Hunting Simulator 3 vs The Legend of Khiimori

• Development Status: Early Access (launched March 2026)
• Horse Breeds: 4 (Mongolian, Akhal-Teke, Limousin, Ferghana)
• Horse Vital Bars: 6 (Health, Stamina, Temp, Food, Water, Mood)
• Map Type: Physical Parchment (No Mini-map)
• Maximum Stable Capacity: 20 Horses

• German Shorthaired Pointer: Excels in scent detection, pointing upland birds, tracking difficult blood trails across rocky terrain, and alerting to nearby predators.
  Hunting Dog (Canis lupus familiaris)
• Labrador Retriever: Master retriever that swims across deep river currents and lakes to cleanly collect downed waterfowl and small game on command.
  Hunting Dog (Canis lupus familiaris)

• Diamond-Grade Boone & Crockett Trophy Antlers: Earned by harvesting mature, high-scoring male big game specimens; displayed on custom taxidermy wall plaques in the hunting lodge.
• Historic Pioneer & Ranger Badges: Found inside abandoned lookout fire towers, historic trapping cabins, and old trail markers throughout Colorado and Texas.
• Naturally Shed Deer & Elk Antlers: Discovered on forest floors and game trails during spring thaw; tradeable for in-game currency or lodge table centerpieces.

• Hunting
• Wilderness Exploration
• Wildlife Simulation
• Open World
• Realistic Ballistics
• Canine Companionship
• North American Outdoors

• Winchester Model 70 Extreme Weather (.30-06 Springfield): Bolt-Action Big Game Rifle
  Fluted stainless steel all-weather bolt rifle offering pinpoint precision for Rocky Mountain elk and mule deer across freezing rain and snow.
• Browning X-Bolt Pro (.300 Winchester Magnum): Long-Range Bolt-Action Rifle
  High-velocity magnum rifle equipped with a lightweight carbon fiber stock and precision muzzle brake, delivering massive stopping power on grizzly bears and bison.
• Beretta BRX1 (.308 Winchester): Straight-Pull Repeating Rifle
  Linear straight-pull action rifle engineered for rapid reloading and swift follow-up shots on moving wild boar sounders in dense Texas scrub.
• Remington Model 870 SPS Super Mag Turkey/Predator: 12-Gauge Pump-Action Shotgun
  Heavy-duty camouflage shotgun optimized with specialized extended choke tubes for tight pellet groupings on wild turkeys and coyotes.
• Bear Archery Species EV Compound Bow: Modern Compound Hunting Bow
  Ultra-silent, high-let-off compound bow delivering deadly broadhead penetration for silent stalking within timber stands.

• Browning High-Visibility Pro Hunting Vest: Visibility Safety Rating 100%, Hunter Concealment (Ungulates) 95%; blaze orange regulation safety vest with deep shell loops and game pouch.
• Kryptek Highlander All-Weather Softshell Jacket: Thermal Insulation +40%, Scent Block +30%, Noise Dampening +25%; technical camouflage outerwear designed for alpine wind and brush protection.
• Rex Specs V2 Canine Protective Goggles (Smoke Lens): Eye Injury Prevention 100%, UV Glare Reduction 60%; rugged eye protection fitted for hunting dogs navigating dense thorn thickets and rocky scree.

• Kryptek Obskura Camouflage Field Uniform: Multi-environment concealment pattern designed to blend against varied mountain granite, sagebrush, and dry scrub.
• Heavy-Duty Gore-Tex Alpine Hunting Boots: Reinforced waterproof leather hiking boots with Vibram outsoles for silent walking across loose rock and damp forest moss.
• Waxed Canvas Field Jacket & Flat Cap: Traditional heritage upland hunting apparel featuring oilskin weatherproofing and brass cartridge buttons.

Progression is built on practical outdoorsmanship skills, weapon proficiency, and canine bond development. Players advance Hunter Attributes including Scent Suppression (reducing downwind animal detection), Silent Stalking (dampening brush rustling noise), Keen Eye (expanding blood-trail and footprint visibility in tracking mode), and Steady Breathing (extending scope stabilization hold times). Additionally, dog companions level up through active fieldwork, improving their scent range, trail retention, obedience responsiveness, and stamina recovery.

