id like impressions from anyone that grabs it!
