Hunt: Showdown 1896 Review

Player(s): 1
Extra Features: Online (2-4) Multiplayer/Co-op

Hunt: Showdown 1896 is the latest installment in the extraction-based online multiplayer PvPvE shooter. The game is developed and published by Crytek. Players can choose to fight alone or team up with a group of up to three other players to hunt bounties and be the last team standing for the extraction. The game is a blast to play in its Bounty Hunt mode and the overall feel to the game makes it easy to pick up and play.

The game offers a very extensive tutorial. After you finish the main tutorial, it even offers a bonus tutorial for more advanced learning. It does a good at teaching beginners the ropes with all the depth it has to offer. The beginning tutorial literally feels like a mini campaign. Once the tutorial concludes, you can choose your hunter and get to bounty hunting in other modes. There is also a shooting gallery where you can try out the game’s many weapons.

Speaking of weapons, this game goes the extra mile with weapon types. You have tons of variety in each weapon. The weapons are your usual types for shooters - handgun, shotgun, bows, rifles and melee weapons – and there are many different types of each. You have handguns with scopes that act as rifles, you can choose to carry a bow or crossbow, you can dual-wield handguns and there are also many different types of melee weapons such as spears and axes. To put it simply, this game has a bit of something for everyone when it come to your arsenal.

Each hunter can be customized with two starting weapons, tools, consumables and a trait. As you play more, you unlock more weapons that can be equipped. Each hunter starts with their own unique customization, but you can change it to something else. For the main mode, you can start the game either by yourself or in a group of up to three other players.

Bounty Hunt and Soul Survivor are the game’s main two modes. Bounty Hunt is the main feature. The mode is designed for 12 players and allows you to go up against other teams and players either by yourself or in a team of 2-3 players. Your main goal is to find boss enemies and kill them then collect their bounties. Once a player is killed, you can take their current bounties and items. Players on teams can be revived a certain number of times. If you choose to play solo, you have a definite handicap in this mode, but it can still be fun for those that are up to the challenge.

The game has a dark sight where you can track down clues as to the location of your bounty. You perform a type of ritual at target points that will fill in your map with information on where the big game is located. The creatures in the world of Hunt Showdown can be very deadly. They can REALLY mess you up in you go into a fight unprepared. The tough enemies are not just boss enemies either. Even normal enemies can put up quite a fight depending on the type. The main type of enemy is a zombie. There are some zombies that burn and basically explode a bit around them once they are hit. They can easily set you on fire.

The boss enemies can have tons of health and are often highly aggressive. Boss enemies range from huge dead bodies that have been stitched together to large spiders and other various types. These enemies can be really tough. It definitely pays to have team members around when going up against these big game enemies. Once they are defeated, you have to perform a ritual to banish the boss enemy before you can collect their loot. While performing the ritual, you have to watch for enemy hunters. The enemy essence will turn red when an enemy player is in the area. Once the bounty has been collected, all enemy players are shown on the map for a brief few seconds. Other players can track you down by using their dark sight to see your location while you carry a bounty. The location isn’t a total wall hack though. It just shows the general area that a player is located and not their precise location. After collecting a bounty, your main objective is to find an extraction point then leave the area.

The main negative that I find with this game is its Soul Survivor mode. Players can only play single player in the mode. The mode has enemies on the map, but the main objective is to kill off the other players and survive (to save your soul). This mode feels like your standard deathmatch Battle Royale style of play. There is no variety at all unlike the Bounty Hunt mode. You can basically just load up on ammo and camp then wait for other players to come to you.

The game has some great looking maps and overall atmosphere. Thanks to Cry Engine, this game looks fantastic as well. The gunplay for weapons is really good also. The aiming is very precise and the guns have a good feel to them. One really noticeable thing with the guns is that the reloading takes quite a while for nearly every weapon. Reloads have to be planned out. If you reload at the wrong time, you leave yourself wide open to whatever attack your opponent wants to dish out. For instance, with a six-shooter, your character will open the gun and place all six bullets into the gun then close it and this takes quite a bit of time. I really like this extended reload feature when it comes to player fights since you can’t spam a weapon. You have to make every shot count or else you’re a goner when you go to reload. It makes it to where you don’t want to rush into a fight without some sort of game plan. As usual, headshots are a bit part of player fights since they take the most damage.

The overall sound to this game is very good also. The game encourages you to use headphones and I do agree that it makes the experience so much more immersive. Sound also plays a big role in how other players can track you. You’ll run into horses, birds and dogs that can be aggro’d by getting too close to them and this causes them to make a bunch of noise that gives away your location. Sound can also be good at times though. You can start a record player that can lure zombies in the area to it so that you can sneak by them.

The 1896 version of this game implements a few changes over the original Hunt Showdown. The most notable change is a redone UI. There are also many bug fixes. All hunters also have survivor and veteran skins that can be unlocked.

This is really not my type of game but I enjoyed messing around with it and found a lot to enjoy while playing it, but I’ve been curious about this game for a while now. I prefer more of a solo play type of game without the use of a mic. Playing solo on Bounty Hunt is fun but very challenging. I didn’t like the Soul Survivor mode at all. I mainly respect the overall look and feel of the game more than anything. The Bounty Hunter mode has a lot of distraction from the core team deathmatch mode that made it far more enjoyable than the other mode. Overall, Hunt Showdown 1896 was a lot fun.

The Good:
+ Bounty Hunt mode is a lot of fun with many distractions from the team deathmatch core
+ Tons of variety with weapons
+ Atmospheric maps

The Bad:
- Soul Survivor is too much of a usual deathmatch mode