While Hunt: Showdown was released in Steam Early Access back in February 2018, it has since evolved into something so much more. Five years after, it’s now available in almost every gaming platform imaginable and there doesn’t seem to be any signs of the game slowing down.
MP1st had the chance to talk to Crytek about Hunt: Showdown where we asked the studio about the game’s success, it’s biggest title update yet, Tides of Corruption, and more.
Answering the questions are: David Fifield (General Manager of Hunt), Dennis Schwarz (Design Director for Hunt), and Richard Dansky (Narrative Director for Hunt).
Crytek Interview About Hunt Showdown:
MP1st: After all these years, Hunt Showdown is still going strong. We’ve seen the rise and fall of many multiplayer games, ranging from indies to the big AAA publishers, SEGA’s Hyenas being one of the most recent, and that didn’t even release. How has the team managed to find success where so many others have failed? What’s your secret?
David Fifield: One of the key points of our success, which started in the early access days, is that we’ve consistently listened to our community, and we quickly react to their feedback. Our content updates are also a big factor in our ongoing success, like the current “Tide of Corruption” event. The “Tide” series has been very well received this year with our latest event dropping a new Wild Target, Rotjaw. We’ve even managed to break our CCU records this year– five years post-launch – thanks to these content updates. We are looking at constantly improving our events and content drops for future as they are so well received by our community.
MP1st: Five years is a long time to support a game like Hunt Showdown, and we’re surprised like many, to see it going strong. Why hasn’t the team moved on from it, like some would expect? Was the content pipeline always planned, or was there a moment where the team might have debated dropping support, or perhaps one where they knew they had something special here?
Dennis Schwarz: Hunt Showdown is a passion project for many in the team. We set out to deliver something fresh and unique and poured a lot of love into it and wanted to see it grow and last for many years to come – and still do! This passion helped us to power through some setbacks during Early Access, with servers requiring frequent restarts and bugs that held the game back initially. We were able to slowly strengthen our position and win back trust to build a loyal player base. Part of Hunt’s success during that early period was to keep in close contact with our community and quickly react to trends and problems, offering them steady improvements and fresh content, and seeing their appreciation in return. We have drawn a lot of strength from this.
MP1st: Hunt Showdown had the one (?) crossover with other Crytek properties. Has there been any thoughts about branching that to other IPs? Plenty of cowboy movies and video games are out there, as well as some historical figures that could fit nicely in the universe. Monsters, of course, too. What's the studio’s general stance on that idea?
David Fifield: IP crossovers have been discussed, but we have nothing to comment on currently.
MP1st: An engine upgrade is coming early next year, with it, the drop of last-gen consoles. Improved visuals and performance are a given, but what else can players look forward to with this update? Can we expect new gameplay mechanics and such that weren’t possible before now be possible? Will this allow the game to fit a vision the studio had before but was limited? Will all maps be touched up with the improvements of the updated engine?
David Fifield: Nothing more to add about Engine upgrade or new map other than what has been shared in public.
MP1st: Will the next-gen releases bring console content and update releases more in line with the PC? Can we expect a unified player base with crossplay, or will PC players remain separately?
David Fifield: One of the primary goals of the engine upgrade is to bring parity to Console and PC release dates and content. On release, all matchmaking pools and platform separation will function as they do currently.
MP1st: Tide of Corruption is the game’s biggest drop to date. Could you tell us about it? What sets it apart from the other drops? What were some inspirations behind the weapons, hunters, and pacts?
Richard Dansky: Everything starts with Butcher’s Cleaver. He’s the character who ties the whole story together with the birth of the Demented Pact.
The Demented Pact revere the Sculptor. They’re Hunters who have succumbed to the idea of the Sculptor’s eventual triumph. They view the Targets as the Sculptor’s imperfect acolytes and look to replace them — to become them, really — by hunting them. And one of the things they’re after is the Murmurstone, a relic of the Sculptor, which they think will grant them immense power and take them closer to apotheosis. Butcher’s Cleaver stands in the center of this maelstrom of blood and terror. He leads the Pact, he sets its plans and directions, and more often than not, his is the hand that holds the blade to execute those plans. But he’s got plenty of followers, and they are true believers.
