Hunt: Showdown 1896

About Hunt: Showdown 1896

Crytek released Hunt: Showdown in early access in 2018 and in full on PC in 2019, and relaunched it in August 2024 as Hunt: Showdown 1896 with a new engine, a Colorado mountain map and current-generation console versions on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.

Each match drops up to twelve players, in teams of one, two or three, into one of four large maps of Louisiana bayou and Colorado mountain country, such as Lawson Delta and Mammon's Gulch. The Corruption has seeped into everything: the dead walk, and somewhere in a compound waits a boss monster such as the Butcher, the Spider, the Assassin or Scrapbeak. You find clues to narrow down where it is, kill it, banish it and take its bounty, then run for an exit while every other team knows where you are.

The tension comes from sound and from other people. Monsters cry out in warning, dogs bark at hunters on your trail, and a reload clicks in the next room. Weather and wildfire change the maps, and the store's own line sums up the stakes: die with nothing or get out with everything. Hunters and gear you bring in can be lost.

It suits players who want horror atmosphere with tense, slow-burning gunfights against other people. Those after a story or a game they can play alone offline should look elsewhere: there is no single-player campaign, and the monsters are the setting more than the main opponent.

How to play Hunt: Showdown 1896

1. Recruit a hunter and choose a loadout of weapons, tools and consumables.
2. Enter a Bounty Hunt alone, as a duo or as a trio.
3. Find clues across the map to narrow down where the boss monster is.
4. Kill the boss, banish it and pick up the bounty.
5. Reach an extraction point with the bounty while other teams try to take it from you.

Tips

• Watch where you step; barking dogs, creaking floorboards and snapping twigs give your position away to other players.
• Use headphones; gunshots and monster cries tell you where the fights are.
• Do not fire at every grunt; a gunshot carries across the map.
• Bring a cheap hunter while you learn, since a dead hunter and their gear can be lost.

Questions