Hunt: Showdown 1896

I would not recommend to start getting into this game unless you are a real masochist and enjoy dumping hundreds of hours in it to become somewhat decent and learn the ropes.

Recently I am loosing the fun with this game after almost 4.000 Hours because of the direction the game is heading. I am not saying it is wrong or bad in general, it is just not my cup of tea anymore.

- Ingame Voip and Chat not working properly
- UI Functions to equip your hunter are sometimes not working correctly
- Sound Bugs (sometimes a major inconvienience in a game that is designed for great audio)
- Server Performance sometimes randomly goes to hell with rubberbanding out of nowhere and lagging.
- Texture Loading Bugs and Derendering of walls or trees
- Reconnect Feature not working
- Ingame map bugging and leading to stutters

And so on. Most of this is not the worst thing but in combination in intense situations it becomes very frustrating because this stuff happens often.

The Devs started to improve on communication again which I highly appreciate even though it is by far not as good as it was a few years ago.

The biggest issues that are making me leaving the game more and more are the following:

- The Instaburning meta.

For those who dont know. When you get killed in Hunt, your team mates can pick you up a few times and you loose part of your maximum health for every revive until you are at zero maximum health and red skulled. Then you can not be picked up again (besided when your team has the bounty, the main objective of the game). But even then they have to sacrifice their own health to get you back). When you are downed and people set you on fire, you rapidly loose your maximum health until you are redskulled.

I hated it when they implemented burning downed hunters long ago. But I see from a gamedesign perspective, that they needed some sort of mechanic to handle solos with self revive and stalemates from people that are just hiding and waiting until you leave, to pick up their team mates again. And I think it was fine how it was. But the devs decided not so long ago that it was not enough.

Before you had to bring a firebomb or find a lantern in the world to set hunters on fire. Which was fine because you had to invest ressources and time to burn a downed hunter and you had to move and take a risk because people could shoot you when you had to come close to burn a hunter.

Nowadays you can burn hunters with a million tools and consumables that are easy to restock and to bring and you can safely ignite hunters from behind cover with a flare pistol even from 50 meteres away. No ressources have to be invested, no risk taken. It is nowadays a surprise if you are not instantly getting set on fire even before your body has hit the ground.

And no that is not enough they even cranked up the burn speed by far so that if your mates do not instantly save you or throw a choke bomb (which is basically useless because it got also nerfed) you are out of the game in a very short time. Often enough you are not able to get your mate back because the bounty already left the game.

The official reason for this was they wanted to break up stalemates so people are not camping around dead bodies for hours. The effect is that people are even more camping now because the risk of getting burned is so high and punishing that it further promotes the passive meta, sitting around an waiting for others to make a move to third party them. Which means more stalemates and more boring camping.

Again everyone can play as they want and if people like to camp and sit around it is absolutely their right to do so and play the game this way. But I do not enjoy this at all, that is why the current development towards this gameplay is loosing me as a player.


- Matchmaking

Crytek changed the matchmaking system so that more players are in the six star bracket (the hightest bracket is six stars, most players are around 3-5 Stars). The Skill difference between a high six star player and a low six star players feels way bigger than the difference between 3 and low 5 star. In Six star you have a lot of bush camping snipers and a few shooter gods that are just very very good at the game.

Sometimes you get matches with a mix of 6, 3 and 4 Star Players in a trio that have a 5 Star Rating as a team. If you read through official discord and forums you will see a lot of people screenshoting their Matchmaking Team Compositions and if you are a team of 3 stars or 4 stars, one six star can sometimes be enough to fuck up your whole lobby.

They also built in a more robust system so you do not drop in MMR as fast as you did once. Which is an issue for me because if I get on 6 stars (which happens regularly) I will get my ass handed to me for days before I finally get down to 5 Stars and find somewhat enjoyable matched with people that are on my skill level. I know from the people I play with (most of them I got to know through hunt in the recent years) have the same issue. While this is good to protect newer players from people intentionally dropping in MMR (Which was an issue before), it can also be a big pain for others.

