My friend recently asked if I was up for purchasing Hunt: Showdown while it was on sale. I was skeptical, as I thought it was still in Early Access, as most beta periods last several years in that state. However, to my surprise, I learned that the game had its full launch in 2019. I took the plunge and thought if it wasn’t for me, I’d refund it, but I have more than a dozen hours logged in less than a week, so there’s no looking back now.

Hunt: Showdown has a proper tutorial that teaches you the ropes as opposed to going in blind. The premise is that you are a bounty hunter in the bayou, tasked to slay either a gigantic spider, a towering butcher, a devilish assassin, or more dark foes. There are a few different maps with several randomized spawn points. Once you’ve slain the beast, you must spend 2 minutes banishing it; then, you pick up the bounty and dash to an exit.

What makes this part of the round pulse-pounding is that you will have a global marker through a mechanic called “Dark Sight.” Other hunters will have a good idea of where you are, but you will have the advantage of checking if they’re in your close vicinity up to five times. This makes for climactic skirmishes, and tests the player’s usage of unique equipment, ammo conservation, etc. so that escaping requires just as much planning as execution.

The weapons in this game are quite varied. There are rifles, pistols, and shotguns, all with the eventual option to attach a scope, melee variant, or extra rounds to fit different combat situations. All playstyles are welcome, but some work significantly better than others depending on the circumstances. The equipment can also be advantageous, such as an antivenom for the spider, or a decoy to trick other hunters.

Emphasis on sound in this game is paramount. There are environmental hazards that will immediately indicate if an enemy is nearby, such as crows making a fuss, the sounds of stepping over glass shards, wading through water, etc. This attention to detail is excellent, and was surely fine-tuned to perfection in the game’s Early Access period. There were times I knew exactly where an enemy was thanks to their missteps.

The presentation of the game is top-notch, as well. The main menu music is quintessential Southern-twang, and the character design, environments, and weather fits the aesthetic to a T. Running on the in-house Cryengine V, the game is a real looker as well. I was thoroughly impressed with water reflections, as well as how mortifying the spider’s movements were, and how long the draw distance was in conjunction with the high framerate I received.

Operating less like a Battle Royale and more like a survival-horror FPS, Hunt: Showdown is a unique game, and the time to get accustomed to the necessary playstyle and tactics is luckily quite short, with a high skill-ceiling to try and reach. Rounds are blistering fast, but there’s ample opportunity to succeed and get out of tight situations. Surely, the game will see another free weekend on Steam, so if you’re on the fence, it’ll absolutely be worth a shot!

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Hunt: Showdown

$39.99 USD

8.5

Score

8.5/10

Pros

• Tight gunplay
• Beautiful environments
• Every round feels different
• Excellent in-game currency

Cons

• Steep learning curve
• Some cheap deaths
• Not as fun solo