After launching into early access in February of 2018, Hunt: Showdown was fully released on PC and Xbox One in late 2019, and came to the PS4 a few months later. While the game received a middling to positive critical reception, Hunt: Showdown has grown into a wholly unique online shooter in the last couple years - one that seems to be flying under many gamers' radar. Taking place around the turn of the 20th century, players are pitted against all manner of monsters as they compete for a prized kill against other players. Support for Hunt has been continuous since it released, and while the price remains a higher barrier of entry than other online shooters, the game deserves a look for its incredibly intense, rewarding gameplay.
There is no better time to get in on Hunt: Showdown than right now, since it reached an all-time player count peak on Steam earlier this month thanks to a new boss being added to the game. PlayStation owners have an additional incentive, since Hunt is on sale at the time of this writing. Escape from Tarkov is a good comparison, because it shares similar objectives and has a comparable game structure, but the setting and enemies of Hunt: Showdown make the strategy and pace of play much different.
Hunt: Showdown provides players with exceptional atmosphere, taking place in the bayou of Louisiana in the year 1895. The swamps have become infested with all manner of zombies and monsters, both terrestrial and aquatic. Players equip their hunters with six shooters and lever-action rifles, and accept a contract to hunt down one of four bosses and escape with the bounty before being killed by another team. Players will need to be careful, though, because death is permanent, and losing a hunter means losing all the gear they had as well.
The Unique & Intense Gameplay Loop of Hunt: Showdown
Hunt: Showdown is one part tactical shooter, one part survival horror, and one part battle royale. Up to 12 players spawn around the edge of a fairly large map in teams of one, two, or three. Solos and duos will always be pitted against one another, with the option to be matched with trios as well. The title of Hunt: Showdown is a clue to the general structure of the game, as a match always begins with step one: the hunt.
Players explore the map for clues to the boss' location, all while avoiding or slaying AI baddies. Sometimes there is only one boss, other times there are two in a single game. Finding a clue will narrow down the possible areas on the map. Finding three clues to a single boss will reveal its location, where it must be killed and then banished, a process that takes a few minutes. Banishing a boss reveals its location to all other players in the game, which is typically where the Showdown aspect of Hunt: Showdown begins.
The objective of the team who have just killed the boss is this: wait for the banishing to be completed, grab the bounties from the boss' corpse, and escape to one of three extraction points on the edge of the map. However, everyone else is looking for that bounty as well, and will more than likely converge on the location once the banishing has begun.
The gunplay in Hunt is methodical and dangerous. Headshots result in an instant death, and it usually doesn't take more than two body shots to score a kill. The sound design in Hunt is precise, and very important to success. The entire map, and buildings especially, is littered with sound traps, and sprinting can be heard from a reasonable distance. Ammo is scarce and firing a weapon will usually want to be avoided outside of gun fights, since the sound of a shot travels quite far in the bayou.
Firefights tend to play out similar to tactical FPS giant Rainbow Six Siege, except with Civil War-era weaponry. Players creep around trying to determine where the enemy is and use any number of tools to dispatch them. Lever- and bolt-action rifles, shotguns, revolvers, early semi-auto pistols, and more make up the firearms of Hunt. There are a plethora of melee weapons, as well as firebombs, sticks of dynamite, bear traps, and other devices than can be used, making encounters dynamic and unpredictable, especially when a nearby pack of zombies is alerted. Hunt: Showdown is a fascinating and brutal game. The intensity, combined with the style of play and gameplay loop, make it a novelty in the realm of online shooters.