Vanilla Hunt Showdown is Dead (and that's a good thing)

Wanted to give my thoughts on the current state of Hunt's live service efforts. Let me know what you think in the comments or drop by a stream sometime!
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[@ToxicPancake88]

As someone who’s also played since launch its rather refreshing to hear this open minded view, agree with you 100% tbh. Great summary!

[@SkullsOnSkulls]

Thank you!

[@Neutron2403]

Same

[@be.a.7462]

It’s refreshing I agree. I just don’t like the alt account popping up constantly

[@stanleyhavok]

Ditto 4k hours since the steam release and played before it hit steam.... my first FPS game I played, and cant stop playing, and i hate fps...... "they weren't cheating, Thats just hunt" P.S.( at least I don't run into Wizzdome or Rachta much anymore! lol

[@PenitusVox]

It also isn't just new people joining the game and community. There are older players that pop in now and then and don't realize things have changed. I killed an Avto fella the other day that was still running the double Sparks pistol build.

[@PjTMC]

Awww bless his/her heart 😂😂

[@aceofdiamonds3342]

I played probably a little over two years ago for a little and didn’t understand much and dropped it. I just started playing again with my friends and I still barely understand what I’m doing lol but I definitely love the game.

[@FlarkeFiasco]

Yup, I'm a returning player from a few years back, the beetle item made me go WHOAAA, WHAAAT, but honestly, the game still felt pretty similar. I was never all that good (somehow I have 3 stars in mmr ranking, but lose a lot of my fights), but I'd say my knowledge still carries over. Only a couple hundred hours in, but it's still an incredible game, and I'm happy to see it didn't die while I was gone

[@PenitusVox]

@@FlarkeFiasco Welcome back! I don't know why they chose it but 3 stars is basically the baseline. You have to go on a truly God awful losing streak to fall to 2 stars and 1 stars are basically only players still in newbie protection.

[@MrEpicbattlefan]

As a Hunt vet and brand new FPS player (as in Hunt being the first and only fps game I played, 4k hours mind you), I fully agree with your take. I, of course, have some salty moments where I'm like "Crytek should do this or that" "Whyyyyyyy", but they don't really stem from the game and more so from people's gameplay. The game is really getting better by the day and every patch feels like the best one yet which is insane if you think about it. Hunt is by no means perfect, but it's not getting worse, thanks for putting your voice out there man !

[@jaleel.4239]

and yet they aint doing something against Ping Abusing Players ( Chinese Players on EU, US Servers) or cheating, or exploits ( consumables) or the fcked up MMR System ( love it to play against a full Six Star Trio as a 5 Star and two 3/4 Star Buddys with me)

[@Minzuu]

buffoon@@jaleel.4239

[@Fenr]

Great vid. Just wish there'd be more downtime between the events, so the normal Hunt didn't feel like such an event itself, like you said. And that they would be faster to fix obvious bugs and balance issues that the lack of time they had to test the event would certainly bring and have brought before. It's easy to start feeling jaded when you have thousands of hours in the game, and a video like this is a great reminder of how great the game is and how good we have it. That's not to say that we shouldn't criticize the game or Crytek.

[@SkullsOnSkulls]

I fully agree with you, staying critical helps us make sure the game keeps its direction. I'm not trying to sound like I'm kissing their butt here, just trying to be real.

[@friendlyplayer92]

Current event is pretty unintrusive in terms of gameplay.

[@PenitusVox]

@@friendlyplayer92 Aside from the fact that everyone camps near the event cart in the middle and don't play the objective. That's pretty frustrating.

[@H22prelude32]

I have 1000 hours in on console and i am a low 5 star with a kd of 1.45. The biggest gripe I have with the game is the the change they made to matchmaking last summer by making the matchmaking less strict, as a result I constantly go up against trios of 6 star players with kd ratios of 3 and higher when matchmaking with randoms. This makes the game a lot more frustrating and has forced me to play a lot less than I used to. This needs to be addressed asap because it is a common sentiment within the community and it has stopped a lot of people that I used to play with years ago from playing the game anymore.

[@houskacmaxkalbovic2159]

As a someone who plays this game since beta, has more than 1.5k hours and plays through most of the MMR brackets (as I play with several different group of friends). I must say that the best decision I did was avoiding ALL of the Hunt community. It always seem like there is something that people will yapp about and seeing posts like ,,IS HUNT: SHOWDWON DEAD ????" twice a week ,while the game still gets bigger and bigger numbers with every update, gets really annoying. The game has its issues but in this era of unplayable AAA games Hunt is far above the market average.

[@SkullsOnSkulls]

This is a chef's kiss of a comment, thank you. I couldn't agree more. Honestly, it's not perfect and I am hella annoyed they aren't going to hotfix this Peacekeeper pact thing and just tell us "naughty naughty, don't do that we'll ban you" but it's a drop in the annoyance bucket for a game that otherwise fills an olympic swimming pool full of the most addictive and satisfying gameplay of my life.

[@vimsi]

since beta and only 1500h? lol :D

[@SkullsOnSkulls]

@@vimsiI have 3k hours now, I made that 1500 hour video a while ago. I also didn't play for most of the first year because my rig couldn't handle the game. I'm also married with a 50+ hr a week and 2 kids so...

[@houskacmaxkalbovic2159]

@@vimsi Yeah I did not had the best PC when HUnt came out so I had to shelf it for a year or so plus , you maybe dont know that, but there are more games than JUST Hunt.

[@Nobody-dl4tm]

Agreed. The "community" is 99% toxic trash.

[@be.a.7462]

The issues I have only is stating these as events as they are seasons…. Each season lasts 2-3 months and they cycle back to the next season whilst an event is something that’s small

[@averagedelta]

The bayou magic is also something I feel like is lacking; sure we have dark sight based traits but there could be more, it has such potential. I have about 500 hours, starting in the middle of the last questline and just cruising from there. I am high 3 star- low 4 and its been a blast so far, there have been some questionable decisions made by crytek so far but there have been announcements of other changes such as to the UI and iirc the tutorial.

[@SkullsOnSkulls]

I think they are quieter about patching and addressing other issues because it's an 'all hands on deck' situation to work on the new UI overhaul / new map / new engine that's all going to drop at the same time. Since that's the case I really think cutting them some slack is totally acceptable. Like I said, not all their decisions are correct, but I think most of them are.

[@KrullKama]

I absolutely love hunt. 4k hours in it’s never the same, the gameplay loop is refreshing, the guns feel like GUNS. And it feels so, good.

[@CryptidFan1812]

first two mins of the video I totally agree, I'm literally terrible at this game i have a .4 kda and bounce between 2-3 stars but i still play almost daily, because I love the atmosphere and the challenge, wins for me are rare but when i win a fight and get the token, its awesome, one of the best video game experiences ever, its like beating dark souls blindfolded while dancing the macarena. Point being I agree wholeheartedly

[@ValerieD]

The community is my favorite part of this game. I’ve met some really wonderful people through this game. As far as the challenges, I love them. I am a PTFO player, and without the challenges, the Objective is do all the murders and take all the bounties. And PVP has always been a struggle for me. So the challenges scratch the itch of completing a goal without it having to be winning the match. And having seemingly endless events makes the rewards for completing challenges more lucrative.

[@DigitalWolverine]

I agree. Giving me something else to do when my friends aren’t on and I just want to be in the world and get some numbers to go up is honestly a good thing for the game. I’ve had some very angry gamers comment on my profile about me taking the bounty and being so offended I didn’t fight them, specifically, or the ones that I do fight accuse me of cheating or ratting or some other dumb thing. But honestly, as long as they’re not sitting and camping my body as a solo, they’re enjoying the game fighting and chasing people around, so that’s good, right?

[@ValerieD]

@@DigitalWolverine exactly! People will get so wrapped up in how you’re “supposed” to play, but everyone has their reasons for how they want to go about it.

[@HuntShowdownLab]

Great take. Love the wholistic perspective you're putting forward. We all get blinding by our own experiences, and it's good to hear you call that out. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I'm sad to say that before I created content, I avoided the reddit and youtube communities. The more I try to keep tabs on those conversations, the more I notice myself falling into a critical mindset. I appreciate the call out. good vid.

[@SkullsOnSkulls]

Wasn't trying to call anyone out, but I'm glad you liked the vid!

