Is Hunt: Showdown Worth Playing On Console In 2022?
Hunt: Showdown for those who have not heard of the game is an extraction-oriented battle royal game released in the first quarter of 2018. It is currently available on PC, XBOX One, XBOX Series S/X, Playstation 4, and Playstation 5.
The game takes place in 1896 when something called “The Louisiana Event” takes place ushering in demonic forces through portals that have ravaged the state into a Hell on Earth, transforming people into zombies known as “grunts” among other variations of altered humans. Animals, for the most part, were not affected in any sort of transformation. That doesn’t mean the animals didn’t suffer too though, most horses, aside from those hitched to the escape vehicle at extraction, are in a perpetual downed state and only lift their heads to cry out for what seems to be a mercy kill whenever you get too close.
“Hunters” have ventured into the state either on a contract or who are just amateurs performing unsanctioned hunts which you can see on the “free” hunters gear which is listed as contraband making that gear unsellable or usable on other hunters.
I don’t know what the US Government in 1896’s policy on clearing out a demonic hellscape would be, but I think they would require a license to take part in such a hunt, but I also don’t think they would stop you from trying to help out.
The backstory may be deeper in the lore you can find in the game or on the wiki, but the point is a free hunter’s gear can’t be placed on another hunter or be sold. You can however replace the gear on them at the cost of the new gear and the loss of the contrabanded gear you are replacing. Hunters who come with a bit of training and the supernatural perks cost money and the cost ranges depending on the hunter level at the recruitment screen.
The aim of the game is to get into this specific area of Louisana and kill the head honcho demonic creatures that are holding up in certain locations. After you kill the boss or bosses (there are always two on each game map and killing both or even one is not a requirement to extract). If your hunter dies while in the game they are gone for good.
You can find more about the basic gameplay rules and mechanics of this game on its wikipage, but that’s not what this story is about. This is about whether or not this game is still worth playing as of December 2021 and going into 2022.
Hunt: Showdown to the young domination-oriented slave-to-the meta player might just seem like another game where you can buy nice gear and run around owning people. Let me warn you now young one, it’s not. It’s a game where sound is key. You can’t just load into a game and start blabbing away, playing music into the mic, or have your roommate, girlfriend, or whoever yacking in the background. In this game, one wrong voice communication can seal your fate. What I love about Hunt: Showdown is that enemy hunters can hear you in proximity chat. Of course, if you have a discord or Xbox Party or Playstation party this would not be the case, but in my book, you would be a cheater.
Unless you are playing with a premade group, which is the least common in most games, you will be paired with strangers and if you’re on XBOX or Playstation chances are you will be paired with cross platformers, not including PC, thus you will not be able to cheat through private voice comms either. Personally, I feel as though XBOX parties should not be allowed on Hunt, like when you play a public game of poker on Red Dead Redemption Online. This isn’t the case though and you will encounter try-hards who will take every cheating advantage they can to win and this includes private voice comms via party or discord. Another note on cross-platforming is that Playstation players have aim assist I have heard, but not having a Playstation I wouldn’t know how that affects the overall fairness of the game. Most sources of Playstation players complain about how they are getting beat by using it and various YouTube videos suggest turning it off altogether.
This doesn’t mean you can’t hear people coming if you try hard enough. Every little snap of a twig, jingle, or a tin-can alarm-trap, or opening of a door can tell you someone is coming for you. A horse cries out in the distance, birds flocking away from a certain direction. Perception is your god in Hunt: Showdown.
What Hunt: Showdown is truly all about is the showdown. Whenever you kill a boss you have a period of time after where you must initiate a “banishment” ritual and in order to collect the bounty from the boss. During this time everyone can see through the use of “dark sight” (think of it as a detective filter for your vision to find clues that lead to bosses, the location of players carrying bounties, and to find certain items). Dark sight will lead all remaining players to you and your team during this period and all the way to the extraction point, which there are always a few on different edges of the maps. Dark sight is apparently gifted to anyone in the area it seems since some of the hunters come with contraband and no supernatural perks yet can still access this otherwordly ability. Perhaps there are other prerequisites to being a hunter?
You can usually track down clues to a boss, find, and kill them easily if you don’t happen to run into enemy hunters before then, but when you start the ritual the showdown begins. The showdown is what really makes this game shine. That moment where you and your teammates and hunkered down in an old barn waiting, hopefully quietly, for enemies to come and try to take your bounty. Every little sound is heard, acknowledged, and registered in the player’s mind as either friend, AI, or human player foe. You can even set a variety of traps for other players.
Teammate using a gun the whole time without any regard to attracting players? You’re probably going to die. Log into the fresh match to find out your teammate doesn’t care about being quiet and only using voice at the right time? You’re probably going to die. Ditch that team upon arrival into the game and get out if you have a hunter that you value. Sound is paramount. Sound is everything that comes before the shooting starts and when the shooting starts you want to be the one who started it. This game has a basic ping system that allows for very basic non-verbal communication. It’s not APEX Legends standard, but it’s enough. These hunters are not personality cults like the APEX crew and can say more with less. In fact, hunters don’t talk at all. If the hunter talks, it’s you talking and you’re going to get us all killed.
On console, the game recently underwent a graphics downgrade for the sacrifice of performance. On my XBOX One X, the game looked beautiful, almost as good as Red Dead Redemption 2 with that beautiful oil painting look. I’m afraid to announce now that it looks more like a finger painting than an oil painting. Textures no longer load in until your put your nose to them. I don’t know what made the developers at Crytek decide to do this, but it’s not pretty.
The game still runs fine for me on my XBOX One X, but like I mentioned before it always has. I’m not sure if XBOX One players or Playstation 4 players possibly complaining about lag or load times leading to this or if the last-gen players were taking too long to load in and make everyone else wait longer to start a match. All I know is I had not played this game since 2019 when I cracked it open in December or 2021 and I noticed immediately. This sort of downgrading for performance is a plague. My console is somewhere between last and next-gen so it’s hard for me to ascertain what’s really going on.
Another notable example would be what Zenimax has done to the PvP zone of Elder Scrolls Online in what is known as Cyrodiil. This has to stop. Do you want to pressure people to buy next-gen? Stop downgrading graphics. I don’t have an XBOX Series X yet, but I certainly do not appreciate what Crytek has done to Hunt: Showdown’s graphics on console. At times the game can still appear pretty, but for the most part, I feel let down.
The guns shine through as some of the hardest-hitting, pack-punching bullets I have ever fired in a videogame. You feel the hit when you land a shot on someone. Let me tell you, it feels amazing. It is easy to kill a player in one or two shots in this game and that’s what keeps people from running around like Rambo for the most part. If you loved the guns in Red Dead Redemption 2 you will love Hunt: Showdown.
The verdict: Hunt: Showdown is still worth playing going into 2022 even on your previous-gen console. The gameplay mechanics are just too solid to pass up. Hunt: Showdown is the type of game that will make your heart race like you’re getting pulled over by police. Getting out of the map alive by the hair of your chinny-chin-chin will make you have a sensation in your body as no game has ever given you before. You will need to stand up and run your hands through your hair and take a long look at yourself in the bathroom mirror as you feel the adrenaline rush from that last too-close-for-comfort game slowly subside.
Go. Play. Hunt.
