First person shooters are the bane of my life; on one hand they are some of the most fun and action packed experiences in gaming. On the other they are overly competitive and full of people claiming they have had sex with you're mum; something she's definitely used to. Seriously you should do something about her reputation online. The competitiveness of shooters means as a highly unskilled pleb of the lowest calibre; I myself live eternally on the bottom rung of leader boards. Sporting a K/D ratio unfathomable to mathematics. I'm as such, somewhat disadvantaged when playing them.
A Frankenstein-esque Shooty Pew Pew Experience
The last decade has played host to numerous iterations and deviations from the typical FPS formula. We've had isometric team shooters, arcade shooters, military sims, iron man hybrids all along with countless other types. Most especially however we have had battle royales. The latter is where 'Hunt' has cut its teeth primarily; borrowing lightly from all of most popular 'fall out of an aircraft and try not to die' games around; but its core comes from further back. Indeed it does tout a roster of cosmetic characters and slightly less initiative ping system in hue of Apex Legends but critically its responsive and gutsy shooting mechanics feel crowbarred from a Battlefield game; and as such feels great to play.
DayZ; the famous Arma 2 mod turned standalone has clearly heavily influenced a lot of the more tense aspects of the game. Permanent character death and sprawling maps as well as a deeply creepy atmosphere all feel very reminiscent of my time providing free bandages and Makarov pistols to absolutely everyone who fired at me in Cherno. In a similar vein it is very tense; the sound design coupled with being shot at by other players can often leave you shell shocked suffering PTSD. Its not for the feint hearted.
Peak Performer
The game performs well too; I have some very negative experiences with some of the games contemporaries as a result of slow CPU issues; details loading in slowly or poor network reception or even jittering in game; things that got me killed unfairly more than once over the years. I accept that some of it was my own fault; however they were all experienced by others. Hunt Showdown however runs very well and is very engaging throughout. If I died it was always my fault.
Powerful PC's will be needed to run it at its highest settings however.
Hiding from the Horrors and War
The game tasks the player with teaming up or soloing into one of two richly detailed and beautiful maps to kill any one of 3 powerful monsters worth lots of experience and in game currency; which will lead to weapons, perks and in general a better character; until your killed and have to start again. There will be as many as 12 players in the map at anyone time; looking to kill said monsters and make off with the bounty; and therefore reward.
In order to find the rewards; clues will lead you to a gradually shrinking area; not restrictive as in other recent games but more for reference; where your prey lurk; but also the other ill fated players wander- so watch your back.
Conclusion
I have scarcely played a shooter more exhilarating and bone-crushingly tense before this; it is a blast for those who like hardcore, risk reward shooters; or even those who are tired of the staples of the genre at the moment- you will absolutely love it.
Oh there are in game purchases too; just in case you happen to be ten years old and want a reason to steal your fathers credit card; you will make his cocaine taking much less convenient... two winners