This leads to me stopping to enjoy the game because every round becomes a sweatfest. I started to pick meta weapons and loadouts more often because using fun weapons punishes you way to much if you hit your skill ceiling. Which is a shame. Because playing the same 5 Weapons all the time really burns me out from the game.



- Objectives

I think a lot of people play Hunt for the PvP. The PvE Part is just a motivation for people to get in the game and fight. This leads to a lot of situations where people rather ambush people fighting the bounty team and letting the bounty escape for free to get one or two kills. While in general I think ambushing is a valid tactical move in Hunt, it really annoys me that the motivation to get the tokens are very low. Quite often the bounty lair is right next to an extract in the corner of the map. So at least 1 or 2 teams are furthest away from the boss and if you get in a fight it is almost impossible to catch up with the bounty. Most of the extracts are designed to heavily favour the people who are trying to extract. Which itself is fine. But even if you run in to block the extract (which kills you a lot of the times you do, to buy some time for your team to catch up) people are despawning right in front of your nose even though you tried to use the quickest way possible to stop them. I think it should not be possible to have an extract exactly at the boss lair.

- Major Bugs
Hunt has some reoccuring bugs that are very annoying and can ruin a good round sometimes. They are battling them more and more which I appreciate but still there are some issues.

-- Explosives and Walls
Explosives and Wall blocking in Hunt are inconsistent. Frag Bombs and frag arrows making you bleed even though you are behind a solid stone wall. Dynamites killing you through solid walls or through a massive ceiling while you are upstairs and it explodes downstairs are super annoying. I do enjoy playing explosives and I am pretty good at using explosives in Hunt if I am allowed to say so myself, but it can be very annoying to throw a dynamite at someones feet and they only get a scratch.

-- Hitboxes

Hitboxes in hunt are pretty whacky sometimes. It could also be a mix of bad server performance/ping and weird hitboxes but the amount of arm hits and shotguns not killing well within their OHK Range is high. Even when you check replays and see the bullet enter a body or a head, the dmg chart shows you only an arm hit or a lower torso hit.

I will update this post when I have time to add a bit more context and maybe some constructive criticism and idead how to resolve some of the issues. If the Game improves I will also change this accordingly.

This game was so good and now i can no longer play. After the engine "Upgrade" its full of bugs, bad networking, the cheating is still around. Such a shame as hunt used to be the best and there isn't anything else like it out there. The biggest crime is the weapons. Hunt used to have the best style and the game play with the guns was so unique. They just keep going in the wrong direction for art, lore, and gameplay. I can't even recognize this game any more. Now with the horrible UI and unplayable game. This game is getting uninstalled. Such a pity, if they ever make a PVE i might reinstall, but the pvp gameplay is ruined. Its just a shame, this was such a good game.

Its a cool concept. Decent gameplay. But its so filled with cheaters that devs refuse to ban. Full of GAME BREAKING BUGS from the UI in the main menu to actual gameplay. Its just a countdown till Hunger or a different game comes out. The devs are just not doing enough to keep a community of non social rejects.

I've held off on writing this review as I have a somewhat low playtime for this game, but it is one of my favorite shooters of all time easily. It's tense, it's responsive, It's challenging yet intuitive, the setting is amazing and the designs are superb.

That's the good stuff out of the way, I think this game has fallen from grace. No matter how much I love this game, the truth of what it is now is always there. The big overhaul update locked me out of my favorite game for near 6 months, and I just recently was able to play again. The UI is the worst I've ever seen, the monetization is extraordinarily misguided and oversaturated, the game will have massive frame dips and lag spikes, the anti-cheat is more suggestion than law and the devs seem to only care about putting new cosmetics in. I am giving this game a positive review from the amazing memories I've had, and hopefully will have again in the future, but I cannot recommend this game until the devs take it seriously.

The hunt glory days were great. Do not buy. Ruined by devs. All they care about is micro transactions. Just leave the game alone, it was fine.

Used to be fun until they shat all over it and then added pop culture nonsense and some dirtball rapper with daddy issues who doesn't shower. this is not fortnite and the mixed reviews speak for themselves.

