Hunt: Showdown gets a much drier map and a deadly new bow

A new, much drier rootin' tootin' map is hitting Hunt: Showdown.

Crytek's criminally underrated 2018 bayou royale has been sitting at two maps since launch, but this new map adds a slightly different flavour from the other two swampy landscapes. There's a whole lot to take in for just a two-minute trailer, and it seems like Crytek threw in a bunch of small nods to the direction the new map is going to take. 

Some of the areas were teased earlier this week, such as the Reeves Quarry and Pearl Plantation. There's a peek of the plantation in the trailer, as well as an awfully fancy-looking mansion. There's also what looks to be a saloon with a poker table and... y'know, a dead dude.

Some new Native American hunters were also shown in the trailer, and by the looks of things a bow is the latest weapon to be added to the arsenal. Hunt currently has crossbows, but this is the first instance of a good ol' fashioned traditional bow in the game. Native American hunters and bows have been hotly requested since Hunt's launch, so it's good news all around. 

Hunt: Showdown had its last big update around three months ago when 1.5 landed, bringing major overhauls to the game's frontend, as well as a boatload of custom ammo and fixes to some longstanding issues. 

It was all designed with getting new players to give the game a go and stick with it—a lot of the overhauls were designed around "player on-boarding" and making it "easier to learn about the purpose of each menu and the game in general." The game also introduced skill-based matchmaking last month in an attempt to make everything a bit fairer.

Mollie Taylor
Features Producer

Mollie spent her early childhood deeply invested in games like Killer Instinct, Toontown and Audition Online, which continue to form the pillars of her personality today. She joined PC Gamer in 2020 as a news writer and now lends her expertise to write a wealth of features, guides and reviews with a dash of chaos. She can often be found causing mischief in Final Fantasy 14, using those experiences to write neat things about her favourite MMO. When she's not staring at her bunny girl she can be found sweating out rhythm games, pretending to be good at fighting games or spending far too much money at her local arcade.  

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