The shooter masterpiece Hunt is getting its next big patch and has plenty planned beyond that with new bosses and a new map.
The developers of Hunt: Showdown have revealed their plans for the near and even slightly further future, talking about the big update 1.12 and the roadmap for 2023 and 2024 in two livestream rounds.
We summarise here the key points Crytek is targeting for the exceptional shooter!
Highlights in Update 1.12
The next major content patch, numbered 1.12, is already playable on the Hunt: Showdown test servers and, as usual, should be transferred to the real game soon after the trial run. You can find the complete (video on the Hunt channel), here are the important info in a nutshell:
- Questlines: Hunt now introduces themed series of challenges that you can complete together as a team for the first time, unlocking rewards like new weapon variants. The theme to start is crocodiles, there are also new alligator traps.
- Tutorial Campaign: Fans of The Witcher will recognise the voice immediately: Geralt voice actor Doug Cockle provides the soundtrack for the brand new intro for newcomers, which is set up like a kind of mini-story campaign and is now intended to introduce beginners to the complex mechanics of Hunt much better.
- Wildcard Contracts: In the Hunt menu, you can now choose between standard daytime missions and wildcard weather conditions, such as night, and prepare your loadout accordingly. This means that you are no longer at the mercy of how the map looks and plays.
- Solo Advantages: Competing alone against teams should become a little easier in the future. Hunt is reworking the Necromancer perk so that you can revive yourself once as a solo. Solos will also receive more Hunt dollars by completing objectives.
The update will also contain four new weapon variants, lots of bug fixes, balancing improvements, interface updates, map optimisations and much more. On Steam you can read (the complete patch notes).
Further future plans 2023 & 2024
What will happen in Hunt: Showdown after the big 1.12 update? General Manager David Fifield of Crytek now reveals more. You can watch his whole (video on the Hunt channel), here are his key points on the roadmap:
- Boss type “Wild Targets”: Hunt introduces a whole new type of bosses that are not fixed in certain buildings as before, but roam the map freely as Wild Targets. From summer 2023, the hunt will be open for this new type of bounty!
- New Event Trilogy: In the style of the Moon series from 2021 and 2022, there will once again be a new series of in-game events that are intended to shake up the gameplay. New factions, mechanics and story tidbits will be added to further expand the Hunt lore.
- New Weather Conditions: Since Crytek considers the big Inferno event a success, the team is now working on new map conditions. These can then be played specifically via a wildcard playlist (see Wildcard Contracts above under Update 1.12).
- Shooting Rank: Hunt introduces a shooting rank where you can test certain weapons and loadouts on mannequins at your leisure. Later, a co-op party function with PvP option will also be added there, for example to fight 1v1 duels.
- New Map: Crytek confirms again that they are working on a new map for Hunt. This map should fully benefit from the upgrade to the new version of the CryEngine and represent a completely new biome. The bad news is that the map will not be released until spring 2024.
In five years since its Early Access launch, Hunt has morphed from a niche title into a true shooter heavyweight. The new plans show: Now they don”t want to lose momentum, but take it up another notch!
What do you think of the future plans for Hunt: Showdown? Are you happy about the many announced innovations or are you rather sad that the new map will not be released this year? Write us in the comments.