Hunt: Showdown takes the title of the sport I get pleasure from probably the most regardless of being dangerous at it. Like most individuals in all probability do, at a sure level, I am going to drop a recreation from my life if the dropping streaks are piling up an excessive amount of and it is not feeling enjoyable anymore. I do not win a lot within the horror-western extraction shooter, however I nonetheless play it lots anyway as a result of I discover it alluring in different methods; the audio design is as immersive and instructive as any recreation I do know; the art work, particularly its character design, is various and charming. It is a no-holds-barred PvPvE recreation that I usually play, even once I’ve come to anticipate failure.
As the sport kicks off its newest occasion, Garden of the Witch, throughout its ongoing seventh-anniversary celebration, I just lately caught up with just a few people from the Hunt: Showdown group at Crytek. This problem ramp was high of thoughts for me, however we touched on another topics too, like that aforementioned audio design being integral to the Hunt expertise, and whether or not we would see Hunt: Showdown in different media, like motion pictures or TV, sometime. (Trace: It appears probably.)
You could find our full chat under, together with ideas on how the group hopes to make Hunt’s studying curve a bit extra manageable with out dropping its signature ruthlessness.
GameSpot: Hunt: Showdown just lately celebrated its seventh anniversary. What have been a few of the recreation’s largest milestones or moments via the years?
Dennis Schwarz, Design Director: A few of the largest moments for the sport have positively been throughout the occasions that we’ve run. One of many first in 2021 was ‘Because the Crow Flies.’ This was the primary occasion the place the neighborhood needed to work to unlock Scrapbeak. This occasion was beloved by each the neighborhood and the event group, and we’ve constructed from there.
One other second that stands out is once we broke our [concurrent users] file in 2023 with the discharge of Rotjaw throughout ‘Tide of Shadows.’ It was a fantastic second for us to see that there was a lot pleasure round a brand new boss/Wild Goal and in addition to see this within the CCU file being damaged was an incredible second for the group!
In fact, extra just lately, we additionally broke this file as soon as once more with the discharge of Hunt: Showdown 1896. This was simply one of the vital pivotal moments for us as we launched CRYENGINE 5.11, the brand new map Mammon’s Gulch, and a bunch of different adjustments. Whereas that launch didn’t go with out some hiccups, the reception we acquired round Mammon’s Gulch was unmatched and one thing we’re nonetheless very happy with.
Hunt’s audiovisual expertise is clearly a focus for the group. Once I play, it looks like all the pieces is so deliberately positioned and necessary to each the setting and surviving in it, and the audio is so instructive. Are you able to discuss concerning the means of discovering and increasing on Hunt’s particular model over time?
Schwarz: We outlined audio as one of many fundamental pillars for our gameplay early on and began prototyping how sound would assist help our core idea of “looking” via gunfire broadcasting throughout your complete map and animals being startled within the distance. Our testers rapidly began increase these psychological maps of what was occurring in a match primarily based on the sounds they heard and the way this affected their planning on the place to go or what to keep away from.
Whereas now we have sure supernatural components within the recreation, Hunt is mostly a grounded recreation outlined by its clunky weapons and limits of the expertise of the period. Each transfer you make produces a sound that dangers making a gift of your place. By embracing this, we managed to deal with a really distinctive soundscape the place creaking picket boards, shattered glass on the bottom or some hanging chains with a bucket might simply spell doom, in case you are not cautious.
A live-service recreation usually adjustments primarily based on participant suggestions. How has the Hunt neighborhood helped reshape the sport over all these years?
Schwarz: Undoubtedly–community suggestions is a big driver for us. One of many fundamental methods we do that is by way of occasion surveys this can provide us actual data-driven perception as to what folks like or didn’t like, what they need to see extra of, and so forth. We additionally pay extraordinarily shut consideration to our key participant hubs on-line like Reddit, Steam, Discord, and so forth.
With this replace, now we have applied adjustments, particularly to recreation stability. We heard from the neighborhood that some weapons/ammo sorts had been unbalanced or modified the sport in methods with which they weren’t happy, so now we have stripped again a few of the selections that led to these complaints. We now have many extra enhancements coming to the sport all year long, equivalent to UI adjustments, that are on the forefront of the neighborhood’s thoughts.
One other good instance was the crosshair, which we applied with our 2.0 replace. Because the starting of Hunt, the crosshair was at all times lowered. Some gamers actually preferred this concerning the recreation, however others had been vocal about it altering. We modified this within the replace to present gamers the choice of getting a centered one or a lowered one.
Are there any points of the sport the neighborhood has been vocal about altering, however Crytek finds them integral and non-negotiable to Hunt’s id? Absolutely the neighborhood for any recreation is not at all times proper, yeah?
Schwarz: There are some issues which now we have applied from neighborhood suggestions however put our personal twist on it to ensure gameplay and the neighborhood’s suggestions had been balanced.