[@HuntShowdownLab]

Nah, wasn't meaning to say you were directing it at me at others. I try not to post on my cynisism, but moreso just brought attention to those thoughts.@@SkullsOnSkulls

[@psyantologist]

Reasonable take on the state of the game. The point you made about how game dev works pops up in my head every single time a new skin comes out and the comment section under the trailer for it is littered with "why not fix bugs instead"-kinda comments, as if the 3D character artist would suddenly pick up programming and quit their actual profession (and calling) to fix bugs instead. It's just silly. Plenty of grotesque opinions. Moving targets that make footsteps sounds so new players can practice wallbangs on the Shooting Range might help (if anyone new would ever find those) I'm generally quite happy with how much effort and love gets poured ito the development of this piece of software. It is almost unparalleled. Engine upgrade on the horizon. I rather have three (soon four) maps build with this much thought and attention to detail put into them rather than a dozen maps that are meh. I appreciate when there's a new ladder or wooden board placed in an interesting spot to open up a new way to get some place. One can tell that decision-makers still play the game. It shows. It shines. I dig it :)

[@SkullsOnSkulls]

Being part of the Hunt community has truly showed me just how much people *don't* understand about game development and it kind of bums me out. That said, it's obvious that the people who make the game are extremely passionate about the game and they aren't afraid to keep innovating. Hunt is a quality > quantity title and I'm very happy that has been their mantra from the start and it still seems to be holding strong.

[@SonOFaDuck-se1my]

@@SkullsOnSkulls I am part of hunt and eft community. let me tell ya, its not fun going on either sub reddit, but hunts is waaay less toxic

[@llIjuliIll]

Exactly guys. While I cannot speak for game development in particular I am a programmer myself. I can't stand opinions like "it is hilarious that they are not able to fix that bug, it has to be easy". I know for a fact that some bugs just seem to be on the surface level but reach very deep into the code and are not easily fixed. Or the fix would break other things. Software development is much more complex than these people imagine

[@weaponizedautism3269]

Yeah but that's the thing Even after all these years the game is slow on new content and bugfixes Yet the speed at which new skins/dlc's come is insane They shit out few skins/dlc atleast once a month

[@dogwaer_gaming]

I played about 350 hours ish i like the downtime between events because sometimes i play so much during the events that i burnout on the game and with that "downtime" between events i dont play for a while and when the new event is finally there i am fully ready to be hyped and to ppay

[@SkullsOnSkulls]

Same

[@skinnyvanilla4213]

This is by no means a normal experience for me but yesterday I played solo for the first time ever. I played for nearly 10 hours, didn’t die once and extracted with at least one of the bounties every time sometimes without ever needing to shoot my weapon at all and it was honestly some of the most fun I’ve had in the game. Though I had very few kills it was still very fun playing my own way, defining my own “success”, and “winning” by just playing strategically.

[@SkullsOnSkulls]

That's the nice thing about Hunt, is you kind of get to set your own bar for success. There are plenty of matches we go in and die but we get a solid gunfight in and that feels satisfying enough for me, everything else beyond that is great.

[@skinnyvanilla4213]

@@SkullsOnSkulls I totally agree, I have a friend who tends to rage quit when he gets one shot headshot or dies multiple games in a row, but to me it’s just like…well the other player hit a really good shot…yes it may be frustrating to die so quickly sometimes but it’s also very satisfying to do that to someone else. I’ve had games where we’re in very long fights at the bounty location and we die, but I still had a lot of fun just being in the fight and it makes me want to play game after game. You can say this about really anything, but “losing” in Hunt is also always a lesson: “what could I have done differently?” “what weapon would have been better in that situation?” “should I have pushed earlier?” “Should I have used a tool/equipment in this situation?” Etc.

[@dakotabarrett5585]

Similar to you, bought the game around the first week of beta and have about 4k hours in the game. Content wise I think they've hit a good pace and I'm happy with that. Getting a boss, a map, and an engine upgrade all within a year is pretty solid too. What aggravates me to no end are the bugs and quality of life issues that persist for months on end. Why is it that a major UI bug, or an exploit (like last event you could have dozens of consumables) can not get patched mid season? Why do we have to wait 2-3 months to have our audio in a audio focused game work again? If they have 50 people, it feels like they have 1 guy in charge of bug fixing and he's working part time with a focus on the next Crysis game.

[@trickmiller8169]

The game is fun, but it suffers from a handful of issues that aren't going anywhere. The servers have been dodgey for years and not much has changed. It's common for me and my friends to encounter server issues weekly. Trades often feel horrible. Bugfixes and exploits don't get patched or take years to deal with. I'm talking about things like the infinite ammo glitch, the missing reload, and the ladder exploit. I'd like more options on game modes, but the playerbase is already relatively small for that.

[@SkullsOnSkulls]

Well Crytek's server contract is up soon with their provider and I know they are going a different way, likely this lines up with the engine update but it will definitely happen this year. So here's to hoping some of that changes. In the meantime, the trades don't bother me much, but the people with 280 ping really do...

[@PouncingPandea]

Dont get me wrong Im not 100% on board with some changes made within the last year, but im still overall okay with the game. The biggest problem is that crytek IS NOT transparent. They NEVER post progress on issues, let alone even update their game. Getting some patch notes and an update every 3 months then radio silence is not okay nowadays.

[@Sudz_Art]

Excellent video. Easy to forget sometimes that you can just fire up the game and enjoy yourself, without stressing about everything going on behind the scenes.

[@b-rett614]

100% i think hunt is still so small that people like the drama and the good parts of the community more than the game sometimes

[@notsoanonymousmemes9455]

To be fair, the challenge system can be obnoxious as you are forced to use loadouts and weapons you don't wanna run.

[@sarahteeters]

This was a great video! Your perspective makes a lot of sense. I’m typically someone who skips through videos to get the gist of the topic in the shortest time possible and I watched your video all the way through. I appreciate that your thoughts didn’t trash Crytek but you still provided some feedback on what you feel they could do better.

[@kingkiller_1001]

Well said... Hunt gives be feels that no other game gives 2 things that need reworking imo 1) Trap laying mechanic 2) UI rework

[@Chubzic.]

Personally, with 2k hours, I kinda miss the vanilla hunt, and the breaks between events seem to short for me. However, I appreciate Crytek not putting all the interesting stuff in battlepass to the very end of it (as any other company would do), so it is indeed possible to unlock interesting stuff in just a few days of grinding challenges (irritating, but acceptable). And the Desolations wake must be the most comfortable event of the last 4 because it is... the least eventful? I mean, pledgemarks are not required now, event traits can be obtained right away on any re-sup, while the rest of the game works as usual. Sadge that Crytek managed to screw up event traits again. In the previous event, there were 2 pacts that were equally good for different situations, while here we again have Berserker as a must have perk (because you don't want to die in melee PVP because you hit somebody in an arm with a bayonet) while other's... I didn't even care to remember them. But those are small details about a particular event that can be improved but are not crticial. What is important and critical is that there is certain a new audience coming to the game. Meaning more money for Crytek and more lifetime for our beloved and hated Hunt: Showdown. While the game holds this balance of attracting new people and being hard-to-master difficult and complex PVP shooter, I don't mind. P.S. but dualies should be nerfed >=[

[@SkullsOnSkulls]

I find it intriguing that for you Berserker is a must-have, whereas here I find it to be the weakest option. I agree though that this event has some pros but also some cons compared to last event, I like that you don't have to grab the trait spurs at resupply anymore. Partly because their hitboxes were wonky and stupid and half the time I'd grab the wrong one if I was in a hurry. I think they should just add restoration to the trait menu as a burn trait for 10 points. It's such a positive game changer but having it rely on farming meatheads or looking in every nook and cranny makes it almost pointless. I also agree on dualies, the RNG's tendency to lean towards "headshot from 90m" is feelsbadman.JPG

[@CyberianFaux]

As someone who has played Hunt on launch and stopped playing for years before coming back, I have to hard disagree on the event grinding. Some weeks I can play multiple times per day (I usually play 2-3 matches at a time before I am super done with playing for a while) and others I can't bring myself to launch it at all. The problem is with the way the challenges progress the events as some weeks you play way more than enough to complete the week and others you can't bring yourself to touch the game. Towards the events ending, you have to no life the game for the last 20 levels, get burned out on the game, and then be ready to start playing and grinding again within that same month or so. Also, this most recent event doubled the requirements of most challenges to complete. It is exhausting/fatiguing.

