Hunted: The Demon's Forge has a whole bunch of influences. Smushing together elements of old-school dungeon crawlers, high fantasy, cover-based shooters and co-operative adventures, it's got plenty going on. Yet despite all the spells being chucked around, inXile's latest is so far still missing that magic ingredient.

The game follows the exploits of big, lumpy swordsman Caddoc and the slinky archer E'lara. Trussed up in some seriously kinky leather bondage gear, the duo are at once complimentary and fractious. In combat, their abilities dovetail perfectly. Caddoc, armed with his blade, is able to get up close, hacking and slashing formidably. E'lara's skills with a bow, meanwhile, make her far more powerful from range. Yet that doesn't stop them arguing.

They're mercenaries, "swords for hire." Approached by the spectral Seraphim (who manages to wear even less than the perky-boobed E'lara) Caddoc is lured into picking up a "Death Stone." He sensibly resists, probably thanks to the fact it's called a bloody Death Stone. E'lara, however, the greedier of the two, grabs it up and in the process seems to unleash all kinds of horrible, hellish nastiness on the land, engulfing it in re-animated skeletons, demons and funny monster-types. So off they go to sort out the mess.

The co-op here is far from half-hearted. Rather than just enable two players to battle it out simultaneously, the entire game is constructed around the notion of genuine co-operation. This is most obviously displayed in the complimentary combat, but is also bolstered by the level design. Often the environments stretch out in such a manner to allow Caddoc to go steaming in with his sword, while E'lara stays back, launching herself between cover - Gears of War-style - and popping up to use her bow.

The sense of co-operative cohesion works most satisfyingly with the magic, however. With various spells available to the characters, you can usually combine them to your advantage. So, for example, E'lara can enchant her arrows with a freezing spell that allows her to turn enemies to ice, so Caddoc can shatter them into tiny tinkling pieces. Or, conversely, Caddoc can launch enemies into the air so E'lara can get a clean shot in. There's plenty of options.

At set intervals, regardless of whether you're playing alone or with a partner via or split-screen co-op, you can swap roles, taking control of the other character. The promise is that Hunted will be drop-in, drop-out too, meaning that the AI will immediately take over if the other player jumps ship. Handy.

There's some light puzzles to negotiate also. In one of the side-missions I encountered, of which the developers say there are many, my partner and I were tasked with finding a special blue flame in which to dip E'lara's arrow, before negotiating the dungeon to locate a pyre to light in order to progress. Based on what I've seen, the puzzles aren't too testing, but they do mix things up a little, a nice deviation from the combat.

It's in this fashion that our progressed, with us puzzling, hacking, slashing, casting and twanging arrows. It's solidly engaging. Enemies drop loot, largely weapons and shields, all of which have their own stats for you to pore over. Magical abilities can be upgraded. All this stuff reveals Hunted's true nature. For all of the voguish, well-designed co-op, Hunted has traditional dungeon crawlers at its heart.

Which is perhaps why it leaves me a little cold. It all works perfectly well, the combat particularly, but the overly retrogressive stuff prevents me from getting truly excited. Those kinky outfits, the rote fantasy setting, design decisions like bashing weapons racks to pick up new armaments - it all harks back to an older, simpler time. But not necessarily a better one.

There's more to be fully revealed, however. Though The Crucible, Hunted's map creation tool, has been announced, we know precious little about its range of features. It's an interesting prospect. Perhaps there's more too. We'll see. Certainly one to keep your eye on, Hunted: The Demon's Forge looks to be a decent game. Time will tell if it can be any more than that.

By Lee Bradley