"Hunt: Showdown" Review

Blending survival horror with battle royale principles, "Hunt: Showdown" drops 10 players into a "Deliverance"-like setting, separated into two-person teams attempting to unearth and slay a target.

The fastest and smartest team isn't necessarily the winner. Once the kill is made, the game shifts into a wild free-for-all in which the other teams all turn against the others in an all-out manhunt to stop them from turning in the bounty.

Developer Crytek takes a novel premise and stretches out into an engaging and gripping spectacle, crafting a violently-shifting dynamic that keeps raising the stakes while giving every player a reason to continue to scrap.

The visuals and sound lend themselves to the haunting and often terrifying sense of place. With weapony rustic and hard to come by, hand-to-hand combat rises to the forefront. Battles are awkward and lumbering, which adds to the sense of grueling reality. Kills aren't effortless breezes as they are in many other shooters, and the need to get your hands dirty and expose yourself to bloodshed ups the intensity factor.

If a critical mass of a community manages to line up behind "Hunt: Showdown," the game has the goods to take off as the next viral multiplayer phenomenon. Much of that responsibility will fall on the heads of the dev team, which will need to curate the experience to keep it growing and developing. No matter what the future holds, it's exciting to see the game make such an impressive start in the hunt for sustainable success.

Publisher provided review code.