Hunt: Showdown. It's a beautiful game. A lot of people will compare it to Escape from Tarkov, for a fair reason. Both are hardcore survival games at the core. But that's where the similarities end. Hunt does not have traders, quests, gun modding or a hideout/stash. Instead it's simplified, the way getting gear works in Hunt is as simple as having one store for everything.

Everything you do in the game, be it as simple as getting clues to where the boss lair is (main goal of every match) up to killing players rewards you with experience as well as Hunt Dollars which is the currency of the game. With said currency you have the ability to purchase weapons, tools and usables which are the 3 categories of gear.

Weapons: From old repurposed muskets through many single and double action revolvers to an automatic mosin. What is not to love ? The game even features a elephant hunting rifle fittingly named Nitro Express after the cartridge.

Tools: As standard as a knife and a medkit, or as complex and interesting as a tripmine that upon triggering covers a rather large area in razor wire.

and finally Usables: Grenades, Molotovs, syringes filled with various enchancing mixtures such as a Stamina shot, Antivenom or Healing shot.

All of these are purchased with the in-game currency. At the time of writing this review there are 3 maps, 4 bosses and 3 game modes.

Bounty hunt: Your standard Hunt game mode. Hunters spawn in with the previously bought gear, look for clues regarding the whereabouts of the boss while trying to make as little noise as possible to not alert other hunters. All the while fighting off the AI Zombies and other players. Every map has set extraction points that change with each match and are always marked on the map.

Quick Play: For those with less time as well as for those prefering Battle Royale style of gameplay. Hunters spawn in with a pre-determined loadout we can choose from. Choices are simple, Ranged: giving us a revolver or a pair of revolvers, Shotgun: As the name suggests, the game picks a random shotgun, and Melee: Up to recent updates you did not get any melee or medkits at the start of a quickplay match making this loadout somewhat usefull, after some patches this changed, as now the game provides you with a small melee weapon and a medkit, the loadout changed, now giving you the tools stated above as well as a large melee weapon such as an axe or a cavalry sabre that have the potential to kill in 1 hit. Gear is randomised across the map and can be found in compounds, resupply points and scattered across the various hunting towers.

And training/exploration mode that lets you pick any map to explore it without the risk of losing a hunter or meeting other players. It also features a bunch of challenges that reward you with stars. Once you collect a certain ammount of challenge stars you are rewarded with either Hunt Dollars, legendary skins or Blood Bonds, a premium currency used for purchasing only vanity items such as legendaries for weapons, tools and legendary hunters.

You get blood bonds for completing daily/weekly challenges as well as passively after every match (1 to 20 Blood bonds depending on many variables)

Pros and cons:
+ AMAZING Atmosphere that no other game handles as well as Hunt does. Really makes you feel like a 1890's cowboy
+ The sound is absolutely glorious, and by that i mean there is no sound coming out of nowhere. Everything you hear has a cause, be it a zombie walking on glass, or players. The sound itself is so good you dont need to see the enemy to shoot at them accurately allowing for very satisfying wallbangs at higher skill levels.
+ Very interesting guns of 18-19th century as well as early WW1
+ Really fun gameplay without gear fear as gear is very easy to get
+ Really interesting lore that isnt pushed in your face, its there if you are curious about it, but you can completely miss all of it if you're there just for gameplay :)

- The AI can be frustrating at times, they can be either great, or a major annoyance
- The game can feel clunky at times, especially when trying to vault/climb onto things you are not supposed to, leading to desync rubberbanding back to your original place, or forward into where you would be if you slid off


Overall Hunt: Showdown is an amazing experience. At release, Version 1.0 was quite painfull to play for veterans, in the current state its much better, not as great as it used to be which leads the community into a somewhat of a split between old time players and new players, yet both parties still enjoy the current state of the game. Its rather worth the original price tag, although if you're hesitant and you see it on sale (which happens quite often) you should definetly grab it.

Hunt: Showdown. It's a beautiful game. A lot of people will compare it to Escape from Tarkov, for a fair reason. Both are hardcore survival games at the core. But that's where the similarities end. Hunt does not have traders, quests, gun modding or a hideout/stash. Instead it's simplified, the way getting gear works in Hunt is as simple as having one store for everything. Everything you do in the game, be it as simple as getting clues to where the boss lair is (main goal of every match) up to killing players rewards you with experience as well as Hunt Dollars which is the currency of the game. With said currency you have the ability to purchase weapons, tools and usables which are the 3 categories of gear. Weapons: From old repurposed muskets through many single and double action revolvers to an automatic mosin. What is not to love ? The game even features a elephant hunting rifle fittingly named Nitro Express after the cartridge. Tools: As standard as a knife and a medkit, or as complex and interesting as a tripmine that upon triggering covers a rather large area in razor wire. and finally Usables: Grenades, Molotovs, syringes filled with various enchancing mixtures such as a Stamina shot, Antivenom or Healing shot. All of these are purchased with the in-game currency. At the time of writing this review there are 3 maps, 4 bosses and 3 game modes. Bounty hunt: Your standard Hunt game mode. Hunters spawn in with the previously bought gear, look for clues regarding the whereabouts of the boss while trying to make as little noise as possible to not alert other hunters. All the while fighting off the AI Zombies and other players. Every map has set extraction points that change with each match and are always marked on the map. Quick Play: For those with less time as well as for those prefering Battle Royale style of gameplay. Hunters spawn in with a pre-determined loadout we can choose from. Choices are simple, Ranged: giving us a revolver or a pair of revolvers, Shotgun: As the name suggests, the game picks a random shotgun, and Melee: Up to recent updates you did not get any melee or medkits at the start of a quickplay match making this loadout somewhat usefull, after some patches this changed, as now the game provides you with a small melee weapon and a medkit, the loadout changed, now giving you the tools stated above as well as a large melee weapon such as an axe or a cavalry sabre that have the potential to kill in 1 hit. Gear is randomised across the map and can be found in compounds, resupply points and scattered across the various hunting towers. And training/exploration mode that lets you pick any map to explore it without the risk of losing a hunter or meeting other players. It also features a bunch of challenges that reward you with stars. Once you collect a certain ammount of challenge stars you are rewarded with either Hunt Dollars, legendary skins or Blood Bonds, a premium currency used for purchasing only vanity items such as legendaries for weapons, tools and legendary hunters. You get blood bonds for completing daily/weekly challenges as well as passively after every match (1 to 20 Blood bonds depending on many variables) Pros and cons: + AMAZING Atmosphere that no other game handles as well as Hunt does. Really makes you feel like a 1890's cowboy + The sound is absolutely glorious, and by that i mean there is no sound coming out of nowhere. Everything you hear has a cause, be it a zombie walking on glass, or players. The sound itself is so good you dont need to see the enemy to shoot at them accurately allowing for very satisfying wallbangs at higher skill levels. + Very interesting guns of 18-19th century as well as early WW1 + Really fun gameplay without gear fear as gear is very easy to get + Really interesting lore that isnt pushed in your face, its there if you are curious about it, but you can completely miss all of it if you're there just for gameplay :) - The AI can be frustrating at times, they can be either great, or a major annoyance - The game can feel clunky at times, especially when trying to vault/climb onto things you are not supposed to, leading to desync rubberbanding back to your original place, or forward into where you would be if you slid off Overall Hunt: Showdown is an amazing experience. At release, Version 1.0 was quite painfull to play for veterans, in the current state its much better, not as great as it used to be which leads the community into a somewhat of a split between old time players and new players, yet both parties still enjoy the current state of the game. Its rather worth the original price tag, although if you're hesitant and you see it on sale (which happens quite often) you should definetly grab it.