Hunt: Showdown is like a 1890s Monster Hunter International Game · 6:30pm Oct 11th, 2017
I've been a fan of Crytek's video game offerings every since they burst onto the scene in 2004 with the ambitious and impressive Far Cry, a game that boasted impressive AI and vast, colorful maps famous for giving the player a wealth of options and choices, as well as a graphical fidelity that pushed modern systems to their limit—both things that would become a staple of their games moving forward. Selling off the Far Cry license to another publisher, Crytek then went on to create 2007's Crysis, a game that built upon the foundation of designs laid in Far Cry while simultaneously spawning the meme "But will it run Crysis?" due to the game's incredibly demanding system requirements. But despite those astronomical requirements—so high that computing groups around the world, from NASA to China, began using the game as a benchmark for testing the newest and most powerful computers—Crysis was an impressive game at its core, boasting advanced AI, physics, a draw distance most games couldn't even match a tenth of, and open gameplay brought about by player abilities that led to a wide range of playstyles and tactics.
Then it all went downhill. Emboldened by the sales of Crysis, Crytek got ahead of itself. Determined to bring their titles to console, the studio slimmed down the sequels to Crysis, creating games that didn't so much push the envelope as they did constrict it. Dropping the linear maps, advanced AI, and most of the gameplay options led to games that could release on the vastly weaker hardware of consoles ... but also that weren't nearly as fun to play. Crytek, counting on the graphical fidelity of their engine to sell engine licenses as well as games, also woke the sleeping giant of Epic. As Epic's Unreal Engine began making serious strides to both price itself competitively and catch up with Crytek's own CryEngine, Crytek found that they'd overreached themselves, and faced cutbacks, closing of projects, and other issues. And, for a time, the studio became fairly silent.
Now, having spent the last few years relatively silent save for market deals and behind-the-scenes operations that really aren't so exciting to the general public, Crytek is back, and they're finally letting their new project see the light of day. The dismal, dark, moody light of day that steeps Hunt: Showdown from top to bottom.
I miss the days when I could just sit down and play a game for days on end without worrying about how much writing I wasn't doing. At this point in my life, any game that can't be played in 15 minute spurts gets put on my no-go list.
Neat!
I wonder if there'll be ways to share credit for a kill that players could iron out if they meet before finding their mark. And cue one of them shouting "This wasn't part of the deal!" after the kill but before the bounty can be claimed...