I just started playing Hunt: Showdown (10 hours playtime), and I feel like the matchmaking is absolute garbage. I'm getting matched against players with over 1,000 hours in the game. Me and my buddy get destroyed in every gunfight—we don’t even have time to react. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a bad player; my aim is solid, and my movement isn’t terrible, but the enemies we face are on another level. They don’t miss a single shot. So many times, we get into a fight, and both of us get instantly wiped by one guy with two bullets—one in my head, one in my teammate’s. I’ve never complained about stuff like this before, but what’s happening in Hunt isn’t normal. And most of these players have lower MMR than me! Out of 10 matches, we’re lucky to extract once.

What I don’t get is how these players are this cracked but somehow only have 2 MMR stars. I wouldn’t complain if this was coming from 5- or 6-star players, but 2 stars?! I’ve watched YouTube videos of 5-star players, and even they aren’t as insane as the enemies we face. As long as the matchmaking is this broken, I can’t give the game a positive review.

In my opinion, the game should implement 2FA (phone verification) to cut down on smurfs or whatever’s causing this. It’s a fantastic game when it works, and I have a blast when things go well, but this crap is ruining the experience.

More than half a year later, this new GUI is still more braindead than the old one. So much wasted space on my screen, why would you make it harder for your players to navigate and get into the game? That's literally all this game has going for it at this point. Content has been alright for the most part since my return post 1896 update.

IDK What the hell happen to this game, it just feels off right now and for the past few months recently. These devs need to get their shit together and listen and I mean LISTEN to the community and the core players, not just people in fucking Reddit bitching and moaning about balancing that's not necessary for the game like nerfing vit & stam shots and nerfing all silence weapons to 10% because of a FUCKING Krag silencer being too strong. Get your shot together Crytek

I'm still playing this game every now and then, but it doesn't look like the game is on the right course currently. So I cannot suggest it to anyone new because they will not have the chance to experience the Hunt: Showdown that built its reputation anymore.

After the upgrade to CryEngine5 (when they changed its name to Hunt Showdown 1896) I stopped playing cuz my system couldn't handle it (it was in fact a weak system), and it was around that time that most of the negative reviews came, because of performance issues.

But the game it's back to its glory.
Glad to see the devs are working to put this game well again!
Gotta say, my favorite game for the past years!

if you enjoy parks and recreation- specifically camping then this is the game for you! never before has a game rewarded you for patiently waiting in a bush for 30 minutes quite like this! as a fan of parks and recreation, i can only assume you enjoy wildlife as well, rest assured theres plenty of bugs for the Entomology fans out there! whether your perks just dont work or you disconnect from the server theres always a new species of bug to identify. when planning events, Hunt: Showdown has you covered, anywhere from exciting post malone collaborations to complete grindfest battlepasses designed just to huck ugly skins with no actual event taking place. AND BONUS FEATURE!!! PUZZLES!!! its not a corn-maze; its the UI!! simply gearing up your hunter and beginning a queue is a brisk challenge of its own, hunt engineered this process to give you just a taste of the frustration you'll experience when you do load into a match. if you have any other questions please review the reddit or fan-wiki pages as the game will explain nothing at all to you, however- in place of useful tips they will tell you the human name of the first of each kind of monster, however it is often that the explanation ends with "but basically we're not sure" leaving room for whatever fancanon you want! every base is covered in hunt showdown, this is the game for you.

Great graphics, good unique gameplay - good dlcs.

But occasional salty sweaty stupid people in your team can ruin the game.
Battle pass is a grind
Occasional DC and game crashing like right now
and I'm hunt dollars broke

Pros:
-Great Maps
- Great Soundtrack
- Very atmospheric

Cons:
- UI is a crime against humanity
- Game is clunky after engine change
- Lots of automatic weapons kicking around for 1896
- Lots of people with Vac Bans doing sketchy things
- Servers are bad (almost every kill is a trade somehow in a shooter)


This game used to be great, Crytek went and changed alot of things for seemingly no reason, And in classic AAA fasion has entirely ruined their game. I do not recommend this game as Crytek will not listen to its fanbase so the game will stay in this awful state till it fizzles out.

