As a casual gamer living in South Africa, there are a few things not to like about Hunt: Showdown. From my personal experience, these issues involve available servers, some gameplay aspects and the colour pallet choices.
Firstly, here a gist of how the game works: Hunt: Showdown places you on one of three maps – either as a solo or with a partner. You must then find three clues whilst encountering a variety of zombies, creatures, and other hunters along the way.
When you find these three clues, they will lead you to a Monster that, when killed, drops a bounty that you need to collect and then escape the map using the extraction points given to you on the map.
Sounds like a great time, but these are the things that bug me when playing the game:
Servers
Naturally, like most online games, there are no South African servers – so at best you’ll be playing with around 150 ping. This becomes a problem when you run into another hunter who likely has better ping than you.
During a gunfight, this results in experiencing hit markers that don’t register or being shot and killed when (on your screen) it seemed you were safe behind cover.
Gameplay
The main reason why gamers play battle royals is for the PvP (Player vs. Player). However, in Hunt, it seems that a lot of your time is spent running around the map finding clues with little to no contact with other players. You spend more time taking care of pesky creatures than fighting other hunters.
As a result of the ping issue, you also then experience some lag. This means that the game visuals aren’t as smooth as they could be, and it makes spotting and fighting other hunters a little harder – especially when your gun already moves as you breath whilst aiming down sights for a more realistic feel.
Colour pallet
The game is set in the late 19th century which means that the maps are very dark and candlelit. You use old rifles, crossbows and revolvers in dingy swops (which can be experienced on one of the maps called “Stillwater Bayou”). The characters’ clothing is also very dark and dirty, which overall results in very frustrating gameplay. Although, some do like this aspect of the game, so its a matter of personal preference.
In some games you can also spend up to 30 minutes collecting clues and killing zombies without another player in sight – only to be headshot from some dark corner (which is most of the map) which then sends you back to the lobby with nothing.
While these issues are annoying, the game does have some positives. Each game is shorter than your average battle royal and the gun designs all look amazing.
The general concept is awesome – if you die in a game, you lose your character and everything he/she was equipped with. The idea and risk of ranking up a character (with better guns, traits, and ammo variations) based on how many games you survived with him/her is also new and different.
With a few tweaks, Hunt has the potential to be a very enjoyable game and one of the best battle royals out there. See below Hunt: Showdown’s official steam trailer:
Read: Shadow of the Colossus – A look at Bluepoint’s PS4 remake
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