Hunt: Showdown is difficult and almost half of the players fail to get into the competitive PvP portion of the shooter. While the developers see the strong veterans and free weekends on Steam as the reason, the players blame poor server performance and cheaters.
Is Hunt: Showdown not for beginners?
Hunt: Showdown is known for its hardcore claim, but also for strong events:
Hunt: Showdown – “The Inferno”
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What is Hunt actually about? Hunt: Showdown is one of the toughest competitive PVP players on Steam. You start as a hunter in the world of a twisted Wild West, defeat monsters and flee the map with the bounty as quickly as possible.
You will meet other players who also want the bounty and will go over your corpse. Nevertheless, almost half do not make the leap into PVP. By the way, Hunt: Showdown recently received an important engine update.
But why? As in most PVP games, knowledge of the environment, weapons and events are important. With time and practice, players will learn what the best hiding spots and tactics are, giving them an edge over new players who still have a lot to learn. With a veteran as an opponent, the newcomers hardly have a chance. Small successes and improvements are also missing, even if there is PvE content.
Is this a problem? Newbies and experienced players sometimes clash and in most cases the novices will not survive the encounter. If this happens frequently, new players quickly lose interest in Hunt: Showdown because it’s frustrating to keep losing.
Unlike in CS:GO or other shooter representatives, in which it is much easier to get started and successes can be achieved faster and better, some players in Hunt: Showdown get nothing. So players who test Hunt on one of the free weekends are less likely to buy the title and leave the shooter before they’ve even started it.
What are the consequences? Hunt: Showdown’s player base isn’t growing or, in the worst case, will be reduced as frustrated players who wanted to try the PvP shooter may never return. For a competitive game, that’s a problem, because if there’s no one to take on the veterans, then they lose the fun too.
I played Hunt: Showdown for over 700 hours in 2021, so you should too
What does the developer say? Hunt: Showdown General Manager David Fifield reveals it’s difficult to find the right balance. There is already a very extensive PvE part in which newcomers can also celebrate their first successes. In the “Trial” and “Training” modes, the only nasty opponents are the PvE mobs and bosses.
So if 40% of players never really get to know what is actually the most important and exciting part of Hunt: Showdown, Fifield and his team have a serious issue to grapple with. Although there are players who continue to have fun and play Hunt: Showdown despite the lousy K/D stats.
The players see other problems
While the Steam reviews for the shooter are mostly positive, some players are noticing other issues as well and are losing interest in Hunt: Showdown (via Steam). However, it’s not because of the well-playing veterans who rob them of the fun, but much more because of cheaters and faulty technology.
Players report nightmare rounds in which they can hardly do any damage, don’t count hits or mobs that didn’t shoot them suddenly attack them instead of the shooter. At the same time, opponents deal full damage or shoot hundreds of meters through dense vegetation – and hit!
A big problem for the players is also that there is no solo mode. So single players often face teams of 2 or 3, which makes it even more difficult for beginners. The server stability is also often criticized by the players.
The developers of CoD Warzone 2 have already taken on the cheaters for their shooter and sometimes ban them in spectacular moments.