There are many innovations in the shooter Hunt: Showdown (PC, PS4, Xbox One) from Crytek. Why right now is a good time to start with the now three-year-old game, whether on Steam, PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, is explained to you by MeinMMO author Mark Sellner.
What is Hunt Showdown? Hunt Showdown is broadly a shooter where it often makes sense not to shoot. Sounds crazy? It is. The game takes you into a western-fantasy scenario in the year 1895 and makes you what you have always wanted to be: a monster-hunting cowboy with shotgun-axe.
Hunt Showdown is a so-called PvPvE (Player vs. Player vs. Environment) shooter. So, you play against the environment and against other players at the same time. The basic framework of a match consists of searching for clues about where a monster is hiding. Then you must find this monster, kill it, send it back to hell, and reach one of the three extraction points with the loot. There you must survive for 30 seconds and then you win.
While you do this, up to 10 other players are trying to achieve the same thing. You play in teams of two or three players. In a round, there are a maximum of 12 players trying to take down the monster.
To add an extra dose of tension, Hunt Showdown features a permadeath system. Once you have exceeded bloodline level 10, you lose your hunter and everything he had when you die. There is no way to respawn.
Why is it worth it right now? The developers are already providing their game with a lot of new content in 2021. Hunt: Showdown is friendlier to newcomers now than it ever was before, and with the big update 1.6, a new map and a large live event are around the corner. On a new map, players start equally: they have no prior knowledge.
It is also quite possible that it will be on sale again, although this has not yet been confirmed. For the last major event, you could grab the game for 20 €, instead of the usual 40 € it costs. You only need the base game – the countless DLCs are all cosmetic in nature.
What are the differences between platforms? Hunt Showdown is available for Steam, PS4, and Xbox One. Crossplay, that is, playing with or against each other on different platforms, is not possible. Other than that, the differences are minimal. All platforms are well populated, and unless it’s 4 am on a Thursday, you won’t wait longer than two minutes for a match in any version.
The one point that annoys some console players is the updates. Players on PC automatically have the option to play on test servers and try out new updates earlier, which you cannot do on consoles. Even when the updates go live, PC players usually receive them a few days earlier.
Death on Silent Feet
How important are sounds? Hunt Showdown relies heavily on sounds and the environment. There are no visual clues in the game about how many players are still alive, or even where they might be. However, the world is filled with things that make noise. Above all, the rifles and pistols themselves.
Of course, there are weapons with silencers, but even these can be heard a good 100 meters away. The biggest gun, the Nitro Express, can be heard across the entire map with a single shot. Here, the circle closes back to the first sentence of the article – you never want to shoot for no reason. There are various reasons for this.
With a shot, you not only reveal that you’re there, but also your relatively exact position. Furthermore, ammunition in the game is very limited and each weapon sounds unique. Let’s stick with the Nitro Express as an example: The weapon only has 6 shots and requires the hard-to-find special ammunition. If a skilled player hears you shooting with the Nitro multiple times, they will know where you are, that you have little ammunition, and if they listen closely, that you’re currently reloading.
What else makes noise? Not just shooting makes noise. Glass shards on the ground, ducks on the pond, branches breaking when you walk over them, and of course, your own footprints. While it is possible to move quietly in Hunt Showdown, it is never silent. Everything you do makes a noise. A player who listens closely can even hear when you look through your scope, as your character will then breathe loudly.
You are completely silent only when you stand still and do nothing, which you usually want to avoid in a shooter.
What happens outside of matches
How does progress work? Just because your hunter dies in a match and you lose them does not mean that you do not still make progress. Outside of matches, you gain experience for your bloodline. As your bloodline level increases, you unlock new abilities, new weapons, and new equipment to outfit your hunter with.
Additionally, you earn money for successfully extracted loot. This money must be used to purchase the items you want to take into battle with your hunter. There are cheap guns like the Winfield, which is available for about 40 dollars, up to the aforementioned Nitro Express, which costs just over 1000 dollars.
