Rise up dead man

A whole bucket of fun

 Hunt: Showdown has got to be the most enjoyable multiplayer game in recent memory for me. For a long time, it seemed everyone was on the bandwagon of either ripping of Call of Duty, or Ripping off PUBG's Battle Royale. Neither of which is overly interesting to me after very short order and both seem to be full of all sorts of balance and quality issues. 

Hunt: Showdown on the other hand, has not only a really cool setting and style, it's also got a pretty unique spin on the Battle Royale formula. It takes place just before the turn of the last century in 1895 Louisiana, so you get a really cool mix of old-west like aesthetics and near WW1 type weaponry. The land is infested with horrific monsters conjured up with voodoo magic, and it's obviously your job to take them down. In particular, there are bosses you defeat to complete a job/contract to win.

Concept art for one of the recently added bosses to the game

However, you don't have to be alone in this endeavor, you can team up with up to two other people besides yourself to take them on. The monsters aren't the only threat though, there are several other teams inserted into the map with you who are tasked with the same goal. Stealth is of the utmost importance in the game play to evade not only the more powerful monsters littered about, but also other teams of players. 

You go about uncovering clues to the location of the boss monsters, evading players and monsters, along with all sorts of environmental elements that can give away your position, such as flocks of birds, or wounded animals that can alert others to your presence. The best part is if someone has beaten you to the boss and defeated it, you don't have to fight to the last man, and have the choice of leaving to save your character for another day, as progression and survival being rewarded greatly. 

You choose between various randomized characters to play as, and you can customize them with all sorts of gear. They also offer hero characters, with some even based off real historical figures. 

To be honest, the only weak part of the experience is the PvP combat, as it does feel a bit clunky. To add to that the weapons are a bit oddly balanced, I mean, even an old coach gun would have a longer range than just 10 meters, Crytek! Just bump the shotgun ranges to 20 meters already! Also, the variety of boss monsters is pretty low, with there only being four types at the time of writing. Some suggestions to Crytek, totally add some bosses that are quintessential to the bayou, like a an Alligator type boss or a giant snake of some kind would be cool, too.

But griping aside, the game is a ton of fun and has been far more enjoyable than most other multiplayer games as of late.  Give it a shot if you are into that sort of thing.