Clean underwear, that’s what you will need when playing Hunt: Showdown. I am pretty sure I soiled mine just in the tutorial! Hunt: Showdown reeks with elements of games such as Resident Evil, DayZ & even a bit of an old favorite of mine, Hexen.

While the horror genre is not my cup of tea, I’m a bit of a scaredy-cat when it comes to horror… I haven’t even been able to finish Alien: Resurrection, Hunt: Showdown makes it fun.

Taking place in the late 19th century and early 20th era’s, the tension in Hunt: Showdown is exacerbated the slow firing and slow reloading weapons of those eras. There are no weapons here with 14 in the clip and 1 in the chamber. And if you take a shot, you better make it count. The sound will attract every monster within earshot.

Hunt: Showdown is built on the best of CryEngine and is a fantastic piece of excellence by Crytek.

Starting out, you are forced into the tutorial. Most of the time, this can be frustrating and with Hunt: Showdown, it is not just necessary, but rather a requirement to get your head in the game. You are thrown into what is effectively an NPC match and quickly you will learn how to survive and to win.

When you begin, you are given the choice between 2 different play-types. You can play as either a hunter or a Gunslinger. There is no real information on the 2 types and I just figured that a hunter would be the quiet one while the gunslinger is an “all-guns-blazing-I’m-gonna-shoot-until-you-are-dead” type.

I wasn’t far wrong. As a personal choice, I recommend the hunter. Let’s be real, you don’t really want your strengths to be firing weapons when stealth is a better option so as not to attract every undead thing within earshot.

After making that decision, you are flung right into the game. Action-packed it is not. Yet. Crytek has evolved Hunt: Showdown in its chosen genre to give you something new. Thank the heavens for that. The game is a PvPvE base mixed with some horror and a dash of battle royal. Those ingredients make for some tasty fun!

Each match has is comprised of four stages with the purpose of taking down some sort of demonic boss.

1. Investigate
2. Locate
3. Kill & Banish
4. Grab your bounty token and escape

Hunt: Showdown is like Survivor or Hell’s Kitchen. Everyone needs to work as a team until the end, and then we all turn on each other!

Your goal is to find the boss monsters, kill them and banish them, then get back to the extraction point with the bounty token. If you can do this, you win. There is one caveat, once you kill the boss, every other bounty hunter can see your location. You better banish and run!

As you begin, you need to investigate to find clues to lead you to the boss. This gets harder as you progress. Along the way, you can find other weapons and loot to help in your quests. As you hotfoot it through the infested swamplands, you will need to watch your step. If you make too much noise, you will attract unwanted attention.

A word of warning though, keep an eye on where you put your feet when wandering around abandoned sheds. Crytek has given special attention to things such as broken glass on the floor that is rather noisy, and things like cowbells hanging from a doorway will also attract unwanted attention. All you need now is Kevin McCallister, some burning hot doorknobs and you would have the whole package. Sometimes, however, noise can be your friend. Do you have enemies around you, but they are split up making it hard to nab them all at once? Well never fear! Turn on that record player or tap that piano key and they will come running, well slow walking, to your position for a lovely ambush.

Once you have managed to take down a boss monster, your position pops up on the map for all to see. Now you are on your own. Banish that monster quick as you can, grab that token and run forest, run! The goal now is for everyone to try a steal your token before you make it to the extraction point. Ideally, it would be nice to have some mates protect you here, but let us be real, they are going to shoot you as quick as look at you. So, trust no-one.

In amongst everything that is going on, there is another spanner thrown in the works just to keep you on your toes. Your character is only temporary, at least only as temporary as you are skilled. When you die, and you will die, bring out the funeral procession because that’s it. It’s all over. You do get a bit of a reprieve as a newbie though; you are revived up until level 11. The longer you live, the more skilled your character will be. Should you make it to level 100, you start all over again in a Call Of Duty Prestige way.

Like many games now, you also have daily and weekly challenges to keep coming back to. Hunt: Showdown gives you that great sense of reward for putting in the effort.

Built on CryEngine, Hunt: Showdown is also beautiful to look at. Moving through the swamps, your movement is fluid and the textures and shading are better than I expected them to be. I guess that I am so used to the so-called “AAA” games being the ones that have the spectacular graphics and price tag to boot. Hunt: Showdown might not blow you away with graphics, but it is up there with some of the best.

When all is said and done, you can head back to the store and spend your hard-earned credits on weapons or accessories that you have earnt on your successful bounties.

Hunt: Showdown is an enjoyable and fun game that takes its cues from several genres and tries to wrap it all up neatly in a big scary bow. It is almost like a culmination of Call Of Duty, PUBG, Siege and even State of Decay. While there is still room for improvement, Hunt: Showdown is quite possibly some of Crytek’s best work to date.

Written by: Kurt Frohloff

A Founder of MKAU, a gamer, a family man. I have a love of all things gaming and a wish of mine is to have more time to actually play the games we review here!