[@downunderdudes5227]

I’m 4.6k hours into hunt. I play exclusively in OCE and it can be hard to get full games outside of peak hour (evenings) and the events are great. It’s rare to get quick ques. OCE is a very shallow pond with a lot of big fish. You see the same names of fellow veterans multiple times a night. I love the Hunt. I see with its rise in popularity that the overwhelming majority of veterans that you encounter have x hair over lay running parallel to the hours they have in hunt. I don’t think x hair is that strong. I play with people that use it and they still miss and die like the rest of us. What’s frustrating is with 4.6k hours into this game, I know what shots are feasible and with the re shade work arounds and Asian kd farmers rampant in the quiet corners of our servers taking up space it’s hard to stay optimistic. I love the game. I’m not bored of the game. I’m bored of how people play it. Remove KDA and stars. Put it in a ranked mode. Give us a bounty hunt where you can just get wild with it. Because if you are dying to long ammo through fog at 150 meters. It’s always the same 6* hidden stats reshade enjoyer that’s wasting your time after you’ve wiped the server prior to them. Great video mate. I’m really pleased with the slower cautious steps the devs are adding. And thank fuck they addressed the peace keeper pact exploit. The amount of kda event farmers we encounter through spectate or cunning tracking are doubled. And I’ve made videos on it. Bit of a rant. Keep up the good work.

[@SkullsOnSkulls]

Respect. Thanks for the comment, and I feel your pain with some of the cross-region players. I'm also pissed about them being like "we know about the peacekeeper exploit, just don't do it" and not hotfixing the game. The only excuse I can give them is everyone is busting balls for the engine update that will also include a new UI, new map, new boss. Fingers crossed. I really hope they do something about the regions though, I have a lot of EU friends that experience similar issues.

[@Notsram77]

I've been away from the game, focusing my free time on creative projects for about 6 months now. Your video is the closest I've come to wanting to return. It's a great game, but it's not a healthy game for me (at the moment). I am glad to see it getting love!

[@SkullsOnSkulls]

It will still be here when you get back. Always take time out for yourself, the payoff is always worth it!

[@wojakthegreat6042]

3 days in and loving this game, the gunplay is clean and accurate, movement is a little rough around the edges but has enough room for "skill expression", plenty of outplay potential with all the different weapons and throwables and the crazy map good map design, not sure why i didn't give this game a go earlier. Not a fan of hunter/killer games at all and think i originally wrote this off as one of them. Really do hope it continues to grow and improve, its funny how life comes full circle, im 25 now and my first PC game ever was far cry, now i am thinking about making hunt my main game. nice video - good comment and watched it all so hopefully the algo keeps hitting u up.

[@SkullsOnSkulls]

Thanks! Glad you're enjoying your time in Hunt.

[@choccie_chip685]

3k hours here. I consider Hunt a proof-of-concept for a much longer lifespan game. The amount of 'failed directions' such as trials, book of monsters and quests are a symptom of their CI/CD (Continuous Iteration, Continuous Deployment). Yes, this approach uses the current player base as guinea pigs to collect data, but that enables the game to consistently get better which in turns keeps newer players continuing to play. I predict this game will be huge and last decades, they will continue making it better. If you spend too much time in forums and Discord servers listening to the opinions of the types of people who spend too much time in those places, you'll get a negatively exaggerated perspective on any topic imo.

[@frajecz]

My opinion on Hunt as a whole will probably be determined by how the engine update turns out. I have over 1000 hours in total and I've been playing since the Assassin update in beta. I've been a bit salty for some time already regarding Crytek's policy on not hotfixing even the most significant bugs mid-event atm, but I'm willing to cut them some slack, because they may just be extra careful due to the current engine's "unwillingness to cooperate" when it comes to patches, meaning you plug one hole and three others pop up elsewhere. If this policy remains even with the new engine, that would be inexcusable IMHO. The last 4-6 or so last events/seasons have been almost identical in gameplay mechanics (pledge marks), with too little downtime. And when it comes to gameplay mechanics, we've been getting possibly the first case of power creep ever, which is basically adding every custom ammo to every gun (Centennial Dumdum and HV being a good example), but this I consider to be still just a minor issue, thankfully.

[@SkullsOnSkulls]

You're not wrong.

[@mavbyte2454]

After almost 4.000 hours i actually quit Hunt for now, since i got tired of all the events. I was there when the very first event hit (Halloween 2020) and i had lots of fun. But i never "needed" the events to play and have fun, but when an event happened, i got it all, got all the skins and stuff.. but with the desolation-event series, Hunt was wearing my out, since i kinda felt oblidged to do the event and it started to feel more like work, since i am hyper focused on completing all the event stuff. What i was hoping for since the first desolation event was, that Crytek would give us some more time in between, not just 2-4 weeks. On top of that, some changes that were made i found to be higly questionable, like with the whole necro solo-revive thing, or the red skull revive. It propably was all just to "accomodate a wider audience" or in other words, to make more money. (Btw.: Bigger playernumbers doesn't equal "better" - me, personally, i'd prefer quality over quantity. And in my personal opinion, the quality of players [and the hunt-community in general] has decreased over time [and i don't mean in skill, but in overall attitude - i remember the community to be friendlier and there also some sort of codex not to "instaburn" downed players, which was hated and considered dishonorable.) To me, Hunt did hold a very special place, since it was NOT for your everybody average CoD-roflcopter-kiddie. If you were too loud, you died, when you were red-skulled, you're out. And that's then your own fault. So Hunt was not just an extraction shooter, but a hardcore one on top. And this hardcore aspect vanished over time. From a company perspective i can fully understand it. A company wants to make money, and they won't care if older players like me will quit, but that doesn't mean that my opinion is of no value at all. Maybe not for Crytel, but for other players like me. And that's something in the games industry in general that spreads like.. "a sickness" (can't find a better phrasing, i'm sorry): Games "have to" accomodate a wide audience. Even when it was originally a niche-game with a niche-community who made the game famous, its those niche-players who are driven away by the same developers. Which just makes me sad. (I'm sorry. i'm a little frustrated here. i might misphrase some things, and i don't want to be overly negative. There surely are a lot of players out there who like the "new" Hunt, but me as a veteran will quit for now. And actually.. i don't expect people to understand what i'm talking about. :/ ) So Long Dead Men.

[@marcosensi730]

Hey man, I feel you. I also think that this whole 'solo + necro' business is game-breaking. Plus yes, making it harder to be red-skulled does not make the game better / more fun. I mean just think about how the whole choke bomb meta changed, I often miss the good old days, as I really feel like hunt fights are getting longer and more diluted and with that we are losing our "Showdowns". I used to love the pre-battlepass Hunt, where you had no challenges, and I could Just do whatever. Don't get me wrong, of course I can still do that, but I really do not love daily/weekly/monthly assignments. Not in videogames.

[@joojoo2257]

i have over 5k hrs i think the events are to long but i am glad Crytek keeps making positive changes i think the game has become more fun because of it

[@carlj1620]

2200 hours 3/4 star hunter.I’ve been on a break for about two months now. I will return when the new map and engine up date drops in April. Enjoying Lies of P atm

[@mooreno6378]

Something I wish I'll see some day is old Hunt. I love how it looks like now, but the atmosphere of the good old Hunt is so amazing. Maybe some day I'll feel it once more as a new event.

[@bobzthabarbarian]

Im not sure how long you've been playing, but could it be you're more used to the game? I been playing since '20 on console and can tell a difference in the game but, i just assumed it was because I've sunk a few thousand hours into the game. I do know that the very early days was a different beast tho.

[@TheLunarGrey]

im new to hunt but i have friends helping me learn one who is a veteran and one who used to play a lot but hadent for a while till recently and honestly its been a dream. its very clear i have a lot to learn but they have been helping with the basics a lot and i been kinda figuring out a good chunk on my own too cus they both forget to tell me things. i do think this will be a game i pick up and run its honestly a gem.

