The new event in the horror shooter Hunt: Showdown is called Tide of Shadows and introduces a small alligator as a new boss alongside a new player record for the hidden gem.
What happens in Hunt: Showdown? Yesterday, on June 28, Crytek launched the latest event in its horror extraction hit. It brings a whole lot of new features, as well as a battle pass. The Tide of Shades event along with the pass will remain in the game until August 23, so you have about 60 days to complete everything.
While you could take your time, it seems everyone wanted to rush at the poor alligator today. On June 28 at 7 PM, nearly 7 hours after the start of Tide of Shadows, Hunt: Showdown broke its previous player record.
A total of 45,091 people played the shooter simultaneously on Steam. This not only shatters the previous record by nearly 10,000 people, but it also catapulted Hunt into the top 20 on Steam, surpassing even long-time favorites like Warframe or Lost Ark.
Therefore, the Tide of Shadows event is a complete success for the developers at Crytek.
Currently, console hunters are looking a bit enviously, as the update is still delayed by several days on Xbox and PlayStation. Technical difficulties are cited as the reason. This does somewhat dampen the mood.
You can watch the trailer for the event here:
Electric Alligator and Rainy Weather Make Everything Better
What does the event bring? Tide of Shadows draws major attention primarily with two features. One is the new boss Rotjaw, who comes into play as a so-called “wild target.” He is the first new boss in the game since March 2021 and is only the fifth boss in Hunt since its release in 2018.
Additionally, he behaves differently than the previous bosses in the murky swamps of the Bayou. Instead of waiting in one location for you to gather enough clues to have his position displayed on the map, Rotjaw is on the move.
To find him, there are specific clues on the map. These do not wipe out a part of the map as before, but simply point you in the direction of the alligator, nothing more. The nasty fellow can then be found somewhere in the water and is truly dangerous.
While other bosses were often mere fodder and would bite the dust after a short time, Rotjaw presents new challenges for you. You need longer to kill him, while he can effortlessly drag you down into the depths with just two attacks.
Moreover, you are slightly vulnerable during the fight because he is indeed out in the open. This makes the fight against him a real adrenaline rush.
What can the second feature do? With Tide of Shadows, it also becomes very wet in the Bayou. I mean, even wetter than what you’d expect in a swamp anyway. A new type of weather is introduced, with two different forms of rain.
At the beginning of a match, it is randomly decided whether it will rain or not. If it does rain, the map will switch back and forth between light and heavy rain throughout the match.
This not only makes the shooter, which is heavily audio-centered, much more atmospheric, but it also looks great. Moreover, it offers some gameplay innovations; for example, heavy rain changes how fire behaves, and under metal roofs, I’m practically deaf.
Community Already Begging on the First Day to Extend the Event
How do the fans react? They are thrilled with the update. In addition to the two major features, there were also numerous small changes that are well-received by the community. So far, the only thing bothering the players is that the event might stop again.
Currently, Crytek plans to remove both the rain and the boss from the game after Tide of Shadows, at least for the time being. In a stream before the event, it was mentioned that both should “not stay permanently” in Hunt: Showdown. Right now, numerous threads on Hunt Reddit are calling for at least rain to be kept permanently, but ideally both.
Currently, the battle pass is not well received. Fans criticize that it is too grindy and that it takes too long to complete. Perhaps Crytek will still improve this with a patch; it wouldn’t be the first time they toned down an event after criticism about grinding. Overall, though, the mood is still good.
What do you think of the event? Are you one of the over 45,000 people who jumped into the dangerous waters right at release? Or don’t you want to check out the event at all? Feel free to let us know in the comments here at MeinMMO.
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