Hunt: Showdownis the best online shooter. We can all agree on that, right? It’s intense, it’s atmospheric, it’sgreat for stealth-oriented sneaksters like me, and it involves exclusively non-automatic weapons, whose bulletsplinkanddingoff corrugated metal surfaces, tear through wooden shacks you’re cowering in, and leave you face down in the soggy mud of the bayou with a single well-placed headshot.
It’s a hell of a game, and since December 14 it’s been even more hellishthanks to the Devil’s Moon event, which brings a host of unlockable cosmetic goodies, plenty of lore scraps for the game’s enigmatic storyline and, crucially, a new map condition called ‘Inferno,’ which can take place on any of the game’s existing three maps and sets large swathes of them ablaze.
Much like how you think warm thoughts to offset the misery of a cold shower (the buzz afterwards is worth it), I’ve spent the past couple of weeks in Hunt: Showdown’s bayou, in the hope that its new toasty vibe would warm me up a bit this winter.
Andhoo-boy, things are getting hot down in Hunt. The inferno doesn’t cover the whole map, only particular segments which you can see on the map screen. It turns what would normally have been fairly open forests and field areas into wide corridors flanked by walls of fire. In a game that relies so much on cover, flanking, and smart movements due to the very low time-to-kill, to suddenly find yourself in a quite literal fiery corridor-shooter situation is a new kind of terrifying.
The alienness of these scenarios to the typical Hunt: Showdown flow is amplified by the fact that those all-important telltale sounds that hunters are nearby–footsteps, fleeing crows, twigs breaking–are almost completely drowned out in the searing sea of fire all around you, which is only sometimes interrupted by the shrieks of the bayou’s monsters that mindlessly wander into the flames.
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When you enter these infernal corridors, everything you’ve spent dozens or hundreds of hours learning about Hunt: Showdown burns away, and should you encounter other players, who appear as shimmering silhouettes in the distance, the dynamic becomes like a wild western duel; there is no escape, nowhere to hide, as you’re forced to rely much more on reflexes and accuracy rather than cunning to outlast your foes. The fact that those hunters may be bolstered by event-specific traits that do things like regenerate their health and let them self-revive makes the whole thing even more unreal and ungodly.
Sometimes, the inferno goes right up to the borders of compounds (with smaller fires in the compounds themselves adding a bit of sizzle to proceedings), which can create some ballsy pushing opportunities when you’re defending a bounty while the boss is being banished.
When you enter these infernal corridors, everything you’ve spent dozens of hours learning burns away
The other night, a teammate and I were beset from several sides by multiple teams. In the midst of this, I could see a pair of enemies scampering around behind a boundary fence at the edge of the compound (again, dramatically silhouetted against the fire behind them). Taking advantage of the noise of the blaze, I closed them down almost head-on while my teammate pinned them down. They clearly didn’t hear me approach, because I was able to point-blank blast them away with my shotgun through the fence. One of them tagged me, but my pal was on hand to finish the job. It was a beautiful moment of this wildcard condition having serious tactical value.
The Devil’s Moon Event runs until February 15, and it’s the biggest shake-up to the game yet. Beyond the inferno map condition, there are three ‘Pacts’ you may join, each of which grants unique perks that dramatically affect the flow of matches, including one perk that lets you self-revive as a Solo player, another thatconsistentlyregenerates your health in matches, and yet another that lets you keep your hunter even if they get killed in a match. Ungodly things are happening in the bayou, and while I don’t think I’d necessarily want to see all of them become permanent fixtures, I’m having a blast while it lasts.
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