[@sevarktic]

TL;DR: SkullsOnSkulls says that the events are the new normal, are becoming more consistent in quality, and are consistently bringing in new players. I agree with all this, but I think the video does not answer the question of whether or not the events are *healthy* for the gameplay identity, an identity which has helped keep Hunt separate, unique, and valuable in comparison to other multiplayer shooters since it's release. I firmly believe that one of Hunt's strongest elements is how unwavering Crytek's been on certain gameplay "rules", such as: no additions allow increases to player movement speed, all player movement should be telegraphed, damage dealt against players should be relatively difficult to heal off in comparison to other multiplayer shooters on the market, all "affordable" weapons need 2 shots to kill to the chest when used ideally, player movement should be predictable, legendary skins have to make sense with the setting, players should always have the option to stealth against one another when no bounty token is present on either team, sound traps should affect players and add to player movement telegraphing, etc.. Crytek has done a wonderful job thus far with the game, but I'm not as much a fan of the events as I'd like to be because Crytek seems to be more willing to add specifically Perks or Pacts that break some of the core gameplay rules that I find integral to the game's identity (IE: Infernal Pact's wholesale counter of burn, bleed, and full HP back on kill from two events ago; the solo teleport from last event; the Instinct perk from a while back; current Primal Pact's immunity to animal sound traps and Lawful Pact's HP back on body loot, etc.). As a player who's been present in the bayou consistently since the crouch spam exploit fix some odd years ago, I think it's a good idea to examine whether or not having the game constantly in "PTR Mode" is *HEALTHY* for the core gameplay identity of Hunt. If the "New Hunt" is going to be more consistently in PTR Mode with the new events, only for the PTR addition that was included during an event to be added to the game later in a more healthy way which is more in-line with Hunt's gameplay rules, this more or less implies that the game will more constantly have one or more of it's core gameplay rules broken every new event; meaning the game, because of the new event schedule and the "events are just the PTR" mindset, will have some element of it's core identity broken AT ALL TIMES. I find that the events unfortunately create this cycle of, "Well, Hunt will return to normal with the next event", only for the next event to break another rule, only for the event after that to break another rule, only for the event after that to break another rule; and the cycle continues. Thus, my main issue with the events and the "PTR Events" mindset, is that I can now bank on some major aspect of the game's design rules being wildly changed or different every 2-3 months, and thus Hunt recently has failed to do what it has had a massive amount of success doing up until now, which has been *remaining true to itself*, despite being in a market where developers seem constantly aching to add the next most powerful thing, or add mechanics that just seem cool without questioning if they belong in more than just aesthetic (IE: Apex Legends, R6 Siege, etc.). I love how much healthy content is added to the game with the events with the new skins, weapons, weather patterns, new perks, soundtrack additions, new development ROI boosters, but it is unfortunate now with the new events, that it is all but assumed that there will also always be some new aspect to the game that goes against what made the game originally so special.

[@SkullsOnSkulls]

GREAT thoughts. I'm going to respond to some of these things you brought up in my follow up video. The TLDR for now though is I think the events are a double edged sword and if they just keep copy/pasting them I think it's going to veer toward the side of detrimental.

[@Nydaxe]

The new engine update and complete UI rehaul is a real sign that you were right that hunt is in the right direction

[@DRPatrikVA]

Really enjoyed this commentary on Hunt. I think conversations like these are important to have, where the community shares the positives and sees the continuous improvement to the game, rather than just complaining about the things currently bugged, broken or otherwise negatively impactful. I agree with pretty much everything said in the video, so much so that I had to share it. Haven't felt the need to share a video in years... 🤣 The only thing I'd like to see moving forward when it comes to events are fixes to some event traits, mechanics etc. during the event itself, rather than fixing them in the next iteration when those things appear. I think that would keep the events themselves fresh.

[@m00n73]

I started playing the game and purchased it in the winter sale last year, with my friend. I'm in no way an experienced player, I have around 60 hours in the game, and have to say, I've been enjoying my time with this game more than I've enjoyed playing a lot of multiplayer games lately! I really don't get where the hate is coming from, it seems nitpicky to me. We also groped another one of our friends to play the game recently, and he's in love with it too. Aside from the servers, I really can't think of a criticism for the game, it's just a good time haha.

[@huntercharon]

I have about 700 hours of gameplay, purchased in 2020 but have been very active since 2022. I bought this game for one friend, who bought this game for another mutual friend... I now have 6 other friends who regularly play and this video summarizes everything that needs to be said to players who purchase the game in 2024. I'm teaching my friends how to play every day, and every day I feel like I'm still learning something new. I love Hunt: Showdown, even the days where it feels like I'm the worst the player in the world. I love seeing new players in the bayou. The future of Hunt is bright

[@Just-Muzz_]

Totally agree with you Skulls, Only been playing from 2022 "750 hours on steam" at the start horrible never did research so got killed a lot but when I finally got my first I was over the moon happy about it never did I have to fight so hard for 1 shot. I stopped playing all the main stream shot ups a decade ago because it was nothing new and remakes of remakes " Activision, E.A, Epic" I can go on. Then I came across Hunt and never looked back, So difficult but so enjoyable if you do get the extract with a few great gun fights all the way. Hope this game stays around another 5 years.

[@modernoverman]

As someone who'a been playing for 4 years (2500 hours), and couldn't disagree more. It's Crytek's consitent need for new players that is taking the game in a bad direction. The reason why vanilla Hunt seems dead is because all those new players think the game cant be exciting without an event going on. The events arent real content updates, just battle passes for an excuse to earn more money from players. Plus, all the new "additions" take away from playing the objective or improving skill.

[@weaponizedautism3269]

Talking like 3 years back players at high mmr weren't just going for kills instead of objectives 😂 They literally just added new objective last event with great rewards, every time i go there, there's always somebody

[@bigus]

as someone who played hunt since the beginning, they have consistently lowered the skill ceiling so new players wont cry about it being too hard....it used to be people with less than 500-1k hours were still hunt babies/novices....with all the changes to things like quickswap, animation locking, buffing compact ammo, lowering weapon sway etc...the skill ceiling is in the dumpster....anyone with 20-30 hours and literally any prior fps experience can easily perform at veteran level with the exception of maybe some map knowledge...these changes have made the gun play exceedingly clunky compared to how it used to be, and just enforced an more campy stealthy playstyle since now there is basically a governor on how skillful a person can be....animation locking, reload delays and and the like make the game more about positioning and tactics/camping rather than skill....its now far more about hunt than about the showdown, and as fewer playstyles are able to be represented, the game has become more 1 dimensional....more about skins and gimicks and less about quality, balanced and dynamic gunplay....its more of a random crap shoot now and far less rewarding of a game which is why so many OG hunt players have either left or hardly play anymore. this game was my passion and at one point the best game id ever played....but the devs have consistently made poor choice after poor choice and now its just a wildwest zombie call of duty with much more bugs and way clunkier/crappier gunplay....the bugs can be excused and overlooked, but the fact that they refuse to region lock, get some legitimate anticheat programs, and basically attempt to maintain a level playing field in a pvp centered fps game makes the current state of hunt complete garbage. the only thing going for hunt is the atmosphere and base idea of the game which is second to none....but the developers themselves have no clue how to balance and better the game....they just blindly stumble around in the dark making 1 poor choice after another....sorry, i know you are trying to keep the dream alive, but they have trashed this game....there is still fun to be had, but it can never be legitimately competitive skillwise anymore with the direction they have taken....its just and casual looter/shooter now jist like every other game with battlepass no point in taking it serious, just for fun and maybe a few laughs...the only people who think they are good at this game now are the newbies who manage to randomly kill veteral players who force watch their revolver spin the drum or be frozen in animations while getting rushed with a 1 shot melee or the 3rd party dumdum tribe who knows recovery is almost impossible now if they all just rush 😂😂😂

[@weaponizedautism3269]

@@bigus That´s a lot of words for something that can be written if few "I suck dick at the game and can´t hit shots"

[@weaponizedautism3269]

@@bigus I just stopped reading halfway through because most of what you wrote is just bullshit "buffing compact ammo" There´s no way you cry about crytek making useless gun actually good Compact ammo was actually so useless back then "zombie call of duty" Yes,i also remeber slide killing some hunters only to call airstrike on his friend I mean cmon,this is such a retarded comparision "lowered the skill ceiling" They lowered skill floor,that´s very different thing "anyone with 20-30 hours and literally any prior fps experience can easily perform at veteran level" And here is the prime example that you have no clue what ur talking about Because there´s no fucking way player that has never played fps and has only like 20 hours in hunt can play against 5/6 star players unless they´re lobotomized

[@ieajackson5518]

