Hunter’s Moon review – English folk horror that’s just in time for Halloween

Hunter’s Moon – mummer mia! (Twin Swans) A concise but atmospheric survival horror, set in a 17th century English village, this tale of witch hunters and the woman trying to escape them is still disturbingly relevant. Nothing says Halloween like creeping through an English village after dark, trying to avoid the blazing torches of the men sent to kill you. So thank goodness for Hunter’s Moon, the new indie game that involves lashings of just that, and a fair amount of holding your breath as you creep from door to door in search of help. Predictably, if depressingly, none comes. Created by British developer Twin Swans, Hunter’s Moon is the brainchild of Alicia Contestabile, who was directly inspired by the infamous witch hunts of the 1600s – in particular Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins, the man who led the charge. The exact era the game is set in isn’t specified but takes place sometime in the mid-1600s. There’s a king on the throne and there’s also something of an anti-witch frenzy. All across the country, women are being rounded up for exhibiting suspicious behaviour and either being hanged or burned alive. That includes, possibly, the protagonist, the unsubtly named Lilith Thorne. Given that the whole thing takes place through her eyes, you never see her – and hardly hear her, beyond her panicked gasps. She’s being hunted by the witchfinders, aided and abetted by local villagers, for the crime of being a witch. Want GTA 6 news? Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for the latest GTA 6 news, reviews of new games you should play and exclusive analysis of the biggest stories of the week. In terms of gameplay, there isn’t much and Hunter’s Moon is relatively short, packing a lot of paranoia into a neat two hour playtime. As Lilith, your goal is to navigate the winding roads, forests, and pathways of your village, seeking help from your own neighbours – and helping a few out along the way – while also trying to stay one step ahead of those who would see you captured. Beyond the ability to run, crouch, and occasionally pick stuff up, Lilith is fairly powerless. There’s no village map and no chance of fighting back. The real draw of the game lies in battling the suffocating fear that comes with being chased. One early sequence, which involves navigating a network of underground caves with no torch to light the way, is nerve-wracking stuff, and seeing the raised torches of the witch hunters come into view – and get gradually closer as the game goes on – is just as bad. That said, the hunters are surprisingly easy to evade and become more of a nuisance than a truly scary threat as the game goes on. Fortunately, it’s not all about the chase. There are distractions at hand, in the form of the local villagers. Although actual people are few and far between, there are some mummers lurking around the village, doing odd things like singing folk songs, peddling their wares, and delivering spooky premonitions. Pleasingly, everybody sports a thick Northern accent, which simultaneously makes things feel more homely and more creepy; the mummers go one step further by wearing bizarre masks that make them look like creatures out of folklore themselves. ‘The monsters are coming for you. I pray you survive the night,’ one tells Lilith towards the start of the game. Alrighty then; never mind that, he’s the one wearing a mask with massive curling ram’s horns on. Nobody seems to want to help (Twin Swans) There’s also the option of eavesdropping at the windows of the villagers themselves; again, never seen, except for their blocky, woodcut-style silhouettes at the windows. Sometimes, they talk to you. Sometimes, they deliver gossip, or even bits of lore about Lilith herself – although these always remain frustratingly vague. What’s more fun, really is listening in. There are over 100 characters, from a dominatrix and her tied-up lover to a French tarot reader and Lilith’s old beau. If you’re unlucky, you’ll knock at the door of a local religious women’s group, who’ll threaten to call the hunters. If you’re luckier, it might be at the door of a friend, although they’ll still turn you away. It’s an isolating experience, made more so by the sound of little else but Lilith’s rasping breath and the spare, haunting score. As voices swirl out of the passageways and bushes around you – sometimes the hunters, pondering the art of the hunt; sometimes villagers – the end result is disorienting and surprisingly absorbing. Given that it’s set 400 years ago, its themes also feel depressingly relevant to today. Fervour, paranoia, and a lack of trust led to the witch hunters being called in Lilith’s village; perhaps the true scare of Hunter’s Moon is just how familiar her plight feels in 2026. Hunter’s Moon review summary In Short: With its creeping mists, endless winding paths, and occasional jump scares, Hunter’s Moon is a tightly-paced folk horror story that has real parallels to the witch hunts happening today. Pros: The setting is wonderfully spooky, but the real pleasure is eavesdropping on the neighbours, listening in on the hunters, and trying to spot the bizarrely dressed mummers around town. Massive voice cast all pull their weight. Cons: Although trying to evade capture is fun, there’s not a lot of substance to Hunter’s Moon. While the witch hunters do get close, it’s fairly easy to evade them, which does strip some of the panic out of the brief two hour experience. Score: 6/10 Formats: PlayStation 5Price: £14.99Publisher: Twin SwansDeveloper: Twin SwansRelease Date: 26th October 2026Age Rating: 12 Brief but unsettling (Twin Swans) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. Arrow MORE: Don’t expect EA to sell Mass Effect as one dev says ‘they just shut things down’ Arrow MORE: PS6 delay looks increasingly likely after PS5 enjoys 22% sales boost Arrow MORE: 80s cult game show for kids is coming back with a free video game GameCentral Get the latest GTA 6 news, reviews of new games you should play and exclusive analysis of the biggest stories of the week.