I WOULD LOVE TO RECOMMEND THIS GAME!!

...but I can't. It's an incredible game with a unique setting/atmosphere, and, in my opinion, very unique game play. HOWEVER, I CANNOT PLAY SAID GAME BECAUSE I CRASH EVERY 10 MINUTES. This is such a good game and I have so much fun playing with friends. I actually think the game does a pretty decent job with its matchmaking and its gunplay is satisfying. I could easily dump hundreds of hours into HS but unfortunately the game is simply unplayable for me.

So, if your game doesn't crash constantly, you'll love it! I doubt you will have such luck though. Good luck!

I will be brief. It's a good game, worth the penny but today it's just a shadow of what it once was and the company, Crytek, with each update just f_cks up the game more.

might sound a bit bigoted but the new ui suck ass real hard, gameplay is usually focused on waiting in compound with shotgun and that's it

I love this game but the amount of Chinese and Russian cheaters in 5 and 6 star is out of control. Not locking regions or actively banning cheaters is going to kill this game.

loved the game a couple years back before the 1896 update, The new UI changes are just garbage and it just seems like its lost its charm.

used to be one of my favorite shooters ever made. unfortunately the ever increasing issues with the game's ui, networking, matchmaking, and bugs makes hunt feel unreliable at best and unapproachable at worst. given the user experience has degraded so much over time with nearly every single update I simply can't recommend it anymore.

fix ur servers and ping difference you fucking apes

Review and evaluation will be changed in the future (hopefully).
I’m actually a fan of the game Hunt: Showdown. I spent over 1,000 hours on it, and most of that time I really enjoyed it.
However, the latest event, Garden of the Witch, is simply a disgrace. What is now being presented as an event should be just a normal game play.
We know that developers are few and they do not have large budgets. But you didn’t have to do anything new - it was enough to take any of the old events and run it again. But no, instead you’ve given us the shameful Garden of the Witch.
What’s the witch? Where is the garden? What happens? Why are the traits so useless, and the event is not reflected in the game (NOT AT ALL)? Is it because of the lack of money and employees that you have to TRY and make the event worse than anyone before? I will never believe.

Just keep the need to kill special monsters to get mystical points and spend them on unique traits that can only be found in locations. Make it a permanent part of the game.
And instead of these events, please just include the old ones. Less time wasted.

This game has had the worst servers and give no indication of making them work again and stop the lag, dont recomend until they fix the lag on SA servers

Was a very nice and addictive game, but the new updates have ruined the experience for me.
The new user interface is sooo crappy it hurts.
Movement feels clunky and slow.
Lots of waiting in loading screens.
Updates only bring events without real new content or real bugfixes, just more stuff to buy.
Will no longer recommend.

Never understood the hate for this game... there are problems with the UI and I have met one obvious cheater in 100hrs of play time, but the rest is just fire.

After recent update game depicts all regions unavailable on steam deck.

The worst operation, Crytek doesn't care about the game, the detection of Hack tools is a joke, they don't care about the suggestions made by players, and they destroy the game step by step with their own illogical updates. This is the worst company I have ever seen

They limited the cpu cores this game will run on the December (2024) update and have done nothing to fix it. They didn't state this was happening in any updates or communication with the player base. You can use programs to fix this yourself but the lack of communication is unprofessional and disrespectful to the people that have bought this game.

Back in the days of the swamp lands, where you could roam and have a pretty equal chance at a fight has been decimated by cheaters. Hunt showdown was a very unique game with a great concept, style and fun mechanics. Yes it had it's bugs and issues. The UI was a little weird but i could navigate it after 3 matches. The skill to play this game in high tier lobbies did get pretty intense but if you're going to to have fun with your boys it was a lot of fun. Unfortunately now is not the case. They stole the swamp from us and gave us the hills, dont get me wrong the new map is incredible and gorgeous, but i no longer see them going back to the old map. This could have been an add on. The new UI is so hard to navigate and even inviting your friends was a challenge. Then cheaters are in every lobby. Every game has cheaters but when it's unregulated it's like a BF1 lobby.

