Hunt: Showdown’s massive summer update isn’t Hunt 2, but the “significant relaunch” marks “a whole new era”

We already know that a full-blown sequel to swampy extraction shooter Hunt: Showdown probably isn’t on the cards right now, but developers Crytek appear to be lining up the next major update for the 2019 PvPvE cryptid-slayer as almost a whole new game regardless.

The upcoming update due to drop this summer – August 15th specifically, as confirmed in a new developer diary – will bring the half-decade-old FPS over onto the shiny CryEngine 5.11 engine, with all the visual polish, performance improvements and overall whizz-bangery that allows for. Helping to showcase the new engine will be the first new map and biome in over three years, but we don’t know what that’ll look like or where it’ll be set just yet.

While the underlying gameplay will remain the same, general manager David Fifield said that the update is big enough to be considered “a significant relaunch of Hunt: Showdown at a whole new level”, adding that it will kickstart a “whole new era of Hunt”.

Part of that era, for what it’s worth, will be a fairly literal generation change, as away from PC the engine update means that PlayStation 4 and Xbox One players will no longer receive official support (but will be able to carry over all their stuff to the new version for free when they do upgrade) – which might have at least some knock-on effect for those playing cross-platform on PC.

Looking ahead, Fifield highlighted the new user interface and the systems for recruiting hunters and earning prestige as among those that will “continue to evolve”, with the developers also taking a closer look at hunter revival, health chunks, restorations and the ability to burn downed hunters, as well as aiming to reduce match stalemates in favour of “more definitive fights”.

There’ll also be some separate tweaks behind the scenes to things like matchmaking and servers, joining a step up in efforts to tackle cheaters and other “exploitive play”, aiming to improve the overall multiplayer experience.

Crytek plans to tease out more details in a series of weekly updates between now and August, before the major update lands on the 15th.