Hunt: Showdown 1896 is the updated version of Crytek's Hunt: Showdown, a multiplayer shooter set in the late 1800s in a corrupted corner of America. Its maps cover the bayous of Louisiana, and the 1896 update added a map in Colorado. In the main mode, Bounty Hunt, you and rival hunters race to find supernatural bosses, kill them and escape with the reward. The game is built around extraction, so killing a boss is only half the job, because you still have to get out alive.
You pick a hunter and fill a loadout with weapons, tools and consumables, then join a match alone or in a team of two or three. Three Clues lead to the boss's lair, and Dark Sight, a sense that makes them show up as clouds of blue lights, lets you follow them. After you kill the boss, you banish its soul in a ritual that takes a while, and you have to hold the spot until it finishes. Once you grab the Bounty Token, every other hunter on the map can find where you are, so you need to reach an extraction point and leave alive.
Death is permanent, and that is what gives each match its weight. If your hunter dies, you lose that hunter along with the gear and traits it carried. Between matches, the Hunt Dollars you collect pay for weapons and gear, Upgrade Points buy traits, and traits stay with your hunter for as long as it survives.
- Developer
- Crytek
- Publisher
- Crytek
- Release
- Original PC release: 2019-08-27 · Hunt: Showdown 1896 launch: 2024-08-15
- Platforms
- Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
Game data
Weapons
Weapons are the main way to deal damage in Hunt: Showdown 1896, grouped into rifles, shotguns, pistols, special weapons and melee. Each one has a size that counts against your hunter's weapon capacity, and ammo comes in classes that change damage, speed and range. Base weapons unlock with Bloodline rank and are bought with Hunt Dollars, while variants such as scoped and silenced versions unlock with Weapon XP earned in that weapon family.
Traits
Traits are perks that change how a hunter fights, heals, moves and loots, grouped into Offensive, Defensive, Movement and Supportive. Regular traits are bought from the Trait menu with Upgrade Points as your Bloodline rank rises, while Trait Spurs found during a mission grant traits right away. Burn traits are used up after one effect, and Scarce traits stay on the hunter.
Tools and Consumables
Tools and consumables are the gadgets, explosives, healing items and traps hunters bring alongside their weapons in Hunt: Showdown 1896. Tools are gear that can be used more than once, though some have a fixed number of uses, while consumables work a single time. Both share eight equipment slots, and some start unlocked while the rest come through Bloodline rank.
Bosses
Bosses are the main objective in Bounty Hunt, the game's core mode. Hunt: Showdown 1896 has five boss targets, who live in compounds, and two wild targets, Hellborn and Rotjaw, who appear in the open world. Boss targets must be found through clues and banished after they die, while wild targets need no banishing.
Compounds
Compounds are the named areas on each Hunt: Showdown 1896 map, spread across Stillwater Bayou, Lawson Delta, DeSalle and Mammon's Gulch. Each one can hold a boss lair, usually in its main building, and most hold one clue, while the larger points of interest hold two. Compounds are also the setting for Bounty Clash, where a single compound hosts the whole match.
Hunt: Showdown gameplay tips
- Start with Bounty Hunt and a light loadout. Any rifle and pistol combo works for your first dozen matches, because aim, positioning and awareness matter more than firepower. Keep the loadout affordable, with a knife and a first aid kit.
- Wear a headset and keep your noise down. Sound gives your position away to other teams and to enemies, from crows scattering to chains rattling in doorways. Crouch and walk through buildings, and avoid looting in open ground, because gunfire and loud fights draw in nearby teams.
- Use your knife on grunts, the common zombie-like enemies. One heavy knife strike kills most of them without making noise, while a gunshot carries far. Ammo is scarce, so save your bullets for other hunters.
- Pick your extraction point before you banish the boss. Extraction points stay hidden until you investigate a Clue, which reveals two of them, so note the closest one while the ritual runs and head straight there once you have the token. Extracting takes 30 seconds, and the countdown pauses if a teammate is downed or an enemy hunter steps in, so a fight at the exit can cost you the run.
- Take Necromancer if you play with a team. It revives teammates from range, so a downed partner can get back up without you walking into the fire. If you play solo, it lets you revive yourself once.