Several times in gaming history has the idea of expanding upon an original IP or franchise spawned a brand new series. Games like “Devil May Cry” and even the original “Doom” transformed from their intended initial presentation into something much different; and the same can be said about “Hunt: Showdown”. Instead of simply adding a co-op element to a “Darksiders” game, the developers at Crytek worked for years to implement the ideas of multiplayer action into a wholly different, yet all-too-familiar experience; giving birth to “Hunt: Showdown” in its early access/beta form in 2018. After much retooling and ironing out certain detrimental bugs, “Hunt” came out in its most up-to-date form for consoles and PC at the beginning of 2020. Taking the plunge, I checked out this journey into a warped version of the 19th century with the hope that the community would be active enough that I wouldn’t be forced to play alone.
Did I Complete “Hunt: Showdown”?
Either by oneself or with a team of up to three people, “Hunt” asks for the player to take part in searching for clues & slaughtering the beast or beasts lurking within a procedurally generated town housing deadly creatures, traps and other human-controlled hunters too trying to attain the precious bounty. “Hunt: Showdown” features a trophy/achievement list that is both time consuming and rather luck based including killing a hunter with a sledgehammer throw or investigating 250 clues. While I did attain some of the achievements available including a very rare example of success in the game’s “Quickplay” mode, but full completion will take more hours than one my have the incentive of dumping into this experience.
Did “Hunt: Showdown” Live Up to the Hype?
“Hunt: Showdown”, on the onset, feels like a slowed down version of many first-person multiplayer shooters seen throughout the last two gaming generations; but in reality it offers so much more. Featuring only a pair of game modes, “Hunt” presents two different experiences with the “Bounty Hunt” mode being the most appealing for those looking to work with others while emphasizing the game’s core gameplay designs. By oneself or with a team of up to three players utilizing “Dark Sight”, hunters search clues throughout randomized towns featuring a plethora of enemies be it typical grunts/zombies to a woman becoming a walking hive for poisonous wasps that swarm players if she spots a hunter. Said clues provide better indications as to where the boss or bosses are located on each map – a gigantic, poison-spitting spider; a teleporting slasher known as “The Assassin”; a fire-starting, meat-cleaving “Butcher”.
The bosses actually don’t pose much of a threat in single or multiplayer scenarios due to the fact each boss stays within the confined area the hunters discover it; allowing for players to leave and wait for the main adversary to come close to an open area for potshots that whittles down its HP. What is most terrifying about “Hunt” is human players working with the intent of attaining the “Bounty Token” dropped by a killed boss that has been “Banished” by their slaughterer(s). When a boss banishing begins, every hunter not involved is alerted; forcing the hunter(s) responsible for banishing the boss to potentially fight off aggressive hunters sporting more deadly weaponry than any enemy AI. There will be many a time when stumbling upon a group of hunters while simply looking for clues results in an early game over. If a group of hunters can attain the Bounty Tokens they must make it to one of the “Evacuation” areas where a thirty-second countdown begins. Most of the time the exit area is surrounded by the undead that must be killed before the players can breathe easy.
Getting shot down before successfully completing a hunt wouldn’t be so profound if not for the game’s perma-death system. When the player’s profile reaches rank eleven via the experience points gained from playing the game, “Hunt” turns off its mandatory “Tutorial Mode” that allows for new players to learn the ropes both offline & online without fear of losing a hunter. Once said player reaches rank eleven all bets are off and if a player’s hunter dies everything about said hunter is gone as well including purchased weapons & skills.
Thankfully the game allows for players to have up to five hunters recruited at a time, but there will be times when a player gets so used to utilizing a specific load-out that they end up losing it all in the most absurd of ways like being blown up by a stick of dynamite. One of the best ways to stay alive in “Hunt” is by appreciating the sound presentation. The player is alerted of how beneficial headphones are when experiencing “Hunt” at the start of the game. Even without headphones its hard to no appreciate all the sound cues implemented throughout a game session. From broken glass that will make sound unless the player is crouching, gun fire that can draw both enemies in human & AI form, and even caged barking dogs can all provide indicators for or against the player that may prove the difference in making through an area unscathed or hoping that a partner can live long enough to revive their downed ally or allies.
As noted earlier, the game only features two base game modes. The “Quickplay” mode functions differently than its “Bounty Hunt” counterpart in multiple ways including the elimination of searching for clues to initiate boss battles as no bosses exist in “Quickplay” mode. Instead, each hunter – who features a single, randomly generated weapon by the player’s choosing at the start of the matchmaking be it a low-level short-range, long-range or melee object – hunts down and attempts to close four “Rifts” to open up the “Wellspring”. The player responsible for activating the Wellspring becomes the target of every other hunter still alive until with the player in possession of the Wellspring becomes the winner once its drained. The winning “Quickplay” player also attains the hunter and their weapon load-out as a reward as well. A majority of the time “Quickplay” comes down to sheer luck depending on the initial weapon generated, what AI enemies are around and whether or not the player has the opportunity to pick up other weapons scattered around the map.
While “Hunt: Showdown” has a lot of positives about the overall experience, there are some glaring flaws including those connected to the base gameplay systems. Fans of more fast-paced shooters will be out of luck here as the game embraces the time & the setting with weapons that are slow to reload, aren’t as tight when firing compared to modern-day-set shooters, and an effective melee system where bringing a knife to a gun fight may be the most beneficial. The obvious permanent deaths of hunters after reaching rank eleven could turn gamers off as working so hard to get a hunter to one’s liking, only to lose it all because a player encountered a group of hunters sporting better weaponry due to the game’s ranking system allowing for the purchasing of higher grade weapons (thus limiting the microtransactions available via the in-game store as players purchasing the most expensive weapons can’t use them until they reach the required profile level). The main menu UI and in-game weapon wheel aren’t the most intuitive or fast.
But nothing is more damaging to the game’s overall enjoyment than the loading times. While it may take a few seconds to a minute to find a random partner or invite a friend, the process of actually getting onto the map can have players looking at the slow moving loading bar for upwards of five minutes. These loading times to get a game started is made even worse by fact after a session the player can’t do another hunt with their partner immediately. For friends after each hunt they have to return to main menu, do another invite and wait for the game to start all over again. Loading times are easily the worst part of the “Hunt: Showdown” experience.
“Hunt: Showdown” stands out in the genre thanks to a unique presentation both visually & audibly with a gameplay style that rewards patience both from a gameplay perspective and working on/rebuilding a hunter(s). But the overall experience suffers from obvious flaws including those strictly connected to the gameplay systems and forcing players to wait through exorbitant loading times.
Should You Play “Hunt: Showdown”?
Thanks to the physical & audio aesthetics, “Hunt: Showdown” is unlike every other game in the genre it occupies for all the right reasons. A nice learning curve is paired with solid gunplay, horrific enemies & grandiose rewards if successful. Unfortunately the implementation of perma-death for a player’s hunters and the overall lacking gameplay modes may disappoint many a multiplayer aficionado; as well as the terrible amount of waiting a player must do to even get into a game that may or may not last the hunt’s entirety. Fans of slower paced first-person shooters featuring horror elements and a true risk-reward system will find themselves enthralled throughout. Others will definitely be turned off due to its sluggish gameplay style to match extensive load times and bosses that are less distressing than some random player getting the jump on your hunter before you can even find a single clue.
