Hunt Showdown adds second map
Choo choo!
As Hunt Showdown continues its journey through early access, developers Crytek today launched a big update adding their PvPvE weird west FPS's second map. Named Lawson Delta, it explores a less rugged corner of Louisiana with a prison, a fortress, and even a train station. Well lah-di-dah, aren't these unholy hordes spoiled with modernity.
Crytek say they've learned a lot from seeing how players react to the first map. Lawson Delta's locations are more distinct and memorable, getting away from the generic swamp look. They've tried to make locations more conducive to interesting and satisfying fights. Learn more about that in this vid:
Lawson is still in beta, Crytek say, but it's ready enough to have come off the test servers and into the main client.
Today's update also introduces skill-based matchmaking, adds interia to movement to "stop players from abusing the ADAD buttons to dodge bullets/melee attacks", lets players loot weapons from dead hunters, adjusts the lobby system to try to stop unteamed players from joining the same match to gang up, adjusts the audio mix so important sounds are clearer, and tweaks balance all over.
See the update 3.0 patch notes for more on all that.
Hunt is an interesting one. When Crytek first announced they were ditching the original cooperative plan to go competitive, I was sorry to be losing cooperative weird west monster-hunting. The game they've ended up making looks far better than I'd expected. Alone or in pairs on a big map, bounty hunters are competing to murder unholy bosses and escape with proof of their kills. With different types of AI-controlled monsters in the way, the ever-present risk of other players trying to reduce the competition, and no death messages for other players, there's a lot of uncertainty and variety. I'm waiting for it to be more finished before biting myself but I like what I've seen on Twitch and the 'Tubes.
Hunt Showdown costs £26/€30/$30 on Steam Early Access.