Things you should know about Hunt Showdown 1.0

Hunt: Showdown has gone through an Early Access period of over a year in which the game has continuously evolved. With the release days away, I decided to revise this guide for the much-awaited 1.0 update:

What is Hunt: Showdown?

Hunt: Showdown is a hardcore competitive first person shooter mixing PvP with PvE. You are a bounty hunter, fighting the evil lurking through the swamps of Louisiana. However, you will not only fight the risen dead, but other hunters as well in a race for the bounty. The game features solo, duo and even trio teams in small matches of up to 12 players. One of the unique aspects of Hunt: Showdown is that your hunter character is lost on death, making for a more hardcore gameplay and difficult progression. The game is an endless struggle between playing well and maintaining a good economic balance to further equip and enhance your hunters.

Follow the clues

As a hunter, you are on a mission to collect bounties for the more dangerous monsters in the area. In order to track down the boss, you need to find three clues for each target. These clues will gradually narrow down the map leading to the boss’ location. You can spot the clues by using the hunter’s dark vision ability (V key by default) which darkens your sight while highlighting in bright blue the location of all the clues in your proximity.

The clues can provide non-boss related information as well. An active clue with a hole in the middle indicates that an enemy hunter was there before you. A red light coming out of an active clue accompanied by an ominous noise indicates that enemy hunters are nearby. Use this tracking knowledge to your advantage.

Boss fight

Finding all the clues will reveal the location of the boss that you can try to kill or use as bait for other hunters. The bosses are always located indoors, in large buildings with intricate architecture and multiple entrances/exits. Currently, Hunt: Showdown features three bosses, each with their particular strengths, requiring slightly different approaches:
The Butcher is a massive humanoid that is immune to fire and can deal huge chunks of damage with a single hit. He is also capable of setting you on fire with his swings. The Butcher can be stunned through sheer damage, buying time either to nuke him down or to get further away from him.

The Spider is fast and agile. He is capable of climbing on ceilings and dealing poison damage while being immune to it. He can leap on targets, immobilizing them while dealing damage and can spit static poisonous clouds. The Spider can be deceitful, often being able to avoid damage with his speed, making him a less popular choice for the players. He can be set on fire to take periodic damage while he moves around.

The Assassin is another deceitful boss that makes a habit of teleporting behind you and dealing massive damage with his charge attack that will leave you bleeding. The assassin can split in three and use bugs as a disorienting attack. As with the Spider, fire is quite useful in dealing with the Assassin.

Banishing and extraction

Once you killed the boss, you can banish it. This action will replenish health and restore up to two small health bars that were permanently lost. The banishing process is dangerous as it takes a good amount of time to complete. All the players are notified about this action, having their map updated with the boss’ location. When the banishing ritual is complete, two bounties can be looted from the boss’ corpse, but you can only carry one bounty from each boss. Extracting with the bounty will reward a hefty sum and experience. However, this is not an easy task. The enemy players can track down bounties using the dark vision. In return, by picking up a bounty, you gain an enhanced dark vision for 5 seconds. This enhancement provides the ability to see the enemy hunters in the vicinity through any objects, allowing you to counter the campers. The timer of the enhanced dark vision only goes off when the ability is used, making it crucial in running away with the bounty or, if you are bold enough, hunting other hunters.

I order to escape with or without a bounty, you have to reach an extraction point. These are marked on the map with a black circle pierced by two arrows. Reaching an extraction point will trigger a countdown. I would advise to move around the extraction vehicle, chariot or boat, to avoid becoming an easy target for your chasers.

Don’t attract too much attention

The temptation to use this game’s cool guns is high. However, you should try to conserve your ammo for when it’s absolutely necessary. With the danger of other players hearing your shots, being sneaky is a valid and quite recommended tactic. Make use of the environment and melee weapons as much as possible to kill the monsters and only blast them away when having good cover and a solid ammo reserve.

The importance of sound

There is almost an obsessive use of sound effects as gameplay mechanics in this game. The hunter’s footsteps are quiet and the most likely way you will be alerted of the enemy’s presence is through environmental sounds. Rattling chains, broken glass, crows, ducks, caged dogs or chickens and so on, all of these make more than enough noise when triggered. Try to avoid areas containing audio triggers and always pay attention to these sounds, as they are a warning for the dangers to come.

Aiming mechanics

The aiming mechanics are peculiar to say the least. For starters, pressing the attack key does not fire the gun, but rather uses the gun as a melee weapon to fend off and damage enemies. Pressing the right mouse button activates the hip fire mode, which isn’t all that reliable outside of close quarters encounters, as most guns are not very accurate. Aiming down sight requires two steps: pressing the right mouse button to go into the hip fire mode, followed up by Shift (the default key). Try to get this weird way of aiming into your system as ADS makes a huge difference in terms of accuracy.

Interacting with the environment

The world of Hunt: Showdown has an unexpected level of interactivity. Breaking windows allows the player to vault inside houses. Activating cranes can open/close gates and move elevators. Barred doors can be unlocked from the inside and blocked again if needed. Lights can be turned on or off. Bear traps can be used as a measure of defense and certain items like axes or gas lamps can serve as temporary weapons. Interact with the world to create advantageous situations for yourself.

