Hunt: Showdown from Crytek is having a free weekend

Crytek’s latest game, Hunt: Showdown, is running a free weekend on Steam. The game, which is still in Early Access, is also on sale until June 17. If you manage to play it before the end of the weekend, you can snag it for 20% off.

Hunt: Showdown bills itself as a “PvP bounty hunting game with heavy PvE elements.” Players take to the map where they must take down AI-controlled zombies. Once somebody scores a kill, they have a bounty placed on them. The other players are then alerted and must try to take them down. This system reminds me of the Metal Gear Online portion of The Phantom Pain, although the latter contained no AI-controlled enemies.

From what several of the Steam reviews say, the game is brutal. It seems that a lot of seasoned players have a hold on Hunt: Showdown, and the game is not forgiving to newcomers. Of course, plenty of players may welcome such a challenge.

Hunt: Showdown mixes survival with PvP

Hunt: Showdown also offers a shorter game mode where players must race to close one of four rifts. While doing so, players collect gear as well as a diminishing pool of bounty. Whoever gets to the final rift will have to survive a countdown. Then, the other players attempt to claim the spot for themselves. Whoever succeeds keeps the bounty while all the others are killed.

If that isn’t brutal enough, the main game actually offers the player a sort of night vision mode. This not only alerts players to the AI-enemies, but also to other players who have a bounty on their head. It seems that the game mode is meant to balance itself. If you get kills, it’s easier for others to find you and kill you.

Best of all, the game is set in the dark, twisted swamps of Louisiana. Aside from Red Dead Redemption 2’s New Orleans-inspired city, I can’t think of a lot of recent games set in Louisiana. It will be interesting to see how Hunt: Shodown shapes up. The developers state in their Early Access summary that they sought to create a community-driven game.

As of yet, there is no official date for the end of Hunt: Showdown’s Early Access period.