A few years ago while covering E3 I got my first look at Hunt. The game looked like it played similar to Left 4 Dead as teams of four hunted supernatural enemies in a swamp in a Victorian setting. Years passed and no news of the game followed, and whenever I asked about it: I was told it was still pending and would be told more about it in the future.
Last year at E3 we got a look at the game now called Hunt: Showdown in a closed door meeting where we were shown some new gameplay footage by the developers.
The game now has players play in teams of two and they compete against one another as well as supernatural creatures to locate and kill a boss and escape with a bounty.
Today I got my hands on an Early Access version of the game and after a long wait to find an open server; I made it into the game. The setting was a swamp and my teammate and I made our way through the area, farms, a lumber mill, and more as we avoided and dispatched enemies and located items such as health kits and so on. Using a knife is a great idea for not attracting attention but I really enjoyed the shotgun or pistol as it does tend to take enemies down fast even if it tells everyone in your locale where you were.
I managed to locate the boss after some exploration and three shotgun blasts to the head did little more than make it angry and I went down fast. My teammate came to my aid in time but ended up killing me rather than restoring me.
For the second game I was leading a new player and we made our way through the map and even though he went down in combat, I was able to revive him and keep the match going. We explored numerous locales and had no luck finding our bounty when fate stepped in as other player had located and dispatched it and was in the process of summoning it to collect. We quickly made our way to the locale on our map and low on ammunition; I swapped my pistol for an axe that I found and upon open an attic barn door, I cleaved the other player so my team could collect the bounty. Once collected, we made a very fast dash from the locale as I had no idea how many other teams would be in the area and the last thing I needed was someone with a rifle taking me out so close to the collection point.
We managed to find a carriage and horses soon after and had to wait 10 seconds for extraction. We managed to fight off some creatures and escaped with our bounty.
The game does give players the chance to upgrade their character and loadouts and in an interesting twist, once you die your bloodline is gone and you must pick a new character to start over.
Based on my experiences to date I see some solid potential in the game as it does allow for multiple styles of play. I went in guns blazing but it took stealth and treachery to kill another player and steal what he had worked so hard for in order to win.
For more information on the game, please check https://www.huntshowdown.com/
We will be posting gameplay video from our sessions later tonight and tomorrow.