However, this does not mean that everyone plays the Nitro and you have no chance with a cheap gun. Every weapon in Hunt Showdown has its pros and cons. A headshot is deadly from any weapon. Even I have lost thousands of dollars more than once because a Winfield got me unexpectedly.
How does my hunter get better? With each round your hunter survives, they level up to 50 levels. For each level, they receive an improvement point that can be invested in passive abilities. So if you play particularly cautiously and focus on keeping your hunter alive, they will become significantly stronger.
Passive abilities include things like faster shooting, moving more quietly, being able to sprint longer, or having more stamina. But equipment is also important, as the antidote syringe makes you immune for a match to the annoying visual effect when you get poisoned.
This is why Hunt Showdown is worth it for you now
What is the game doing to become more beginner-friendly? In recent years, there have been updates that have made the game more beginner-friendly. You now have beginner protection and do not lose your hunter until you exceed bloodline level ten. Additionally, there is now a tutorial that rewards you with enough dollars to spare you from financial worries for a longer time. You can therefore experiment a lot at the beginning to see what suits you best.
Hunt Showdown also gives you a selection of new hunters you can recruit after each match. The one on the far left is always free, ensuring that you can never be left completely without a hunter, as was sometimes the case at the beginning of the game.
In addition to the main game mode, there is also the “Quick Play” mode, where you can enter a game alone and without risk, where you get a free hunter, and whoever survives last can take him out and then use him in the normal mode. There are also now various small challenges that also give you a task without risk. This allows you to better familiarize yourself with the weapons and maps.
Since the last update 1.5, there is also a skill-based matchmaking system that matches you only with people who are approximately at your skill level. This system is supposed to be expanded with update 1.6.
This is how Hunt Showdown plays
How does it play? A successful round of Hunt Showdown typically goes like this:
- Before the start of the match, you select a hunter, equip them with your desired gear, weapons, and some passive abilities.
- Then you start either in pairs or in trios on a randomly selected map.
- With the so-called shadow vision, which you can activate, you discover the approximate position of the next clue.
- Upon reaching the first clue, the map shrinks for you, narrowing the position of the monster.
- In the distance, you hear flying ravens that reveal to you that an opposing team is nearby. Since the ravens fly away from the players, you also know that the team is moving in a different direction than you.
- Upon reaching the second clue, you notice that there are hardly any more opponents here.
- Another team is at the same location as you. A tactical shootout follows, which you can decide in your favor. Three opponents dead – leaving six other players.
- After collecting all three necessary clues, the precise position of the monster is marked on the map.
- You hear ongoing gunfire in the area. So you run, as the remaining two teams seem to be busy with each other.
- You find the monster, manage to kill it and start the banishment process. Now you must wait about three minutes.
- The location of the monster is now shown on the map for everyone.
- If you carry the loot, your position is marked for everyone on the map and updated every five seconds.
- Along the way, shots are fired at you. You take cover and can also decide this firefight in your favor. From the gunfire you heard earlier, you can infer that the third team must have also been eliminated.
- The tension eases and you no longer have to be quiet. Now just get to the extraction point, wait 30 seconds, and escape with the loot. You have won.
Why should you start right now? With the big update 1.6, which is expected to be released in a few weeks, the new third map is coming to the game. This is good for beginners, as you have no direct disadvantage against veterans, since the map is new for everyone. Everyone starts “from the beginning”. In addition to the new map, there will be a corresponding live event like the one that occurred for the new monster earlier this year.
These live events always bring many new players into the game. The last event was even able to bring the player numbers in Steam to a new record high.
So if you’re looking for a new shooter, now is the perfect time to check out Hunt Showdown. The game is more beginner-friendly than ever, you can expect a cool event, a nice community, and a completely new map that every player will experience equally and anew.
The developers are very actively expanding their game with new content, this year alone there have already been a new monster, new ammunition types, new weapons, and new skins, so it is worth starting the game again more than ever for returnees.
Are you playing Hunt Showdown? Have you played it before? Are you looking forward to the new map as much as I am? Leave us a comment!
In addition to monsters, players, and regular zombies, there are also particularly nasty characters on the maps of Hunt Showdown. The Immolator burns, screams, and is just crazy.