If you are new and want to get into this game be advised, nothing will change. Cheaters will roam, UI will stay poor and you will likely pull your hair out before you enjoy this game.

Ayo, where can I get the cheats to be competitive again. Now on to the meat taters. I've played pretty regularly for about a year now. Ran into a cheater here or there but not often enough that it was aggravating, maybe slightly annoying. However, I don't know when the floodgates were opened to the cheaters but it's just become sad. Crytek says they've banned "X" amount of cheaters, it unfortunately hasn't seemed to make any kind of difference for the better as it's only gotten worse. Save your money and buy a different game. It'd be money more well spent elsewhere.

Ending support for non AVX2 processors was a bigger mistake than people are willing to admit. First off, to everyone saying "just upgrade your PC"; No. Every single modern AAA title I play runs incredibly well on my i7-4930k, Starfield, Cyberpunk 2077 and Hunt Showdown pre-AVX2 update were all running at 120+fps on medium settings no problem. There is a huge percentage of players that can no longer play a game they have put money into, and many are unaware that the issue is because of the AVX2 update. Instead of paying hundreds of dollars to play the only game in my field of view that requires me to upgrade, I will spend it on multiple other games. Hunt is permanently going into the trash bin.

O, how the mighty have fallen. Hunt was once at the very top of my list; I played it constantly, I loved it, I adored it. A Gothic horror/occult/zombie extraction shooter set in the Louisiana bayou with incredibly realistic gun play and strenuous attention to detail? Absolutely a 10/10. But after the engine and UI update, the game basically became unplayable for me. Matches used to load in 2 1/2 minutes at the maximum, but after the relaunch? Roughly 5 minutes of loading, after which, you might not even be able to properly play anyway; unloaded maps, constant crashes, and horrible lag when rendering objects (not to mention the struggle of actually finding the button to start matchmaking) made post-1896 Hunt a shadow of its former glory, not to mention the rampant cheating and hacking that Crytek refuses to do anything about. I desperately long for Hunt to be restored to its glory days, but alas, all seems lost, and the devs are far more focused on releasing new paid cosmetics to notice their game withering around them.

Hunt was a great game...
Until the 1896 update prioritized "fuller" lobbies over actually balanced matches between teams of players, completely destroying the already extremely flawed matching making system.

Regardless of player highs and lows during or not during "events". 3 to 4 star Matchmaking rating players (fresh, returning, or "occasional" players) should not be paired with high end 6 star MMR players who have an overwhelming amount more experience, hours, and skill. And if those 3 to 4 star players happen to kill a handful of 6 star players, (who are possibly not even 6 star skill level themselves, given current circumstances) they should not instantly be stuck as a 6 star themselves until they suffer 30+ deaths in a row (intentionally or not, at the hands of other players or cheaters, it literally doesn't matter anymore) in order to get back to where they should ideally be in terms of "skill" according to this extremely broken system.

Everyone can argue and complain all day and night about the numerous bugs, balancing issues, completely uncontrolled cheaters at high end MMR and smurfs who supposedly abuse lower end mmr, certainly.
But whenever I've tried to introduce or bring friends back to the game and their experience is overwhelmingly negative with death after death after death against players who possesses hundreds of hours more then them, or witnessing my own identical and horrid experience with the matchmaking system...

A fundamentally broken matchmaking system will always be fundamentally broken even when it's "working as intended." or has the "critical" mass of player counts to function "properly."
No amount of new player on-boarding, bug fixing, or balance changes can do anything except band-aid a already long rotting and infected wound on what otherwise is supposed to be a great game.

Say "git guud" and point out "It's a competitive pvp game" all you want, but regardless if it's a silenced bush camper that kills you from across the map or getting turned to red paste the second you make a sound or minuscule error in your own play... Players new and existing need to be able to enjoy playing the game if you want them to stick around and keep it from becoming purely cheaters or sweaty no lifers.
Getting destroyed over and over and over again isn't exactly in most people's idea of enjoyment, and then being outright punished by the system for simply doing "good" a handful of times on top of that is just a really extra rotten way for a competitive game to slowly die.

"If it's not fun, why bother?"