Damage and healing particularities

Hunt: Showdown features a more complex damage model than most competitive shooters. Each hunter has multiple health bars, split between small (25 hp) and large (50 hp), summing up to a total of 150 hp. Taking damage will reduce health in a specific order, starting with the first health bar on the right and continuing to the left. As long as a health bar isn’t fully depleted, it will gradually regenerate over time. The bars which have been completely damaged require exterior healing like vitality shots or med kits. If you are playing alone, losing all the health bars will result in your hunter’s death. When part of a team, your hunter will be knocked down, as long as you still have a teammate alive. A knocked down hunter can be resurrected, but it will permanently lose a health bar.

Aside of the customary damage caused by guns, explosions and monsters, the game features three types of dots: bleed, burn and poison. Stopping poisonous damage needs time or an antidote, while bleeding or burning can be stopped by holding the bandage/stop burning key (default F). However, there is another distinction between these damage types. Losing a bar to bleeding or poison will require a healing item to recover your health, while losing a bar to burning is a permanent effect. The health bars that have been completely lost throughout a match can be restored by spending perk points, which are gained by leveling your hunter.

Stamina management

Stamina is an important mechanic and its management is crucial in traversing the world and fighting monsters. There are two types of stamina: one used for melee attacks and the other for running. The stamina used for melee attacks appears as a yellow bar at the bottom of your screen when you start spending it. The stamina used while running is not shown on the screen, instead, heavy breathing signals the fact that your hunter gets tired. As soon as your hunter starts to hyperventilate, a lungs icon will start blinking in the bottom-left corner of your screen as a warning that you won’t be able to run anymore. Since stamina doesn’t regenerate while running, you should take your time between melee attacks or sprints so you don’t get caught off-guard.

Burn enemy’s bodies

Killing a hunter doesn’t necessarily mean he is dead. A hunter can be resurrected by teammates as long as the criteria for this action are met. To make sure this doesn’t happen, you can burn the body of presumed dead hunters using fire bombs or gas lamps. If the hunter starts screaming while the body is burning, it is an indication that he is eligible for resurrection and that his teammates are still alive. Burning a hunter’s body depletes all the health bars, resulting in a permanent death.

The advantages of teaming up

It goes without saying that playing as part of a team is more efficient than playing alone. But the advantages are much higher than just pure numbers. Teammates can resurrect each other when downed by either monsters or other players. They can also help each other to extract faster. If one team member has started the extraction countdown, the others will inherit the time left if they reach the area before the 20 seconds have passed. However, it is worth noting that playing in a team will earn you fewer rewards from bosses.

Progression: Hunters, Bloodline and Prestige

Hunt: Showdown is a hardcore game where hunters are lost forever on death. To compensate, the game’s multilayered progression system allows for a swift recovery.
The first progression is the individual leveling for each recruited hunter. The hunters who survive a match get experience based on the team’s performance. With each level up, a perk point is gained which can be spent to restore a hunter’s lost health bars or purchase new traits.

The second progression is called Bloodline. This is an account wide progression with permanent effects. The Bloodline slowly levels up with each match, unlocking new useable items, guns, traits and money to equip your hunter. No matter if you make it out alive or not from a match, you will gain experience for your Bloodline. Upon reaching level 100 on your Bloodline, you can continue with an infinite leveling cycle, which awards money with each new level, or you can reset your progress, gaining Prestige. The price paid to gain one level of Prestige is quite steep, but the rewards are legendary!

Retiring hunters

There is a huge discrepancy in the way you progress. While the hunters can take a leveling leap with each successful match, the Bloodline always lags behind. The need for better gear and hunters makes this progression extremely important. An efficient way to level up the Bloodline is to retire the hunters of level 25 or higher. This action will retain the hunter’s gear for future use, but it will transfer the hunter’s experience to the Bloodline’s pool.

Ending note

I hope this series of tips and trick will come in handy while bounty hunting through the gruesome lands of Louisiana. I will try to keep this article up to date based on the changes brought to the gameplay by an active development.
(This article is based on a press copy of the game provided by the developer.)

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[Nodrim]

I updated the guide for 1.0.

[caL]

there is fall damage

[Fizzological]

how come when i shoot a motherfucker from 2 ft away with a shotgun he fucking lives and i get one shot by his shotgun?

I HAD 2 HEALTH BARS! Gun fighting in PvP needs to be more realistic.

[King Rat Carlos]

Also im 90% sure taking a vitality shot stops bleeding

[Skau]

shit guide mines way better

[mexonn]

Nice guide for newbies

[Conqueeftador]

@Nodrim "Barbed doors can be unlocked from the inside and blocked again if needed." I think you mean Barred doors, under interacting with the environment.

For the clues, you could always put a side by side comparison together.

[Nodrim]

I'm glad I could help.

[Twi]

a few hrs into the game and i still didnt know that you can use your sights! ty guide maker! this will help alot.

[JOKER @ [NBC]]

sombody knows how i can make " Fastshooting" with the colts ??