Hunt: Showdown brings monster horror multiplayer

One of the more surprising and left-field gameplay trailers to come out of E3 2017 has got to be Hunt: Showdown from developer Crytek.

The game is a mix of many different genres, blending survival horror, FPS, co-op multiplayer with some RPG elements. Set in the late 1800’s, you’ll play in online matches that last around 30 minutes or so as a professional monster hunter, contracted to banish the evil beings on the large open map. The catch is, you’ll have to collect the bounty before your opponents who are on the same map.

The gameplay trailer shows Hunt Creative Director Magnus Larbrant and Level Design Director Chris Auty exploring a spooky open world map, avoiding zombie-like creatures, leeches and other nasties on a map that has four other teams of two roaming at the same time. The monsters look varied and fast, with squishy, creepy sound effects adding to the dark atmosphere. When banishing a beast, the map lights up and alerts other players to your whereabouts, highlighting the risk vs. reward element in an environment that has you wary of AI monsters and human-controlled players alike.

Along with looking amazing, the horror atmosphere is really fantastic, and the co-op experience of looking out or each other clearly lends itself well to some intense moments.

Overall, co-op multiplayer fans should be excited for this one, myself included. After some genuinely good attempts that fell flat in the past (Evolve comes to mind, as just one example, and Friday the 13th is already feeling a bit old), this could be just the spin on the genre required to bring it back in a big way.

No release date yet, but hopefully we’ll see it released sometime in 2018. In the meantime, check out Hunt: Showdown’s official website for more information.