Hunt: Showdown (30/20$)

The hunt showdown doesn’t do anything particularly new, but it does nearly everything right.  It has an interesting gameplay loop that consists of hunters tracking down a ghoulish monster, killing it, and collecting it’s bounty.  Once the monster is slain and the bounty collected, the player now must face off against every other hunter alive on the map as they race to the exit point.  It’s an exciting concept that pulls bits from the various battle royal shooters along with player versus environment games like Destiny.  What it does better than any other online shooter in its genre it’s design.  Every mechanic feels like it is meant to enhance every other mechanic.  Matches are short, but a player wants to play it slowly and methodically by laying traps and waiting, they have the tools to do it.  If they want to run and gun with six shooters modded 32 round bandoliers, they have the tools to do that too.

At the start of the game the player is warned to put in headphones to fully utilize the 3D sound system in the game which is one of the best I’ve enjoyed.  The maps in The Hunt Showdown are set up like the house in home alone but instead of booby traps there are sound traps that feel at home in the decrepit antebellum south where the game takes place.  Half eaten horses give their last whines when you get too close.  Forgotten hounds bark at the player as the past by.  Chains rattle, broken glass crunches underfoot, and gunshots can be heard from far away.  The difference between life and death can be noticing the sound of ducks flying off from a pond that a player mistakenly spooked as they are sneaking up to shoot you in the back.  But a smart and sneaky player will avoid the ducks, knife the horse before it whines, and creep around the chains and bottles that will give away their position.  

Sound design is only a portion of the smart choices the developers have made.  The map and buildings itself blow other battle royales like fortnite and Warzone out of the water.  There is always an option to evade zombies or break the line of sight from a sniper in the distance.  Nearly every building and room has multiple entrances, with most offering rooftop entrances or basement escape tuned.  Players who choose to camp will need to watch their exits, set traps, and never be too careful as most walls can be shot through.  Or even peered through the gaps between the shack walls.  Smart players can turn campers' bunkers into swiss cheese and cut off their escape with traps of their own.  No gun feels greatly overpowered compared to others, and every gun has some drawback that makes it feel balanced. For example, the bandolier modded pistol doesn’t have nearly the rate of fire as the classic six shooter. I personally love that you can reload while running as it makes chases intense, and health packs are plentiful which makes the short time to kill far more tolerable than games like Call of Duty.  Which is crucial, because the game features permadeath.  Normally a feature I hate and I can see how it would turn players off. Losing a character they have taken through multiple hunts and spent hours of time gearing up hurts.  Especially when getting snipped by some no named loser.  

This goes doubly so for the people that opt to spend real money on their hunters, as the game does feature a currency system that sadly comes standard with games these days.  At first it seems a bit pay to win and grindy, however the devs included a more basic battle royal mode which gives the player a free hunter to keep, if they can win the match.  Not only that, but the better you do in the battle royal, the more points and gear the player will be rewarded with.  If you lose, there is no penalty..  But it still fills every match with the intensity that only games with permadeath can give.  

I strongly recommend this game.  Most battle royales aren’t my thing, but the PvEvP breakdown of the matches takes the pressure off being hunted 24/7 (even though you technically are).  It is so refreshing to have a game that feels so fair to the players, that feels fresh compared to other battle royale type games, and still offers the intensity found in games like Escape from Tarkov without the cruel punishment of overly complex systems.  It takes the best part of every shooter that has come out in the past few years and merges them into one great game with a great aesthetic.  I spent 20$ on the game on sale and got 24 hours out of it without any signs of stopping soon (30/20$).