Progression is tied to 'Prestige' and horse training. Horses have five core stats: Strength, Agility, Endurance, Balance, and Spirit. These are improved by performing specific tasks, such as riding through deep snow to increase Endurance or jumping obstacles to boost Spirit. Naraa can also unlock perks like 'Taming Expert' and 'Master Trader' using Skill Points earned from successful courier contracts.

The game features two gargantuan open-world maps measuring 100 km² each (totaling 200 km² of explorable territory). Each territory boasts dynamic microclimates, variable terrain elevations, and interconnected biomes: Colorado encompasses high-altitude alpine tundras, dense conifer forests, rocky scree slopes, and tranquil river valleys; Texas offers semi-arid mesquite flatlands, sprawling brush country, steep limestone river canyons, and cultivated agricultural margins. Both territories are fully open for uninterrupted roaming, tracking, and vehicle expeditions without artificial boundaries or loading screens.

The world is a massive, seamless open-world divided into distinct biomes: Open Grassland Steppes, Snowy Highland Mountains, Dense Forests, and Scorching Deserts. Navigation is physical; players use a literal piece of parchment paper and landmarks rather than a digital HUD. The terrain is dynamic, with physics-based mud and snow that directly impacts travel speed and horse safety.

• Polaris RANGER EV (Pursuit Camo Edition): Electric All-Terrain Utility Vehicle (UTV)
  Silent electric off-road UTV capable of navigating rugged mountain trails without spooking nearby wildlife herds with engine noise.
• Kawasaki Mule PRO-FXT 4x4: Heavy-Duty Multi-Passenger UTV
  Four-seat utility vehicle ideal for transporting co-op hunting parties and large harvested game carcasses back to camp.

• Rocky Mountain Elk (Cervus canadensis): Large Cervid
  Majestic big game animal roaming alpine meadows and pine forests, alert to wind shifts and prone to bugling during rutting season.
• North American Grizzly Bear (Ursus arctos horribilis): Apex Carnivore
  Formidable predator inhabiting high-elevation Colorado ridges that may charge aggressively if startled or wounded.
• Texas White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus): Medium Cervid
  Wary herbivore frequenting Texas creek bottoms and brush borders, highly sensitive to human scent and sudden movement.
• Feral Wild Boar (Sus scrofa): Aggressive Omnivore
  Destructive herd animal found in Texas brush country, travelling in sounders and capable of dangerous defensive charges.

• Wolf: Canis lupus
  Pack Predator (Scares horse)
• Bear: Ursidae
  Solitary Predator
• Ferghana: Equus ferus caballus
  Heavy Cargo Mount

• The Hunter: Protagonist / Master Outdoorsman
  The player-created outdoorsman who travels across Colorado and Texas, mastering fieldcraft, wildlife tracking, and marksmanship.
• Ranger Sarah Miller: Colorado Wildlife Conservation Officer
  Veteran state wildlife officer who coordinates regional tag allocations, enforces ethical harvesting guidelines, and rewards conservation contracts.
• Travis 'Doc' Calhoun: Texas Rancher & Master Gunsmith
  Lifelong West Texas landowner and ballistician who offers custom barrel tuning, optics mounting, and local predator tracking advice.

• Monarch of the San Juans: Big Game Trophy Contract
  Scout the high alpine ridges of Colorado, assess wind currents, and ethically harvest a legendary 6x6 Rocky Mountain Bull Elk.
• The Texas Ghost: Predator Management
  Track an elusive cattle-raiding mountain lion across steep limestone canyons at dusk using dog scent tracking.
• Waterfowl Conservation Survey: Upland & Waterfowl Guild Challenge
  Set up a decoy spread in Texas river wetlands, calling in and harvesting legal bag limits of migrating mallards with your retriever.

The game features robust 4-player drop-in/drop-out online cooperative multiplayer. Up to four hunters can explore the vast 100 km² Colorado or Texas reserves together. In co-op, players can split tracking duties, set up coordinated ambush lines, share vehicle transit in multi-seat UTVs, command their dogs simultaneously, and collaborate on challenging predator hunts while competing for regional leaderboard trophy scores.