The Death Pact, on the other hand, has a much more straightforward goal. They see all the shenanigans with the usual laws of life and death being set aside, and they want to stop it. Alive is alive, dead is dead, and that’s the way it should be, according to Sofia and her crew. They’re a very diverse group, but they have this in common, and that comes from having characters with deep and interesting backstories. And it only seemed natural to bring back Mr. Chary and his Infernal Pact. The Murmurstone is exactly the sort of thing he’d want to do terrible things with, because he’ll use whatever is at hand, no matter how horrible, to achieve his ends. The good news is that the Infernal Pact is
against the Sculptor, but they’ll use anything to wage that fight. It was really interesting to see how the Infernal Pact evolved as circumstances in the bayou changed, with new powers entering the equation and older ones not having as much of a presence.
Additionally, we’ve got some exciting new equipment to take into the fray in the bayou. Two that we’re particularly proud of are the new Consumable, the Fire Beetle, and the new weapon, the Baseball Bat. The former was conceived as a counterbalance to the Choke Beetle—where there’s smoke, there’s got to be flame. And for the Baseball Bat, we wanted to provide a new blunt melee weapon, and this had been on fans’ wish lists for a while.
MP1st: The baseball bat is pretty satisfying, especially the bonk noise. The community seems to be loving it, but one common thing we’ve seen is also the balancing. Some think it’s too overpowered, but others have pointed out other melee weapons being pushed back in the cards—the machete, for example. Are there any talks about a possible rebalancing/revamp to the melee weapons?
Dennis Schwarz: The Baseball Bat is a great addition to the game. Finally, players have a powerful small slot blunt melee weapon, which is great against those pesky Immolators that burst into flames when pierced with bullets or blades. In Hunt, blunt melee, like the dusters use, is always considered to be the economical choice, eating less stamina with every attack than the bladed weapons. The Baseball Bat stays true to this but has some other drawbacks of course. Where the Machete causes bleeding, the Cavalry Saber has more reach, but you need to be more precise. When balancing weapons occupying a similar slot in the inventory, they have to be rather close to avoid one choice dominating the others. This means we have to ensure the Baseball Bat is not only good against monsters, but also against enemy Hunters. We are keeping a close eye out on balance across the entire arsenal and will always adjust if we feel
one weapon is overshadowing the rest. Of course it’s also just a great new toy to play around with right now. Bonk!
MP1st: Will this be what players can expect from drops in the future in terms of size? What is the support looking like post-next-gen ports, can we expect many more years of it?
David Fifield: We can’t reveal too much but we can confirm our focus will be on releasing more content for players including a new map which will be released alongside our next gen upgrade.
MP1st: Has Crytek considered making the game F2P? Or as part of Game Pass or PS Plus?
David Fifield: We cannot confirm anything like this at the moment.
MP1st: Alright, last set of questions. I know we should stick to Hunt Showdown, but our readers won’t forgive us if we don’t ask about Crysis 4. What’s happening there? It’s been over a year since we last heard from it.
David Fifield: Crysis 4 is currently still in development and we have a great team working on it! We will update once we have more details on it down the line.
MP1st: Closing thoughts: Looking at the past, present, and future, what’s one thing you’d like to tell the fanbase?
David Fifield: Hunt: Showdown has had an amazing five-year history with a growing and dedicated fanbase faithfully coming back update after update. We’re excited to be trying new things and taking more risks with the narrative and gameplay content tied to each of our events and look to keep this momentum growing. We on the team are firmly convinced the best days of the Hunt franchise lie ahead and we look forward to pushing boundaries and exploring new shadowy corners of the Hunt.