I’m sure the same thing happens to you: out of nowhere a video game appears whose setting and premises instantly captivate you and… Poof! The illusion vanishes before your eyes after a little investigation. This can happen to you with the umpteenth Hero Shooter, with an RPG that is actually a farming game with extensive layers of makeup or, why not? with the next contender to steal Fortnite’s cake. In my case, between you and me, I thought I had more than covered the quota of Extraction Shooters. It’s not something new, mind you: I’ve been like this for months. And then I played Hunt: Showdown 1896.
Halfway between a major update, a reset and a sequel (we’ll go into details later) its proposal, to reduce it to the bare minimum, is about Cowboys, Monsters and Bounties. In fact, there are no heroes here, but reckless hunters willing to get their boots dirty with mud, dirty water and blood. Blood that sometimes comes from creatures that are unpleasant to look at and difficult to classify (zombies, giant spiders and crazy people with supernatural powers), but also from guys who have gotten into the same mud as us and do not plan to come back empty-handed. From here on, and as they say, the slow ones died in the West.
As you may have noticed, Crytek has not reinvented the wheel when it comes to Extraction Shooters. It did not do so in 2019 when it came out of early access with the Hunt: Showdown original And it doesn’t aspire to do so with its current revision and update. Or, as its creators call it and the tagline of its new title suggests, the new era of the game. One that takes place a year later and takes us to the not-so-welcoming Rocky Mountains of Colorado. What’s more, most of the horror and survival ingredients of the original are still there. They are one of its greatest attractions.
However, the recipe compared to the 2019 game has been improved, its gameplay approach is more attractive – especially on consoles – and its presentation and mapping end up being a raw demonstration of the visual power of the Cryengine 5.1 engine. The price to pay? To take the step towards Hunt: Showdown 1896Crytek completely forgot about the PS4 and Xbox One versions, removing the online content in favor of focusing on what can be achieved on current PCs and desktop systems. The result is neither a clean slate nor a sequel a la Overwatch 2. In fact, I have to admit that it’s much more interesting now.
Let it be said in advance that It is not a simple graphical issuealthough that leap is there, but a succession of additions, changes, adjustments in the gameplay and great advances in very specific aspects starting with the design and the game it gives Mammon’s Gulchthe new environment. To which we must add the technology of current systems both in generating the environment and in introducing spatial sound into the dynamics of the games. Or the sensations of the controls. Aspects that make the general experience more defined. That it is much more satisfactory. Taking a series of steps in the right direction that, added to the successes inherited, make it something too interesting to look away from.
What is it like to play? Hunt: Showdown in 2024. Or rather, in 1896
If you come from the Hunt: Showdown In the original version you have to take into account two basic elements: its amazing setting, somewhere between western and dark fantasy, continues to play in its favour. It is its great hallmark. However, it is absolutely normal for you to feel disoriented when you return to the game: Crytek has done away with the interface to make it simpler and more attractive in Hunt: Showdown 1896. Especially for console gamers. A first step in the right direction, since that was the first thing that turned me off the first time I put on the cowboy hat.
Now that I’m making confessions, I have to tell you that this thing about me getting into handing out lead in Hunt: Showdown 1896 comes from behind. That is to say, that It has not been a discovery, but rather a reunion. In a way, a new opportunity. Since the launch of the Hunt: Showdown The original’s creators have given me plenty of opportunities to try it out on Steam and the PlayStation and Xbox subscription services, sometimes through free-to-play days. That said, on none of those occasions has Crytek’s game managed to grab me. Until now.
Partly because its PvPvE dynamics (players versus players and environments) made my rookie cowboy hat a target for just about every living and not-so-living thing this side of the Pecos River, but mostly because I always felt like I was just passing through a game that intrigued me, but didn’t hold me. And, to be fair, not having anyone to play with didn’t make for a long install either.
However, beyond the new game environment, its amazing look and a much simpler and more attractive interface, Hunt: Showdown 1896 hits the mark by taking a double leap of faith: despite the enormous risk of facing the most loyal PC players with their changes, it is always understood where each decision comes from and where they want to go. Because even though you and I have implicitly agreed that Extraction Shooters are practically synonymous with Game as a Service, it is worth remembering that this is exactly where the entire project and its future are at stake.
The dynamics of the games do not changefor the record: you enter a stage, you track down a boss or prey while being careful enough not to be detected by other enemies and players, and if you manage to eliminate it, you’ll gain a set of enhanced senses for your return to the extraction point. This is substantial, given that all other players in the match will be able to detect you much faster, completely swapping your role from hunter to prey.
Needless to say, we can also choose to be one of those hunters who appear at the last minute and with the contract already issued, but that’s where hidden powers, what we carry with us and the upgrades and skills of the hunter we take come into play. In addition, of course, to our companions.
But in the end it all comes down to the essentials: getting into the map, completing the objective, filling our pockets and trying to escape with our boots on – and without looking like a sieve – to continue progressing and unlocking content and powers. Knowing that in Hunt: Showdown 1896 Each game is experienced with a special emotion: there is Permadeath. That is, what Every time a hunter dies It is permanent
…And then Crytek’s Western made me click
Let it be said in advance that in Hunt: Showdown 1896 There is a single player mode called The Last SurvivorBut, between you and me, it’s not the same. However, what made me take this new chance with the game was a series of circumstances.
From the start, the new features were powerful, the premises much more attractive and the setting has always played in favour of both the original initiative and this new stage. What’s more, some really interesting new features have been introduced. Now there are some huge, ugly monsters that make a lot of noise and, when they start fighting, they attract players like children after a piñata, leading to those scenes of tension and shootings so typical of Westerns.
But, in the process, there are small big changes that tie me more to the gameOne of the simplest is the new weekly objective system and redesign of progress that makes me see that every initiative counts. That there is more at stake in every shootout than just finishing the game, and that my intentions and those of my opponents not only conflict, but that my successes and failures are given greater significance and weight.
Feeling and seeing how the scaring of some birds not far from where I am reveals to me the intentions and location of someone and makes me redefine my strategy or my priorities. I review my inventory because in that moment of tension and genuine uncertainty I am not sure if I am going to be the hunter or if I was already the prey. Moments like these are what, almost six years later, have finally made Ctytek’s Western “click” for me and, consequently, I sent all my prejudices about Extraction Shooters to hell. At least, for now.
The rebirth of Hunt: Showdown 1896 It was released on August 15 on PC and Xbox Series X / S and PS5 consoles. Mouse and keyboard players received the game as a mega-update, while on consoles it represents a kind of comeback, enabling those who already had their copy on the previous generation to have a free generational update and, incidentally, to be able to import their progress.
The weak point comes with new players, however, having to compete against similar titles that bet on Free-To-Play and, at the same time, four tabs to the right of the mode selection, display a huge store full of items that are not exactly cheap plus battle passes and more paid content. Are they worth it? That depends on the individual, but I have what I need with my copy of the game. And it’s more than I expected.
It was just a matter of time before I got hooked on one of the many Extraction Shooters. I won’t tell you if it’s the best, nor the most ambitious: it’s simply It’s the only one that made me come back. Between small and large changes, Crytek has taken enough steps in the right direction that I no longer see it as that game I once looked at, saw what was there, and then moved on to something else. Now it’s that twisted Western that I return to in order to get my boots dirty.
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