Once, this was one of the best games I ever played, with a reaally big potential. Now, it's just a shadow of it once was and could be. The exactly image of a Winning Game with waaaay too BAD and NEGLIGENT Devs who takes waaay too long to solve any problem/bug, if you are lucky that they ever decide to fix it, just like this concertina bug that could damage you through walls and was around since the game launch. They just decided to fix it now, 5 or 6 years later. Be aware, if you are starting now and expect anything to really be improved or fixed, well, you either need to be really patient (and lucky) or forget it and just accept.

I really enjoyed it while I could, but negligence, bad decision after another bad decision and the path they were taking made me leave this game. Like many other players. Such a shame.

P.S.:Only rating it positive for visibility, but as you could read, I dont really recommend this game anymore, unless you are ok with a bad team of devs who only thinks about making money with new skins and forget to fix the game.

This game was so good and then crytek was like 'man wouldn't it be funny if we upgraded the engine and people who payed for this game can no longer play? Wouldn't it be sick if we ruined the UI???' 'It would be extra sick if we had post malone content and a gun that shoots spinning saw blades automatically in 1896' Read the room guys, jesus christ... I've recommended this game to people who can no longer run it and now i look like an ass hole. Thanks crytek! I haven't witnessed a fall from grace this bad since the tiger woods scandal smdh.

I love the game. However, the devs push off game-altering additions or fixing jarring issues i.e. the UI. Instead, they jump at the first opportunity to pump out cosmetics.... Grimy

I had fun, not gonna lie, spent nearly 4k hours, but I am done for good.
- nerfing things/weapons to the level that no one use them anymore (flashbomb lol)
- ignoring fact that there are servers problems - laaaaags
- EU servers infested with russian/chinese players
- devs don't know how balance weapons/tools - new silenced weapons doesn't fit ? BAM! all silenced weapons -10% nerf damage
- retarded very vocal minority reddit community - keep spamming and devs will make the change you want :D

PS: Very sad Dennis that you let it happen.

amazing game ruined by the devs and community, games full of social rejects and cheaters.

wanted to get back into it, stupid update caused the game to no longer launch for me. and many others. save the money, dont buy it. shitty devs at it again ruining another game

The review describes the state of the game in 2025:
At the very beginning, the game makes a very positive impression. High-quality graphics, great atmosphere, weapons, various mercenaries and pleasant gunplay. Unfortunately, after a few years, the game still has the same problem. There are two styles of play: you sit in the bush with a sniper rifle at a distance, or you guard the artifact at close range with a shotgun. There is practically no medium-range combat. Shotguns are still too strong and the game highly rewards this style of play. Additionally, recent changes have introduced such an unintuitive and artificially complicated interface that character customization becomes a torment.

this game is nothing like how it was when I first started playing, It is such a disappointment that a unique IP like Hunt: Showdown has been so poorly developed and managed. Don't be fooled by the trailers, because the game is played nothing like them. Ultimately Hunt: Showdown will die out because of the constant betrayal of long time supporters to try and bring in more players, all while failing to keep those new players interested in the game. Instead of bug fixes you get DLCs that nobody asked for, and a bi-monthly paid battlepass that used to be free. I wish I could request a refund because this isn't what I paid for many years ago. This games last chance is being sold to a new company that might take better care of it.

Hunt: Showdown 1896 - A good game for a company, but you can play it alone. Although, it's much scarier that way. A game in which the range of emotions is very diverse. You can be happy, afraid or disappointed. You probably won't win all the time. I don't know, maybe the DLC allows you to do this... In general, you can either go on the attack or wait, sitting in the bushes. Or you can just get a bullet in the forehead, not understanding where the shot came from. And... Be surprised. Be horrified. Yea.
Basically, grind, like everywhere else. Donate... But there's a lot of content for "free" time. Well, I guess. It hurts to lose your fighter. But you can buy a new one. That's how it is. Money decides.

But hanging out with friends a couple of times is just right.

