Am I weird, or is this game more fun without any skills or perks?

[Spark Sunbright]

I've seen players turn off their HUD and in-game visual clues (tracking markers, animal highlights, etc) for increased challenge/immersion. I do that myself too, but recently I've started a new play through in which I furthermore assign no points to skills or perks: no noise reduction, no additional info from tracks, no zeroing, nada. This has made me appreciate the game a lot more, most especially the patience needed to get the perfect shot.

Note that I'm not bragging, advocating this play style or belittling those who choose to use the markers, skills and perks: a lot of people have busy lives and not enough time to play this game in such an inefficient manner as I do. (It helps to be living alone during a global pandemic.)

But I'm wondering if I'm utterly alone in this fixation on making things difficult for myself. Note also that I never use callers, scents, blinds, tents or vehicles. Just me, my rifle, and the prey. Having a blast.

[TangOscar]

I'm with you. COTW became hilarious easy over the time. At the beginning it was more challenging, animals ran away in an instant when you did something wrong, and skills were only supporting.

I, too, started to deactivate markers recently, to make it more challenging.

[Hidden Gunman]

Thing is, doesn't matter how you play, you aren't going to get criticised (except if you play it like CoD and tell us all)...there's always someone who pops up who doesn't hunt yet still enjoys the game, too.

Turning off markers and tracks is pretty common; a 'no perks/skills' run through I'd guess wouldn't be that common, but it's certainly not weird. Good luck to you is my view.

[DopaTrain]

I play with track and animal highlights off etc. and find it to be a much better game. They should be off by default IMO and can then be switched on if youre struggling with the game to make it easier. The only reason I keep the HUD on is so I can see what my sights are set to. Im not hardcore enough for no perks skills though because some of them add things that you should be able to do in real life like adjust your sights. Kudos to you for playing the game the way I suspect it was intended though. Sometimes ill put restrictions on myself like only hunting with antique weapons or say only iron sight for example, no callers no luring etc. which can be pretty fun.

[jasonbarron]

Dumb question, but if you turn off tracks then how do you track them?

[Fathership one]

No question is dumb, but if you run into a track and examine it, it logs it on the hunter mate [gps] from there you can see what direction it went, then you start tracking.

At least that's how I do it.

[Spark Sunbright]

Originally posted by jasonbarron:

Dumb question, but if you turn off tracks then how do you track them?

The tracks themselves don't disappear, they are just no longer highlighted in bright colors. You can still find them by looking for disturbed grass and footprints in mud, and with a little practice and luck, you can track blood trails for great distances and find dead animals hidden in the foliage without highlighting. It is painstaking work, but I enjoy the challenge.

[jasonbarron]

Ah, so you mean you turn off the glow highlighting effect, but the foot imprint is still there on the ground pressed into the soil? That actually sounds pretty awesome.

With that thought in mind the upcoming Bloodhound dlc should really add a new dimension of realism (if implemented correctly by the devs) to players who play like this.