i just clocked in my 300th hour of this game and god it feels so good to play a multiplayer game that pumps adrenaline straight into my head from just hearing the creaking of wood or a murder of crows flying away. tracking and killing the mangled horrors that nest in the louisiana bayou may be the end goal, but they mean nothing to the true dangers of black powder firearms. water devils, zombies, hellhounds, and the gang of bosses are merely distractions. the ai in this game, the E in PvPvE, are ultimately sound traps to avoid. theyre obstacles created by the developer to make the bayou more like hell than it already is. well the bosses are the final goal of a match, but theyre also the reason for players to find each other and unload bullets. in the end, even though youre facing otherworldly horrors, sound is your greatest fear. the snapping of a twig, the gnarling of a hound, the wet squishes of feet and mud, what you see is never as important as what you hear. making out the type of rifles you can hear in distant firefights and the light rustling of chains can mean life or death. information is your god, acquire as much as you can before the unknown kills you. sure, you can see an enemy hunter crossing the road ahead of you with their friends, but the moment you hear another's breath as they take aim is even more startling because of being close enough to hear that.
1800s weaponry is clumsy and obtuse compared to the modern firearms found throughout many games today, but their accuracy and power make up for it in hunt showdown. it's a battle of aim, not recoil control or advanced bhopping. think of quake railgun duels, but it's slower. the weapons' heft is felt through the leisurely speed of opening breaches, levering actions, and cocking hammers. hunters taking potshots at each other across compounds, playing whac-a-mole or strategizing wall bangs based on sound cues, and the beyond-tense fights in tight spaces where keeping your cool is almost impossible. because of how powerful all weapons are, it's hard to find one that isnt viable. yea long ammo is the 'meta,' but you can succeed just as well with the winfield, shotguns, vetterli, and more. i get the desire for wanting more weapons to be added, but the current arsenal is fine and seems mostly balanced. superfluous additions create identity crises in weapons, eliminating their roles in the sandbox. if anything the devs need to work on more bosses and maps!! one good example is the romero alamo versus the spectre, both long-barrel shotguns. the spectre shoots faster by a lot, giving almost no reason to the alamo to be used. sure theres some slight stat differences, the specter has a funkier reload without bullet grubber, and the specter has access to flechette ammo... a stock specter will almost always outperform the alamo in almost every situation. that isnt to say it's an absolutist's choice though since the terminus can be rapidly fired with levering and other shotguns have faster reloads. overall, shotguns can create chest cavities in cqb but are useless once youre competing against a roosted marksman, forcing you to hide or sideline them. facing certain weapons and players calls for adaptation, either learning to wait for the right moment or to hastily find that opportunity yourself.
because of the taut tension, high stakes, and punishing gameplay, many players can regress into becoming campers. now camping is fairly common, but it's not an end-all. if anything, facing campers requires more patience than the game already demands from the player. especially if youre playing solo. these quiet times in gauging up your enemy through secret reconnaissance are some of the tenser moments as a solo. you try your damndest to stay quiet, preventing the storm of a gunfight to not just stay alive but to attract less attention from third parties. observing multiple teams, planning probably fruitless contingency plans, routing through buildings to avoid being caught or to get the drop, hunt showdown is a buffet of ambushes on both sides. you either surprise others or see the death screen when you least expect it.
it's a dirty battlefield filled with tricky players and sticky viscera all over the place. the overstimulation of mass information is definitely a hurdle for many, it was a huge one for me for at least the first hundred hours, but the highs were so worth the sadistic lows. hunt is undoubtedly one of the more unique shooters to have come out in the past 10 years, and its quirks make it not just stand out but compelling for me to constantly return to. aside from the allure of its mythos and viscous atmosphere, i keep coming back because i want its primal fight-or-flight exhilaration. that thrill of dropping on an unsuspecting player, the excitement of a wild west shootout in a decrepit town, the constant paranoia from the murmurs of undead and the breeze gently smacking window doors, fanning the hammer of my revolver out of desperation just to become another nameless corpse, everything about this game is so damn good. hunt showdown is tightly designed, beautifully dreadful, and immensely engaging to the point i think about how i should open doors. you just dont get many multiplayer pvp experiences like this nowadays, but that's what makes it so special.
1800s weaponry is clumsy and obtuse compared to the modern firearms found throughout many games today, but their accuracy and power make up for it in hunt showdown. it's a battle of aim, not recoil control or advanced bhopping. think of quake railgun duels, but it's slower. the weapons' heft is felt through the leisurely speed of opening breaches, levering actions, and cocking hammers. hunters taking potshots at each other across compounds, playing whac-a-mole or strategizing wall bangs based on sound cues, and the beyond-tense fights in tight spaces where keeping your cool is almost impossible. because of how powerful all weapons are, it's hard to find one that isnt viable. yea long ammo is the 'meta,' but you can succeed just as well with the winfield, shotguns, vetterli, and more. i get the desire for wanting more weapons to be added, but the current arsenal is fine and seems mostly balanced. superfluous additions create identity crises in weapons, eliminating their roles in the sandbox. if anything the devs need to work on more bosses and maps!! one good example is the romero alamo versus the spectre, both long-barrel shotguns. the spectre shoots faster by a lot, giving almost no reason to the alamo to be used. sure theres some slight stat differences, the specter has a funkier reload without bullet grubber, and the specter has access to flechette ammo... a stock specter will almost always outperform the alamo in almost every situation. that isnt to say it's an absolutist's choice though since the terminus can be rapidly fired with levering and other shotguns have faster reloads. overall, shotguns can create chest cavities in cqb but are useless once youre competing against a roosted marksman, forcing you to hide or sideline them. facing certain weapons and players calls for adaptation, either learning to wait for the right moment or to hastily find that opportunity yourself.
because of the taut tension, high stakes, and punishing gameplay, many players can regress into becoming campers. now camping is fairly common, but it's not an end-all. if anything, facing campers requires more patience than the game already demands from the player. especially if youre playing solo. these quiet times in gauging up your enemy through secret reconnaissance are some of the tenser moments as a solo. you try your damndest to stay quiet, preventing the storm of a gunfight to not just stay alive but to attract less attention from third parties. observing multiple teams, planning probably fruitless contingency plans, routing through buildings to avoid being caught or to get the drop, hunt showdown is a buffet of ambushes on both sides. you either surprise others or see the death screen when you least expect it.
it's a dirty battlefield filled with tricky players and sticky viscera all over the place. the overstimulation of mass information is definitely a hurdle for many, it was a huge one for me for at least the first hundred hours, but the highs were so worth the sadistic lows. hunt is undoubtedly one of the more unique shooters to have come out in the past 10 years, and its quirks make it not just stand out but compelling for me to constantly return to. aside from the allure of its mythos and viscous atmosphere, i keep coming back because i want its primal fight-or-flight exhilaration. that thrill of dropping on an unsuspecting player, the excitement of a wild west shootout in a decrepit town, the constant paranoia from the murmurs of undead and the breeze gently smacking window doors, fanning the hammer of my revolver out of desperation just to become another nameless corpse, everything about this game is so damn good. hunt showdown is tightly designed, beautifully dreadful, and immensely engaging to the point i think about how i should open doors. you just dont get many multiplayer pvp experiences like this nowadays, but that's what makes it so special.