The game is set across five locations: Montana, Mexico, Texas, Namibia, and Alaska. Each region contains several hunts featuring different environments and wildlife native to the area, including forests, deserts, mountains, savannas, and tundra.
Players hunt a variety of animals while completing story-driven objectives and optional challenges. Gameplay includes the use of hunting equipment such as shooting blinds, tree stands, callers, and weapon rests. The returning “Hunter Sense” mechanic allows players to examine tracks and other evidence to recreate an animal’s recent movements through visual flashbacks.
The game places a greater emphasis on realism than previous entries in the series. Animals react dynamically to sound, movement, and scent, requiring players to approach targets carefully. Predators can also ambush the player unexpectedly, triggering a slow-motion “killer instinct” sequence that allows for quick defensive shots.
Certain missions feature stealth-based objectives in which players must avoid detection while approaching animals. A device known as the UTD measures how aware nearby animals are of the player’s presence. Other hunts are timed, requiring players to kill targets before they escape or external threats interfere.
In addition to the main campaign, the game includes shooting galleries and multiplayer modes. Players can create and customize hunting maps by placing terrain features, vegetation, and wildlife, then share them online with others. Weapons can also be purchased, upgraded, and customized for different hunting situations. The game was released alongside the Top Shot Elite, a hunting controller peripheral for the Playstation 3, Wii and Xbox 360.