For instance, we had a whole lot of requests from the neighborhood to place a “Roaming Boss” within the recreation since Early Entry, however this idea by no means fairly labored with the Compound Enviornment model of boss fights in Hunt. The compromise we got here up with was Wild Targets, which spawn exterior sure compounds however don’t fairly “roam,” and this was seen first with the discharge of Rotjaw.
Hunt has modified form lots, particularly within the 1896 replace final 12 months. How happy are you with the sport’s onboarding of recent gamers proper now? I discover the sport extraordinarily unforgiving, however I additionally adore it for that. But perhaps some are turned away by this. Do you’re feeling the sport may be very arduous, and if that’s the case, is {that a} “bug” or a characteristic? If you’re nonetheless addressing that, how may gamers anticipate to see it change sooner or later?
Schwarz: Onboarding is an important matter for us. We understand that whereas many gamers fall in love with the sport precisely for the way unforgiving it may be at occasions, there’s a very arduous and generally irritating journey forward for a lot of earlier than they attain that time or give up earlier than.
Transferring ahead, we anticipate to have additional enhancements right here to raised ease new gamers into the sport step-by-step. Hunt, in its core, is a tough recreation. We really feel that is what makes it interesting for a lot of and actually, is predicted of us by our neighborhood. That doesn’t imply we can not make changing into a Veteran Hunter a far smoother and extra fulfilling expertise, nonetheless.
There are much more extraction shooters right this moment than there have been in 2018 when Hunt started, and live-service video games are at all times competing with different live-service video games exterior of their very own style, too. How does the group have a look at the problem of staying profitable nicely into the longer term in such a aggressive area?
Schwarz: We’re assured in our core gameplay loop and the general gameplay expertise Hunt gives via its distinctive setting and options. The aesthetic and world of Hunt is not like anything on the market–and while you start so as to add in our distinctive strategy to sound and music with components like Port Sulphur Band, our devoted in-game band, we provide a particular package deal.
There are a variety of actually fascinating video games on the horizon in fact, however we’re assured about our strengths and what units us aside and proceed to embrace that to maneuver Hunt ahead in the proper path.
In fact, generally that additionally means pausing for a second, reflecting on the previous updates and doing corrections the place wanted. We’re not excellent, however we’re fortunate to have such a devoted neighborhood that give us tons of wonderful suggestions on how they envision the sport to be and assist appropriate the place we would oversteer. In spite of everything, this longstanding relationship with our gamers is what has helped maintain us targeted 12 months after 12 months.
The Backyard of the Witch occasion kicks off right this moment and revamps the weekly problem system. What went into the choice to vary these and the way will they alter how gamers strategy the sport?
Sam Tunnel, Sport Designer: The rationale behind the choice to revamp the weekly problem system was to make the video games extra diverse. We acquired suggestions that the identical weapons and ammo sorts had been getting used each week to finish the challenges and in some weeks there could be half the groups within the match utilizing the identical gadgets as all of them had the identical challenges. By altering this up by giving gamers completely different weekly challenges each week it now implies that gamers can have extra diverse video games and groups received’t be incentivized to make use of the identical gadgets.
When it comes to how it will have an effect on gamers’ strategy to video games, gamers can nonetheless work collectively to finish challenges, as lots of them are open-ended and complimentary (i.e. Participant X can have a problem for “Deal injury with rifles” and Participant Y has a problem for “Deal injury with Frontier 73C”). It’ll require a bit of extra coordination and be sure that gamers ought to encounter much less situations of the identical gadgets of their video games.
This occasion additionally provides extra to the story that is at all times underlying each motion in Hunt. Stay-service storytelling is an fascinating, comparatively new side of video games. How a lot weight does the group give to its overarching mythology? May we see the Hunt storyline come to different media, equivalent to a film, TV sequence, or comedian e book?
Nicollette Kyle Stewart, Lead Narrative Designer: A live-service recreation provides us actually distinctive storytelling alternatives, and it’s one thing we’ll proceed to experiment with. Storytelling is the lifeblood of any fiction world, and a recreation’s depth, immersion, and believability all reside and die by its worldbuilding. All the pieces we put within the game–whether Hunter, weapon, or location–unwinds one other thread of the larger story. You possibly can learn up on a whole lot of the archival Hunt lore on our web site Mythos, and that’s simply the tip of the iceberg.
As for exploring storytelling media exterior of the sport, we’ve already had nice success using our music on this means. Port Sulphur Band–who are each an in-game story aspect and a real-life band made up of Crytek developers–release a brand new single for each occasion, and each track tells one other story from the Hunt universe.
We’re not able to share particulars of different upcoming initiatives, however Hunt’s world and mythos has unbelievable storytelling potential, and you may make sure there will probably be extra to return.