Hunting Simulator 3 launches on October 29, 2026, across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam. The Standard Edition retails for $49.99 USD. The digital 'Apex Predator Edition' (Deluxe Edition) retails for $59.99 USD, including the base game and the comprehensive 'Apex Predator Pack' DLC (featuring the Remington Model 783 bolt-action rifle, Remington Model 870 SPS Super Mag Turkey/Predator shotgun, Browning Pro Vest in blaze orange, Rex Specs V2 dog protection goggles with smoke-tinted lenses, the Polaris RANGER EV all-terrain vehicle in exclusive Pursuit Camo livery, Bushnell Fusion rangefinder binoculars, Primos Turkey Bombshell call, and an exclusive Royal hunting lodge interior theme with over 20 unique taxidermy poses). On PC, early buyers receive the Pre-Order Bonus pack free during the first two weeks post-launch.

Nacon and Nacon Studio Ghent have established an ambitious post-launch live roadmap. Day-one DLC includes the 'Apex Predator Pack' and the 'Classic American Hunter Pack.' Future planned content includes new international hunting reserves (such as the European Bavarian Alps and Scandinavian Taiga), additional licensed firearm partnerships (Sako, Tikka, and Benelli), specialized watercraft for waterfowl hunting, and seasonal wildlife conservation event challenges.

• Q: What is Hunting Simulator 3?
  A: Hunting Simulator 3 is an open-world hunting simulation game developed by Nacon Studio Ghent and published by Nacon, built in Unreal Engine 5.
• Q: When does Hunting Simulator 3 release?
  A: The game releases on October 29, 2026, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam.
• Q: What is the 'SimFauna' system?
  A: SimFauna is a dynamic ecosystem AI engine that simulates authentic animal sensory awareness, reproduction, aging, herd communication, and behavioral adaptation to player hunting habits.
• Q: Does Hunting Simulator 3 support multiplayer?
  A: Yes, it supports seamless 4-player online cooperative multiplayer across open-world reserve maps.
• Q: What regions are featured in the game?
  A: The game features two massive 100 km² open-world territories modeled after the landscapes of Colorado (Rocky Mountains) and Texas (plains, scrublands, and canyons).

• Q: Does my horse stay still when I dismount?
  A: No, horses are autonomous and will wander to graze, requiring you to whistle (Q) to bring them back.
• Q: What happens if my cargo is unbalanced?
  A: The horse will lose stamina faster, stumble frequently, and may suffer leg damage or throw you off.
• Q: Can horses swim in this game?
  A: Yes, but swimming drains stamina extremely fast and can damage water-sensitive cargo.
• Q: How do I heal my horse's injuries?
  A: You must use tonics (like Blessed Health Syrup) or bandages, which can be crafted or bought from merchants.
• Q: Can I tame wild horses in Early Access?
  A: Currently, horses must be bought or bred. Wild taming is a planned feature on the development roadmap.

Powered by Unreal Engine 5, Hunting Simulator 3 showcases breathtaking visual fidelity. Nanite geometry renders millions of detailed pine needles, rugged rock faces, and individual blades of prairie grass, while Lumen dynamic global illumination casts realistic dappled sunlight through tree canopies. Animals boast meticulously groomed fur shaders that react to wind and rain, realistic skeletal muscle deformation, and accurate eye reflections.

Audio design utilizes high-fidelity 3D binaural spatial acoustics. Players can discern the exact distance, direction, and gait of animal hoofprints crunching over dry pine needles, subtle brush rustling, and distant elk bugles echoing across mountain canyons. The dynamic soundtrack features subtle, atmospheric acoustic guitar and strings during sunrise exploration that gently recedes during stalking to allow uncompromised auditory tracking.

The interface is engineered with a minimalist, diegetic design ethos to maximize outdoor immersion. The HUD features a subtle compass tape with wind direction and velocity indicators, an intuitive scent cone overlay, and an ergonomic radial Command Wheel for directing hunting dogs in real time. The comprehensive Hunter Tablet provides topographical reserve maps, animal harvest history, regional legal tag registries, and ballistics data charts.

Extensive accessibility options ensure an inclusive experience: fully customizable HUD opacity, high-contrast tracking trails (enabling bright colorblind-friendly hues for blood spatters and disturbed brush), adjustable animal call audio cues with on-screen directional indicators, toggleable aim assist, customizable stick deadzones, and full remapping for mouse, keyboard, and gamepads.