Just hit 500h. This issue with events in my eye is mainly A: often updates are slow to come out during events likely because they are working on the NEXT event, And B: they prey on FOMO because you can never get those skins ever again. I really like the gold skins this event, but I simply don’t want to grind it atm. I’m forcing myself because I KNOW I will regret not getting the skins now, and thus I HAVE to get them now or they are gone forever. That feels kinda sucky, I won’t lie. I absolutely love this game, and I’m getting back into the groove now I’m playing and having fun again, but sometimes it’s more dread inducing than exciting to hear another event since they change the game so much from what I fell in love with and mean even more stuff to grind. Especially since they made the challenges harder this patch, it’s taking me much longer than before. I’ll stick with the game, because there is nothing like it on the market. Sure as shit no shooters I can enjoy anywhere close to the levels I do with hunt. But sometimes the grind gets a little too much. (Plus, some silly changes that sometimes come along with the patches. Retirement for instance is confusing, but not game breaking at all. Just makes it a little more frustrating lol.) Ps: beetle/dolch fmj/flare pistol ruined the game, boycott Crytek fr

[@psyantologist]

as pointed out in the video, going through the event pass is not that grindy if you do the weekly challenges. team mates actions contribute to your challenge progress as well i could do with less (semi-)automatic guns in the game. happily would. i do not follow your point about the beetle though. flare pistols were a joke before; now they're useful. maybe they overdid it. still, burning was a thing before and it's good that it's in the game. i hated the flare pistol insta-burn the first dozen times it happened to me. now i carry a flare pistol

[@SkullsOnSkulls]

Two things about the grind are: 1, it's optional, you can still get all the new weapons in the game without ever playing the event, you just get them earlier. 2, the weekly challenges make the event an absolute breeze, just stop playing once you get your 30 points for the week and you absolutely cannot fail in completing it.

[@shoelessbandit1581]

​@@psyantologist yeah there's been a lot of bad changes (levering, duel wielding, custom ammo, flare gun changes) but the beetle isn't one of them love those little guys

[@AdventureThroughLife]

Agreed. The FOMO is real. Last season I didn't like the skins enough to actively grind it out but just played regularly, so I only got the free unlocks. But it does really make you spend a bit more time on the game than you actually want to.

[@ieajackson5518]

@@psyantologist the beetle point was a joke.

[@mq2142]

Really interesting Video, I (as a relatively new player with just about 200 hours of playtime) feel like the community really splits when it is about balancing certain things. You always hear the newer player say: ''but it feels like this/that'' and then there is the veteran going: ''ok, but look at the stats'' or ''I as an eperienced palyer KNOW how it has to be'' The game seems to have had trouble gaining players in the past, because it is so hard to pick up and absokutely impossible to get good without watching content creators, to an extend where once Crytek ads things to make the game more noob friendly, all the good players with thousands and thousands of hours come and complain about how the devs only care about getting fast money with new people trying the game while simultaniusly complaining about how the playerbase isn't growning. I would like to know your opinion on that, so correct me if I'm wrong.

[@carsacnurao2710]

you touched one very important point about the critic some people with thousands of hours give: They are not looking from a "normal" perspective. And your absolutley right about your asumptions. thanks for saying that!

[@AlwaysSaucedd]

Been playing on and off for I guess a few years now (whoa) and I love this game. I like to think of it as a “before special ammo” hunt and “after special ammo” hunt. Completely different games but still amazing at its core. Every time I come back to the game there’s more weapons, variants, and special ammo to mess with. Even with a “troll” setup I can jump in with friends and have so many laughs, thrills, and disappointments and love it all! Nice video man.

[@SkullsOnSkulls]

This is honestly a really good way of looking at Hunt's two major "eras" I'd say. Pre and post special ammo. It definitely has changed the game quite a lot.

[@gordonbohley2237]

Been playing since November 2019, 2800hrs. Still in love with this gem!

[@stormadinn]

Great video and insights into where hunt is right now. I agree the events have brought some good variables in the game with different types of traits and pulling people in but, to me it seems they just pop these out one after another to keep their player base up until the new engine comes out. This can be frustrating when it seems like they focus on this vs. the foundational bugs of the game that we all complain about all the time. Hit Reg, Desync, The 'BETA' dmg report when killed, and not a lower enough ping cap, and more. To me they either can't fix these things with current engine or maybe can in new engine but, they don't communicate anything to the community on the foundation of the game and i've been in hunt for 5yrs and many thousands of hours. One thing hunt can do for a player is making new lifelong friends and many good memories of fun. Thanks for making the video!

[@Gnarwolf]

Personally , the events do nothing for me. I’ve been playing this game since launch in EA, and like you said there’s no game like Hunt, but the game has gotten really stale for me. Events don’t do enough to change the gameplay. Every match seems to be more and more predictable. Even with weekly challenges, I’m still seeing the same load outs and the same strategies being used over and over. 3s mode is a joke , you maybe have one good fight before the other 2 teams have been killed or extract with a bounty because no one runs the gauntlet anymore. I love this game , but it needs some new game mode or something.

[@absolutefloof4823]

As a gamedev, i love this video. It touches a lot of issues people dont often realise especially the small development size of the game. It takes a while to get content because it takes a while to make! I may not work on hunt but i know why it's so slow sometimes. I hope trials comes back in some way. A horde mode would be really fun, but the lack of other modes is both bane and benefit. I think two pvp modes is enough with the small playercount but for pve enjoyers, and casuals, they could really benefit from something to attract those players, espec during off seasons where playercount is so dreadfully low.

[@coreyhutchinson4033]

Everything aspect about what my buddies and i talk about we would like to see always seems to come on the next patch or on the roadmap. I am happy with the development so far. If the lore delivery was like the trailers it would be epic.

[@limonero8757]

I'm relatively new to Hunt. I've played for 850 hours since I bought the game three weeks before the Tide trilogy started. I started with a "honeymoon" phase, in which I was completely enamored by the atmosphere, gunplay and sound design Hunt had to offer. As time passed, I started noticing the many flaws this game has and it became more and more frustrating and some of Crytek's decisions I simply did not understand, like the ultrabuffed flare gun and the overwhelming ammount of special ammo they've been adding to the game. But even with these flaws, I still don't get why the community complains so much. Sure, there are some event thingies that completely change the game for the worse, like the infernal pact, which was definitely not tested at all; but most event features were well thought and served as "sneak peeks" for future new content.

[@eduardolp9329]

I completelly agree with your view! They are not afraid of testing things out, and we are enjoying their ride as test subjects on events, i'm glad Hunt is where it is right now, and i hope the new engine update is gonna bring us a lot of new good stuff and new players as shooting targets.

[@bassplayer2011ify]

I'm new to Hunt and I love it. Because the time to kill is so short it forces you to think outside the box. Is it worth taking the shot? What is my escape route? I can I end the fight fast? What are the chances of another player or team showing up mid fight? The list goes on and on. It's not just another shooter where the person with the most time/money and best load out always wins. Any one can join and start popping heads of players who have 100s or 1000s of hours of play.

[@SkullsOnSkulls]

Exactly!

[@HarumiYu]

Incredible points of view and open minded, I bought the game back in december 2019 or something, I played a few times but did not enjoyed the game back then, stopped for a while and came back in middle 2020, and went back and forth since then, I have around 3k and something hours into the game, and one thing I like to do is not to seek other people's opinions, so I am able to see what is in front of me, I keep playing the game, I have fun doing it. But, things are not all flowers of course, few things bothers me, specifically in this event, for some reason people are playing way too passive and camping, not the normal bang bang that I had a few months or years prior, like, legit people are stuck in the bushes doing nothing, 5-6* lobbies looking dead silence for almost 30 minutes. Another thing, sadly the thing to remove shadows and reshade (yes, you can still use it but have another brand) and to play the game in potato graphics with outside configuration, to be able to see everything still in the game, and I have seen a lot of people abusing it, specifically people from clans, on top of that I do not know if increased the cheaters number or what, but for the first time since 2019, I was really able to tell if someone was cheating back to back in 3 matches in a row, had always one guy (not the same person) shooting throught walls and instant HS, with his KD being around the 20.0 range. And the BloodBond changes year prior was not my cup of tea, because you were able to get BBs just fine, now you need to do every single challenge for months, without losing a streak, to get what you were able to get with everything else that gave the same amount, and when you play a lot, you play a lot, so it was kinda of a bonus for whom played a lot of games, now is kinda locked behind weeklies, they threw everything behind the weeklies for the BBs. Besides those points, I have fun playing this game, it is frustrating when I face cheaters or "dead matches" because everybody is camping and not wanting to move a finger, but besides that, the game is really unique and cool to play, I love the gun play of this game, and how immersive, the sounds are incredible as well and as long as I am having fun, like I did all those years, I will keep playing, and when I am tired, I just stop and come back in a few days, weeks, months, who knows, when I feel like it like I did before.

