Hunt: Showdown, the new players-versus-environment-versus-players shooter from Crytek, made its Steam Early Access debut on Friday. And it sounds like that’s where the game will remain until at least 2019, as Crytek works to ensure Hunt: Showdown has all the loot, monsters and weaponry it needs to become a mainstay among PC gamers.
The studio’s new shooter is unlike anything we’ve seen from the genre in recent years. Hunt: Showdown casts players as bounty hunters, alone or in tandems, and drops you in matches of two to 10 players, with each hunter/team racing to track, kill and escape with the remains of a target creature. But that’s not all. The game also adds a survival element. Death is permanent in Hunt: Showdown and any gear carried by your hunter, at the time of their death, will be lost for good. The experience is like a more brooding version of Monster Hunter: World...if you were trying to hunt Anjanaths in the middle of a PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds match.
According to Crytek, the current build is still pretty modest. Hunt: Showdown arrives on Steam with a single map, featuring 16 unique locations where players may find their current target. The map includes “28 sandbox features” which can be used to distract or draw out an enemy. There are only two bosses right now, the Spider and the Butcher, but that list will continue to grow in the coming months. A handful of smaller creatures will also roam the environment but they won’t ever be your primary target. Hunt: Showdown will also debut with a single “character set,” the male cowboy, which “three tiers of characters and 44 visual variations, randomly generated from a variety of outfits, ethnicities, and equipment.” Players also unlock “elite hunters” over time and other content will continue to be released throughout 2018.
“We are planning to have Hunt: Showdown in Early Access for at least 12 months, but that timeline could lengthen (or shorten!) depending on how community feedback shapes our own wish list for the game,” Crytek wrote on Steam. “Initially, we will spend a couple of months collecting player feedback and in-game data, and then we should be able to share a more detailed development roadmap.”
For a closer look at Hunt: Showdown, while you wait for Crytek’s new team shooter to finish downloading, check out the game’s new launch trailer. Then head down to the comments and let us know what you’re hoping to see added to HS before it leaves Early Access in 2019.
And for a complete breakdown of all the content in the current build of Hunt: Showdown , check on Crytek’s Early Access release notes.
Hunt: Showdown now available via Steam Early Access.
Be sure to check back with Player.One and follow Scott on Twitter for more Hunt: Showdown news in 2018 and however long Crytek supports Hunt: Showdown after launch.