• Built from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5 utilizing Nanite virtualized geometry and Lumen dynamic global illumination for photorealistic wilderness environments. Requires a 64-bit Windows 11 operating system with full DirectX 12 hardware feature support. Solid State Drive (SSD) installation is strongly recommended for smooth streaming of open-world terrain across 100 km² wilderness sectors.
• Laptop Performance Note: Unreal Engine 5 foliage rendering, dynamic atmospheric wind simulation, and complex SimFauna multi-agent animal tracking require sustained thermal dissipation on gaming laptops. Mobile GPUs should maintain a continuous 80W to 115W+ TGP. Elevating the laptop chassis or using an active dual-fan cooling pad is advised to prevent thermal clock degradation during extended multi-hour backcountry tracking expeditions.
• Laptop Consideration: G P U T G P: Target at least 80W-105W+ TGP on mobile GeForce or Radeon GPUs to sustain stable framerates when rendering dense aspen forests, volumetric fog, and sweeping alpine vistas.
• Laptop Consideration: Cooling Thermals: The SimFauna behavioral calculation thread and real-time Lumen lighting generate steady thermal loads; keeping cooling intakes dust-free is essential for steady clock speeds.
• Laptop Consideration: C P U Power Limits: Set Windows 11 power profile to High Performance or Turbo to ensure rapid physics calculations for bullet drop, wind deflection, and canine pathfinding.
• Laptop Consideration: M U X Switch Optimus: Bypass integrated display pipelines by activating discrete GPU mode via internal MUX switch / Advanced Optimus to eliminate micro-stutter when scoping long-distance targets.
• Optimization Detail: Upscaling Tech: Native support for NVIDIA DLSS 3 (with Frame Generation), AMD FSR 3, and Intel XeSS.
• Optimization Detail: Key Settings Impact: Foliage Density, Shadow Quality, View Distance, and Volumetric Clouds exert the largest influence on overall performance and frametimes.
• Game Name: Hunting Simulator 3

• SSD is strictly mandatory. The game requires Shader Model 6.6 with Atomics support; older GPUs may fail to launch.
• Laptop Performance Note: Unreal Engine 5 features like Lumen and Nanite are taxing; ensure your laptop is in 'Turbo' mode and the GPU TGP is maximized.
• Laptop Consideration: G P U T G P: Minimum 85W TGP for mobile GPUs like the RTX 3050 to maintain stable frames.
• Laptop Consideration: Cooling Thermals: High CPU usage during weather effects (snow squalls) requires aggressive fan profiles.
• Laptop Consideration: C P U Power Limits: Avoid 'Battery Saver' modes as AI equine behavior and physics calculations are CPU-intensive.
• Laptop Consideration: M U X Switch Optimus: Bypassing Optimus is recommended to reduce latency during archery and Tenge Ilu item collection.
• Optimization Detail: Upscaling Tech: Supports DLSS 3.0, FSR 3.0, and Intel XeSS.
• Optimization Detail: Key Settings Impact: Volumetric Clouds and Global Illumination (Lumen) have the highest performance impact.
• Game Name: The Legend of Khiimori

• Upscaling Tech: Native support for NVIDIA DLSS 3 (with Frame Generation), AMD FSR 3, and Intel XeSS.
• Key Settings Impact: Foliage Density, Shadow Quality, View Distance, and Volumetric Clouds exert the largest influence on overall performance and frametimes.

• G P U T G P: Target at least 80W-105W+ TGP on mobile GeForce or Radeon GPUs to sustain stable framerates when rendering dense aspen forests, volumetric fog, and sweeping alpine vistas.
• Cooling Thermals: The SimFauna behavioral calculation thread and real-time Lumen lighting generate steady thermal loads; keeping cooling intakes dust-free is essential for steady clock speeds.
• C P U Power Limits: Set Windows 11 power profile to High Performance or Turbo to ensure rapid physics calculations for bullet drop, wind deflection, and canine pathfinding.
• M U X Switch Optimus: Bypass integrated display pipelines by activating discrete GPU mode via internal MUX switch / Advanced Optimus to eliminate micro-stutter when scoping long-distance targets.

• G P U T G P: Minimum 85W TGP for mobile GPUs like the RTX 3050 to maintain stable frames.
• Cooling Thermals: High CPU usage during weather effects (snow squalls) requires aggressive fan profiles.
• C P U Power Limits: Avoid 'Battery Saver' modes as AI equine behavior and physics calculations are CPU-intensive.
• M U X Switch Optimus: Bypassing Optimus is recommended to reduce latency during archery and Tenge Ilu item collection.