[@t00nbink]

As someone who started playing the game like 5 months ago (currently have around 250 hours) during an event, I prefer the events over vanilla hunt. This is mainly because I like the macro gameplay loop more of collecting event points and progressing the battle pass. I never experienced quest lines (they should probably just remove them from the UI at this point) but I think they should have a different type of progression gameplay loop to work towards in between events that aren't just challenges, then I would like vanilla hunt a lot more.

[@najahadeath7391]

300+ hours into the game, 3 star hunter (I'm not trying hard, 3 stars is my confort pace.) in Europe(fast queue, high skilled people)/Russian Server(fast queue, i find it more chill compared to Europe, but maybe it's just luck). What to say about the state of the actual game ? From my perspective, it's painfull.. I like the game, and i play it regularly now, but i'm quite concerned for new people who come into this game because of the state of the community. I will not enter into the territory of this is riddled with cheaters, I rarely find any at my rank, but their reputation makes the game hard for the low rank pool for another reason on top of the one you mention in my opinion. The game in this state is quite divided into two pools, no matter what we say. 1, 2 and 3 stars are in a pool for matchmaking, and 4,5 and 6 in another (they do mix from time to time, but it's quite rare). People that are confirmed hunters, veterans if you will, derank on purpose to get into the first pool because of the higher rank difficulty or cheaters (when they find some), and there, wreak havoc upon those who, like you said, are already struggling with mecanics that are hard to learn and even more difficult to master. In a matter, it's quite similar to what happened to Dota 2 (And a lot of other games with high skill ceiling), there is only people that mastered the game, and newcomers, and those masters kick the hell of the new community. Only a batch of people who have the patience to endure the early stage pain or learn quickly can adapt to this environement, and even if i'm not concerned, I feel kinda sorry for them. The only impact it has on me personnaly is that one of my friend won't play the game anymore (He's not as patient as me with those people with a far superior skill that obliterate entire games.). It's painful because between those time where i play alone, i think of people who pay to play this game and launch their first game to get surrounded by 8 puss and boots big bad wolves that shred them appart. The game is extremely fun, events add the little bit of spice to make the thing turn, but in this state, i can't recommend it to anyone but people who can endure such stressful entrance. I sincerely think there is something to do about this deranking situation and cheating assumption. Like why not opening a upper pool from 7 to 9 stars (or beginner pool from -1 to -3 only accessible from the start) ? If there are cheaters, they would be stranded farther, allowing the veterans to go to their rightful place instead of humiliating people who don't need that. I know people are gonna say Git Gud to newbies, probably some veterans, it's bound to happen, but those moments are there to remind us that we didn't had such difficulty when we began our journey (I coun't myself in early stages of the game, even though i played occasionally, leading to my number of hour played.), so, maybe neither should they ? Dividing peoples in PBE is not a good idea, but people need to be divided for this phenomena to dissapear. I know it doesn't need to dissapear for the game to keep running, i only find it's a waste of good potential for every newcomers that prematurely leave because they couldn't acquire the taste for it.

[@Ian-lm5ep]

I agree. I'm 1 years in and lo e the game. Don't have friends to play with mainly solo and I felt the pain. Good days when my son plays with me but the rest is so hard. 3 star but feel the deranking a lot... it's an amazing game and atmosphere but so stressful I fear losing my hunters and gear. The new system for amazing free or cheap hunters was a God send but I still have too much money for that....mainly wins from my son... but I heard they will be nerfing those good hunters and I'm back to stress

[@MuffinMan2860]

I think it's worth mentioning, those bugs that you said were gone, definitely still exist. I have on multiple occasions gotten the necro bug and the perma poison bug etc. Those things don't ruin the game for me. The incredibly slow, campy, hide and wait for others to peek gameplay that the higher star lobbies have make for an overwhelmingly negative experience for me. Nobody owes me a playstyle and the way that the game is played at 5-6 star is the smarter more safe way to play the game. It just isn't conducive to the experience I want or used to have in hunt.

[@Eugene24820]

As someone who has started this game in 2021 and now has around 200 hours, my honest opinion of Hunt is based on another game that I play a lot of and would argue that is adjacent to in terms of gameplay and community, Escape From Tarkov. Tarkov's dev's are notoriously known to have made somewhat of a buggy mess that's unfun to play. However, to me, I do think that Crytek when compared to the overall gaming community as a precedence, is actually doing amazingly well for what the game is and what they've provided. My thoughts are that Crytek being able to offer a gameplay loop that is consistent, interesting and well developed is one that stands out when some games struggle with server issues but not Crytek. I do think that the battlepass is something that some players will find hard to consider valuable as I genuinely believe that the average community often goes through not even the first 20 levels of the battlepass before they either get bored of the game or the event has usually already ended. I love Hunt, it's vibe, and what Hunt is supposed to be brings me joy as I run through the bayou terrorizing its players immersed by its sounds and soundtrack. (The new event theme is actually one of my favorites currently) However, I digress and think that Hunt does cater a lot more towards its matured audience as opposed to its new one, and it's one of the reasons why people find it so hard to come in. The constant rotation of new events doesn't exactly hold your hand and it can make things extremely confusing and hard to pick up. Vanilla Hunt still has a place honestly, and its place is for those new players.

[@SkullsOnSkulls]

I agree that the Hunt events introduce a lot of new gameplay elements that are intended for veterans moreso than newcomers. They bring in newcomers but Hunt's learning curve is already so steep that I can see the event tipping them over the edge of feeling overwhelmed. You've got a good point there. As for Tarkov, I understand the similarities people draw to it with Hunt but I believe the games are actually very different, not only in tone but overall what the game tries to encapsulate. Tarkov is much higher risk/reward but the environment is bland and goes for "hyper realism" whereas Hunt is the exact opposite. Not here to debate you though, you made some salient points. Thanks for the comment, made me think a little about events as a whole when it comes to new blood in the bayou. Cheers!

[@KIEZ117]

I love hunt . I love everything about it . I only hate that my weapon is idk . It feels like i aim with the bottom of my screen

[@IShallCallHimTaders]

"I've been playing hunt showdown almost daily for the past 4 years" Well that explains why 4 stars are filled with players with 4000 hours, headshotting everyone like they are 6 star smurfs. Some people conflate this as "Time shouldn't matter with mmr." But honestly experience and muscle memory play a huge part in this game, and should honestly prevent players from dropping into 3 stars again once they've passed 2,000 hours in hunt.

[@SkullsOnSkulls]

Time does not equate to skill, I am a solid 4 star (sometimes 5, sometimes 3) Hunter who rarely headshots, never runs scopes, refuses to camp in bushes like a dirtbag, etc. I'm pushing 40, my reflexes can't even compete with some people but I do play a lot because I enjoy the game tremendously but I'd not call myself a smurf by any means. 🤣

[@FlarkeFiasco]

Great video. You seem really nice and down to earth, and your values of perspective and fairness come through in spades

[@KarmicalTV]

W video !!! I have been wanting to come back to Hunt for the longest time

[@Elnnos97]

I remember my first play after buying this game, it was scary, there were lots of stimulus from the game; the sounds, enemies, and the map but it was fun and I was happy even though we failed. It was a random duo queue and I didnt know what to do when real players are shooting at me and I can barely see them through the woods, I was running around and hiding trying not to get in the way of my random duo, and yet he wasnt screaming at me for being useless he even asked me if I was okay. I fell in love with this game because it's unique and the community is nice. After playing some more games, I tried to watch psychoghost's tips and got the gist of the game. I was still 50+hrs in the game and I was wiping duo's on my own, but sadly I only got 100+hrs on the game and I havent played Hunt for 3years now because of college and I wish I can comeback playing soon and have the same fun as I did before.

[@muffinman2143]

Players not understanding game development is honestly one of my biggest issues with the community. I've seen so many people harping on the wrong things or complaining about the balance, and then saying that "the devs are all 3 stars and if they were as good as me they would never have implimented this" and it fucking boils my blood every time. I've had problems with crytek's balance decisions before, but always from the perspective of game design and balance, never from personal preference or because it directly affected me. The amount of people who think that they understand game balance because they're good at the game or have a lot of hours in it is juat frustrating, and it's nothing new, professional players on games have dogshit takes all the time, but people talking confidently about things they really have no understanding of is just always frustrating, and I've seen way too much of it in the Hunt community recently

[@SkullsOnSkulls]

Preach! I think "people not understanding gamedev" stretches far and wide beyond Hunt for sure. Personally I'm a tabletop game designer, have been for about 12 years now, even got published by Wizards of the Coast for official D&D material and really so many people engage with games and sling these armchair designer philosophies but have never truly made anything or know how hard it is to put yourself out there, balance games, write code, make mechanics mesh well together, etc. Hunt is an *absolute masterclass* in game design mechanisms and I'm glad they keep things fresh and continue to change and expand the game. People just think "adding trains/horses/rail cars" or whatever the flavor of the month idea is, is something Crytek could just whip up with a magic wand. I'm always like "bro, this game doesn't even animate boxes opening, they blip out of existence and reappear showing they are open, we're not getting fv*ck!ng horses".

