As part of our July magazine, I spoke with Dennis Schwarz, Lead Game Designer on Hunt: Showdown which was very impressive at E3. Here is a portion of the interview for you to enjoy.
What is the background and setting for the game?
- Hunt: Showdown is set in 1895, at the end of the Victorian era. A dark power has settled over the Louisiana Bayou. Monsters and demons wander the bayous and the forests. You are playing as a mercenary bound to rid the area of their presence.
How will player death be handled as at E3 it seemed that if you die you lose the character forever?
Will the game have a ranking system? How is XP handled in the game and can characters “Rank Up”?
- You recruit hunters into your bloodline and take them on dangerous missions to slay monsters and collect bounty. Hunters gain experience, level up, and learn new skills. But the missions are brutal and when a hunter dies, their experience is transferred to the bloodline. The bloodline is a system that allows players to unlock new gear, draw in better recruits, and select new traits for other hunters. Death is permanent in Hunt, and that’s a big deal because you lose the character’s level and all their gear. The bloodline is a way to preserve your progress and at the same time keep the thrill of literally risking your hunter’s life on every mission.
What were the reasons the game has changed so much from the way it was first show at E3 years ago?
- You’re right, apart from the era, and the concept of gunslingers hunting down monsters for a reward, the two projects don’t have much in common. When we moved development of Hunt to the Frankfurt studio, we turned it into a match-based PvP format with challenging AI monsters in a dark and gritty setting. This is the concept we have been building on since and by now we see Hunt: Showdown as a new game. Every team at Crytek has their specific strengths and vision for a game. When we took over development, the team in Frankfurt came up with more and more ideas that moved away from what our team in Austin had built. By the time we started development on Hunt: Showdown, the original concept was transformed into a game we hope can stand out due to the new focus on what we do best: first person shooters.
What are some of the weapons players will have available?
- For us it’s important that the players have a weapon arsenal that allows them to fight on their own terms. We’ll have a large number of weapons from the late 1800s era. These include repeating rifles and revolvers, the first semi-automatic pistols, and pump-action shotguns. Hunters do a lot of field-modifications on their weapons, adding blades, turning a bolt-action rifle into a primitive machine gun, or customizing ammunition for hunting monsters. They also make use of fully customized weapons and makeshift explosives, like the concertina bomb, which fills an area with deadly razor wire, shredding everything in its path.
Will the game have DLC?
- We plan to expand the game and add new content over time but we haven’t decided on how we’ll be doing that.
You can read the full interview and more in the July magazine issue which is available soon at the link below.
