Western-monster shooter Hunt: Showdown, developed by Crytek, pits players against each other as they try to find bounty targets in large, hostile maps.
The game is basically a hybrid of games like Dead by Daylight and Evolve, but with battle royale elements sprinkled in. Hunt: Showdown admittedly didn’t give me a great first impression as 5 seconds into the training mission the connection to CryCloud was lost, forcing me to restart the game as it was in a permanent error state. After reloading I couldn’t play the game at all as the error persisted and wouldn’t allow for any other selections.
After waiting a few days for a patch the game allowed me to finish the rest of the tutorial, which I have to say was eerie on its own due to the lack of noise as you tip-toe around the map looking for the clues, avoiding zombies and other threats along the way. The creatures are genuinely scary; the spider enemies are among some of the most creepy I’ve ever seen, as they quickly scurry across walls and hang above the player. To complete these matches you need to kill the target, collect the bounty, and safely extract out of the map.
You and your partner are members of a secret hunting society that tracks and kills creatures. The bounties are high, but so are the risks. The smallest mistake will cost you everything—your bounty, your gear, your life, and your very soul.
Some hunt for wealth, some for power. Some hunt to protect others, some hunt for glory. You must track your quarry through a dark and treacherous world. Winner takes all. Fail, and go straight to hell.
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The game throws a lot of mechanics at the player straight out of the gate, but holds back on explaining the story (see above quote – would be nice to see this in-game). Upon completing the first level you must navigate through ‘hiring’ hunters, equipment management which has multiple layers, upgrades, the store, library and game progress. The game can also be extremely challenging for new players and can be grindy, with only one real goal – get in, kill monster, get out. The penalties for dying (which you do a lot) are also very steep, as you can lose hunters and gear, and then have to wait through painfully long load times.
Matches usually last about 15 minutes to half an hour, with players rushing to find clues to lead them to the boss. Though they usually follow the same rule, the maps and monsters vary, and it can get you on the edge of your seat if you encounter enemy hunters standing in your way.
The game obviously promotes a stealthy approach as you die quickly and can be one-shot with an accurate pull of the trigger. Using ‘dark sight’ to find objectives as well as listening for enemies is also crucial, as one wrong move can spell death. You can hear footsteps stepping on twigs, wading through swamps and breaking glass. You can also get an idea of player activity via barking dogs, birds and by flashing boss indicators.
Hunt: Showdown both benefits and suffers from being always online, and your experience can be affected even when playing solo. I think that the game would’ve benefited from having two separate modes: hunters vs. hunters and hunters vs. monsters, with the latter being an offline mode that included more of the games’ story. There is fun to be had though, especially if you can find a friend, as engagements are tense and the enemies you encounter are terrifying (bee lady and leech man for example), but I feel that there are too many elements of the game that need improvement.
As mentioned above the game is let down by a lack of storytelling, not really explaining why the events occur, something which even free to play games like Apex Legends do very well via voice lines, events and trailers. The game also feels quite clunky overall and isn’t as ‘snappy’ as other FPS games, something which will get you killed in boss fights as you struggle to hit your fast moving target. This can make gun fights feel unsatisfying, and dying kicks you right back to the lobby (after enduring brutal loading times on PS4). A direct comparison to another Crytek game (albeit the settings are different) which I feel like the studio got spot on is Crysis, as the gameplay is smooth and the online component was genuinely fun on the previous generation of consoles.
Going into Hunt: Showdown I expected that the game would be a PvP style western shooter, similar to a battle royale but with monsters included. In reality it plays like an online PvE game which I feel doesn’t work as well. The game is strange to classify in this sense as the premise is unique and it’s almost addicting to play, but I just feel like it could’ve been executed better.
The game may work better on PC and is definitely more enjoyable with other players, but could’ve benefited from being a more streamlined, smoother, free to play title with a similar monetisation model as the aforementioned Apex Legends (hunters could’ve been like ‘legends’ with a back-story/personality, but I guess the perma-death rule would then be redundant). Hunt: Showdown is an intense, sometimes fun multiplayer experience putting players against each other as they fight over the same rewards.
Final Thoughts
Overall I think that the game is a bit slow and clunky and is too harsh with its punishment of players. That being said the audio is fantastic and the idea is interesting, especially when experienced with other players. However, if you’re looking for a western game it may be better to just play Red Dead Redemption, survival horror? Resident Evil, battle royale? Warzone or Apex. If those just don’t cut it and you want a combination of all three, then Hunt: Showdown fills the void. There is no denying that Hunt brings something unique to the table, essentially mixing different genres together to create something new. Here’s to hoping that Crytek don’t take their foot off of the gas and continue to support the game as well as work on new titles.
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Hunt: Showdown
The Good
- Hellish monster designs
- Developer support
- Eerie and threatening atmosphere
- Tense PvE & PvP moments
The Bad
- Harsh death penalties
- Always online issues
- Lack of story
- Not much to keep it fresh
- Looks a little dated on PS4