[@archthrone5815]

Great video and mindset, I totally agree with you, and your points are very good.

[@nolanchap7092]

What a refreshing take on the state of hunt. Well put. Accurately pointing out deficiencies while giving credit where it's due.

[@thehound148]

Started playing in august of 2023. And god, I fell in love with this game's style from the first sight, and, altho, I was never killing someone and dying all of the time due to me not really playing shooters like this before Hunt (except CSGO last time back in 2017), I continued to suck until around 100 hours, when I finally started to understand movement, tactics and aim for this game. Then, it became my favourite shooter: difficulty, style, graphic, skins, the fact that i'm able to build a collection of trophies in form of contraband skins I took to the exit with me from other players - It all just made this online game my favourite. I still suck at it, probably because i'm simply bad at video games, who knows, but then there is times when I can solo trio of guys or even do around 4-5 kills per one life. Holding at a bit less than 300 hours, I still have a lot to learn. Btw, I have around of 100+ of trophy-skins I got from killed hunters, and i'm not planning on taking prestige just because of my collection. The only thing that I don't like about Hunt, is the fact that there is no really balanced MM, due to this sometimes I meet players who have around 3K+ hours and they just annihilate me the moment they hear/see me, and it's annoying, as one thing getting killed by player of your skill while also being able to fight him and learn from your mistakes, and whole another is playing against a guy who can take out whole server of people of my skill just because he is really experienced, because for the most part you can't do anything, you just die because he is way better, there is just nothing to learn from situation when a guy can shoot you through a little hole in da door just because he heard you for a split second.

[@Mitchmckeeguitar]

I just wish the main mode wasn’t just battle royal. I want real loot, I want a death match, I want an open world. Idk man I just want something different, but still with all the hunt gameplay that I love so much

[@berniebulgogi2419]

I appreciate your commentary on the state of hunt, it feels pretty similar to how i feel. Its not a perfect game but its closer to perfection than anything on the market. My friends got me to play cod when i was taking a sabbatical from hunt and the whole time it made me appreciate how good of a game hunt is. I feel like the smallish player base is why the game is so good in a way, whenever you make something mainstream you have to water it down for the masses and it ends up being bland. Hunt can be very frustrating but also incredibly rewarding. I live for the moments when your whole team of randoms is down and you wipe the team that downed your teamates and pick everyone up, theres really no greater feeling for me in a video game. Thanks for the cool vid i'm gonna subscribe :)

[@paft]

Events don't bother me too much--I started to completely ignore them after a few, I don't care about stupid cosmetics. My biggest gripe with Hunt and modern games is all the updates/changes. I really hate how I don't own the same game I bought in EA or even 1.0. It changed so much that I quit a few years ago. I play good games because I enjoy the core gameplay, not because of fluff added and changes.

[@SkullsOnSkulls]

Fair take.

[@porosus2469]

I like this game 290h in. I consider myself above average learner when it comes to games and there is a lot of information to learn. But while finding more and more information about the game, my biggest gripe with it is that so much really useful and easy to understand information that would be helpful to every new player is NOT present inside the game, sometimes with not even a hint of such an interaction/mechanic existing. For example the "Iron eye" trait NOT stating that it speeds up your fire rate (not to mention that speed increase isn't consistent throughout all affected weapons, but also completely different from official numbers).

[@conmoo]

I have around 100 hours on Hunt. I don't really join any communities, and only started watching Hunt videos recently tbh. I just get on to play and have fun with my friends. I don't sweat, but I definitely play to win. I really just log on and play not knowing what the events are, how they work not paying attention, just playing...

[@SkullsOnSkulls]

As you should be. Enjoy!

[@Jozza420]

Awesome video, keep it up 👌

[@Jimmy_Dash]

"haha, spooky cowboy game!" - I love your take on the topic and your calm point of view. I started Fall 2019 and just passed 1.8 k hours. While the game still has a lot of potential and also surely a few problems here and there, I love it and never played another game for so many hours and with such excitement and enthusiasm. 🙂

[@codyd7841]

Hunt could use more commentary based videos this felt very refreshing to watch great work.

[@PoshBeard]

I’ve played for 1500 hours in the last 2 years, hover around 4-5 star MMR on a good day. If I hit 6 star I make it my mission to get OUT of 6* ASAP because the people there play like cracked out rats who never do anything fun or interesting and just sniper+fanning chain for cheap K/D farming. I love the open ended sandbox of equipment we have on offer, but unfortunately that means that people will use that sandbox in really unsportsmanlike ways just to frustrate others or boost their stats up. The game is fantastic but I really hate how Crytek’s response to an obvious and provable uptick in the rate that cheaters are appearing in games is just to shut down all discussion of it, put their fingers in their ears and go “LA LA LA LA I CAN’T HEAR YOU”. (Tbh that appears to be your stance too) Going full damage control mode was FINE when it was something like ReShade but this is a different beast entirely. I’m also worried about predatory monetization creeping in. The removal of accolades was understandable, but they’re selling a “premium” pass now. I’m seriously worried about Crytek’s management, not the developers themselves but the actual executive decision making that drives PR and monetization changes. I’ve seen the community managers openly flaming users, one of them simps for girls in the Discord on tbe regular. They’re somehow the most corporate yet most unprofessional adult children I’ve ever seen in a AAA company. I’m excited for the engine upgrade. Crytek has said that it’ll open the door to TONS of new features like new gamemodes for example. Hunt: Showdown has about 90-110 people working on it at any given time btw.

[@SkullsOnSkulls]

I HARD agree w/ you here, ever since I made this video my faith in Crytek's ability to communicate clearly with its community has swiftly begun to dwindle. I love this game, but I really wish they would pull their heads out of their asses and adress our concerns + actually do something about them + actually give us an update on the engine update since they haven't said shit since September of 2023...

[@PoshBeard]

@@SkullsOnSkulls The engine update as far as we know should still be arriving in early summer of this year, but I’m expecting some delays since we haven’t gotten any teases It just seems like they’re not quite ready which is *fair*, but also it would be nice of them to communicate that.

[@PoshBeard]

@@SkullsOnSkulls P.S totally agree. Crytek’s communication has been lacking, and it started a downward spiral in mid to late 2023

[@Gingi413]

speakng as a new player that started not even a week ago, having a friend who plays to show you the ropes makes it a lot easier to learn the game.

[@SkullsOnSkulls]

For sure

[@makkura9245]

I started playing Hunt when it first dropped in Early access, I was an on and off player for years and considered it my favourite for many of those years.. But I now find myself not playing it anymore. I've barely played in the last 2 years and the reason for it is events. I simply do not like them. Getting back into hunt is always hard as it already is an overwhelming game, but now having to learn those new event perks and factions and having to deal with broken abilities that simply break the game at it's core simply isn't fun to me. I'm on the "I wish I could have a Vanilla queue" team. I'm glad more people are getting to enjoy Hunt, but the game just sadly isn't for me anymore, and so I just moved on. I still cherish the 1,500 hours I've put into it, but I doubt this number will be going up anytime soon.

[@apuffball5754]

This game is such a blessing tbh for me, im tired of just dying to spraying and/or spazzing children, or having to suffer from actually detrimental teammates, all with little to no satisfying feedback (no, the "+100" marks never counted) in other games. Hunt doesn't need or really have that (teammates can be a hinderance, but you can just leave), and its a breath of fresh air, even though im well over 2k hours in here. Also, i just adore the sound design of the game, it feels so immersive and real.

[@deaankoekemoer5471]

I'm almost at 1k hours and it's been a rollercoaster. I love the game and hope it stays online for many more years.