Devs managed going from one of the worst main menu Interfaces that exist to singlehandedly the worst by a landslide

The gameplay is fun, except if you want it fast cause this game consists of camping molders

I used to play a lot of different games. Then I discovered Hunt: Showdown, and now it’s the only game I play. I’m genuinely surprised this game isn’t more popular. It deserves way more recognition. If you’re looking for something unique, challenging, and rewarding, Hunt: Showdown is absolutely worth your time.

My favorite part of the game isn't the gunplay, it isn't the maps, and it isn't the character designs.

It's checking profiles after matches and seeing most accounts have accusations of hacking, abusing ping, and or vac bans on record.

If you are from South Africa or another country with no access to servers (your closest server is 100ms+) then forget about this game, Crytek have finally tuned matchmaking to segregate higher ping players to their own matches which results in a much lesser experience of the game (Matches with on average, two teams, after long queue times) being Crytek of course, there is no refund or compensation for this product which we purchased, Crytek have been bullied by the minority player base into literally leaving players behind after years of loyalty.

Very rampant cheater problem at high "MMR". Frequently some high ranked players land first shot headshots at intermediate ranges through cover/concealment against both players on a team as fast as the bolt on the rifle can cycle, sometimes while hip firing. While both of the aforementioned players are decently spread out and have approached silently/concealed. Then you proceed to spectate them stumble around the game exhibiting lack of game knowledge akin to someone who just picked the game up, almost dying to NPC trash mobs. Other high ranked MMR players seem normal, and exhibit good gunplay and game knowledge at the same time, but never execute the aforementioned "aimbot" like behavior.

The game overall has a very fun premise, some annoying bugs, and horrible UI choices after the engine swap. All of it could have been overlooked if only there were less cheaters. I have no problem getting stomped, that's how I get better. But when there is even a PERCEPTION of rampant cheating as you move up the skill "MMR" ranking system... The game falls apart dramatically. Sometimes you get lucky and match against normal people at 5-6 star MMR rating and it ends up being an intense experience, where the game truly shines. Sometimes even when you end up losing. But 2 out of 3 games usually terminate in a quite horrible cheater experience.

Red Dead Redemption meets a Dark Souls game meets an extraction shooter is the best way to describe this game. It's gritty, challenging, tense, but most importantly FUN. You WILL lose games, probably a lot, but the games that you do win can be anywhere from a walk in the park, to the most intense clutch gunfight you've ever had in an FPS game with an adrenaline pumping victory as you extract with your friends or by yourself.

I've played a lot of FPS games in my time, ranging from COD to battlefield, to Rust and Ark, to most of the existing Battle Royale games. If you're like me, a lot of the FPS games that have been coming out recently have felt stale, uninspired, and boring after a day. It's safe to say this game scratched an itch I needed scratched.

But its not completly sunhsine and rainbows. Theres a large learning curve, there is a lot you need to know going into and playing a match if you want to win against good seasoned vets of the game, to some people that can be daunting, but it is very rewarding when you learn the ins and outs. I've also had varied server issues, some days the servers are completly fine, others its BAD. Like your game crashing mid match, you try to reconnect and over and over again your game crashes until your hunter dies or the match ends. Me and my friends have also had issues with rubber banding and repeatedly getting kicked from matchmaking. This doesn't happen all of the time but it is noticebale.

Overall if you're burnt out and need something new to spark an interest, try this game out. I highly reccomend playing with friends, but solos are also do-able, just pretty challenging for new players.

New content since they added "1896" to the title has ruined a great game. I loved the game until the new changes. New UI is disgusting and new guns are stupid. Please just go back to what it was Crytek. Hunt: Showdown used to be a extract shooter with unique twist and entry into the horror genre. Now the entire game feels like a sellout and the developers don't care about they're game anymore.

End of Feb 2025 they decided to 'silent launch' a ping limiter. If you have over 100ms ping, you will essentially be soft region locked and limited to play outside of the normal match making pool.

Expect 5-10 minute queue times (if you are lucky), empty games, and ludicrous matchmaking with the handful of die-hard players that still somehow persevere through it all.

No communication given about the change, not on the official discord, socials, or official site.

Thanks for taking my money, and then robbing me of the product you sold me. I've never felt like such a 'second class citizen' in my life.