[@bshell1731]

I've played about 2 years with most of my 1,000 hours being in the last year. My pc fps journey has been Pubg into Tarkov, then Valorant. My opinion is based on how these other games monetize and develop. Hunt comparatively is cheaper, has a more receptive dev team, and has grown in a good way. The discourse around skins and "cheaters" is exhausting. In valorant and pubg 5 skins is roughly $80, battlepasses are $15 with no way to earn currency in game and therefore the pass must be bought every time. Tarkov is riddled with cheaters and the devs use quick fixes that don't address the underlying issues of the game. Hunt is smaller than most of those games and somehow manages to do it better, and keep the game fresh with updates. Thanks for the level headed approach to the topic

[@hepcilll5520]

I agree. I love how crytek knows its limits and acts accordingly and not greedily. Community has its toxicicities but mostly people are just chill dudes who like the pessimistic cowboy fantasy and mostly polite gentleman. I love everything about this game

[@maelstromm100]

Me and my friends have played this game for a year now, we have a lot of fun, but to be fair a lot of times when we get killed from either impossible distances, or people doing sprint jump crouches while headshotting your friend in your scopeview is not fun .... im trying my best to love this game and trust me I do, but the cheater issue is actually a very big issue... this game doesnt have fast paced mechanics like warzone so to land shots like that is humanly impossible... the game has a report function, but it is useless since you have to send "video proof" for me that is kinda bullshit. If they cant fight the cheater issue this game will die a slow death and it happening more and more .. love the video btw 😊

[@SkullsOnSkulls]

At least this game doesn't have cheaters as rampantly as Tarkov or many other Unity / Unreal engine games. If you play on PC and have an nVidia card you can automatically keep a video of every death with GeForce Experience (now the Nvidia App) if you really want to watch those playbacks or send in footage of suspected cheaters.

[@thereplyguyreviews]

Its great for me to run into players who only have a few hundred total bounty, its a great indicator that there's (hopefully) still a solid flow of interest from new players coming in. That said, the achievement of getting your first kill being owned only by (as of this comment) 65.1% of players who own the game is interesting and is a view into how many people may have bought the game, played a few rounds and seemingly gave up after that. The 1000 hour tutorial is 100% on the mark, but I think its what makes the game so special and allows it to have such a high skill ceiling compared to other games, but equally is what makes it hard for everyone to get into, and thus why we see that 65% 1st kill achievement.

[@SkullsOnSkulls]

It really speaks more than most things about Hunt. The onboarding of new players has gotten better but it's still pretty far from what I'd consider good. A lot of people don't want to "do their homework" just to get into a game. Had I not been slowly growing with Hunt this whole time myself and only stumbled upon it recently I highly doubt I'd want to put the time in the learn all of its nuances.

[@Finley1969]

what we needed in hunt showdowns prime was this: a 5 vs 5 team deathmatch, or capture the flag with respawn tickets. Think of red orchestra or enlisted. nowadays the community has shifted weirdly, back then ( 6 / 8 months ago) it was super easy to kill anything including or below 4 star. those people didnt understand the game and had lacking aim. now its almost impossible to kill people who arent 5 stars. what the hell happened?

[@SkullsOnSkulls]

I agree we need new game mode(s) or at least more options for existing ones. It's really getting kind of stale.

[@reverendharrypowell2390]

I play this game since the absolute beginnings of it, even when it was still closed and the content was so limited that you could actively request weapons and other changes in the discord from the devs. Although I sometimes get a bit melancholic when I see some older Gameplay clips I recorded back then in the background and wish back the „old days“, I still have to say that the game has overall developed really well. In my opinion, I feels greatly different now when compared to its early stages, but the inclusion of events and the comparatively good decisions of the dev regarding community wishes have given good new ways to play the game. My only criticism is that the changes definitely made the game less hardcore over time, but then again,the balancing really also helps to open up the game to newer players, which will keep it alive. However, I still think that the game should remember its roots and not become too mainstream, as this is also part of the appeal

[@Deathwhisper2]

I've played the game on and off since As the crow flies (still sad that I did not get PD) About 1k hours overall. I love the theme of the game, and the ackwardness of the old guns made me fall in love. Hunt has it's fair share of issues. But overall I honestly thing that it is improving. Would be nice to see some short time game modes. But with average playerbase of about 20k people. (during non-event times) they can not afford splitting playerbase.

[@siga241]

Wow that's the first time I hear someone talk about the exact points i keep getting confronted with and having the exact same opinion as I do. Really cool video, very down to earth :) I personally think that a lot of the criticism Hunt (and some other games) get is because of a habit that most people like to develop negative feeling really quickly and not wanting to think about problems a lot... I don't know if that's Crytek's fault with the UI and stuff or if its just a overall trend in the digital world

[@hab0272]

One of my first deaths was getting shot through a wooden door. I was very surprised and intrigued because of the realism. I can imagine people confusing this experience for a wallhack.

[@stephenfreeman8438]

As someone who has come from Tarkov, This game has fixed the broken heart that I had. I’m addicted. Been shredding in between 3-4 stars currently. About 40 hours in and I love it. Hope there is more to it though in the future. I can see how it loses its value in some areas as is it is repetitive, Atleast to me anyway, that being said I can’t stop playing it. 4 player teams would be nice, maybe even adding larger maps with more teams.

[@snp.0.451]

Can someone explain what this questlines was meant to be?

[@SkullsOnSkulls]

A limited time set of goals to gain an exclusive reward, they essentially used it for people to unlock Billy Story after there were so many requests to bring him back but they basically haven't done anything with them since.

[@codyd7841]

Crytek is in an interesting spot where if they take feedback to serious to please the community they will lose there vision for the game which i trust. This was the first shooter i enjoyed because of how unique it is.i remember as a kid going from playing something like zelda to dark souls it just felt like the natural progression less leeway on dodge frames. Point is hunt really can throw you into the deep end but if you stick whith it it's very rewarding.

[@MrCharlesleray]

I've also been playing since beta and have had a love hate relationship with the game. There are things that I miss from old Hunt - gun sway, death being a greater penalty, bloodline progression with guns. There are also some things that were really a hard pill to swallow for me... mainly the addition of special ammo and MMR ranks. I miss cleaning my weapons with randomly found gun oil and I miss dlcs that gave you not only skins but also bloodbonds... speaking of bloodbonds they were WAY easier to grind just a few years back. With all that said - I've came to peace with the game. I've realized that all those changes are trying to not only make the game more accesible but also clean and fair. I remember that when I was starting playing Hunt, I was so scared of encountering people that I just ran to a compound, killed a few zombies for xp (the best advice I've had at the time was that armoreds are killed best when you shoot their legs) and exited. Even though that might be the expirience some players have even today - I'm glad that the game is recognized, there are tutorials online and anyone really doesn't have to feel discouraged when they get shot by some rando bushcraft hunter from who knows where. I'm glad that we get to see balance patches, events, lore and new guns that acctualy blend with gameplay pretty well and aren't inherently op for a first few weeks. The gameplay has changed drasticaly... for the better!

[@henryiv1258]

I've always joked that the Hunt dev team was 4 interns over their head till 1.0. I love the game. It's nothing like it used to be, but that's okay.

[@comet3969]

“Dayum with so many events the vanilla game becomes an event”- eyabus (2024)

[@gambiit08]

your suggestion for shorter events with 4 player teams, mandatory loadouts, etc were amazing

[@spencerw1107]

Hunt to me is the most enjoyable during an event. I get that tiny dopamine hit from collecting event spires haha

[@hansih5321]

Great video! Couldnt agree more :)

[@salteris]

I agree with you that the events are where Hunt is at, as a game. I agree, in part, that the devs respond to feedback and try to "get things right." I don't agree that they respond well to feedback, specifically regarding solos. Solo players are a plague to hunt and the self-revive mechanic is killing the game for a lot of players. It's almost as if they don't want to entertain the idea that their actions are directly making the game worse for a majority of their player base. The biggest issue is the 3 star lobby. There are far too many 6 start solo hunters in 3 star killing relatively new players to the game. If Crytek ever took a step back to wonder why the growth of Hunt isn't bigger, this would be the reason.

[@roundaboutcitizen]

im one of the "spooky cowboy game" people. its got really amazing replicas and hits on all kinds of gunslinging lore thats fun to see in front of me as an old firearms enthusiast. the most recent addition of firearms has really refreshed my view of the game and even if i dont like the challenges or the tributes and stuff im not being tied to a chair and forced to do them. i still make enough ingame money to do what i want and that's enough for this 3star.

[@PyrelordPazuzu]

Ive mained Escape From Tarkov for 1.5 years and only came to Hunt 4 months ago, honestly I feel like people don't know just how good and unique this game

[@SkullsOnSkulls]

Thank you! Also welcome to the bayou!