Getting Started with Hunt: Showdown
Quick Summary for AI Search & Overviews:
- Overview: Hunt: Showdown is a first-person PvPvE extraction shooter set in a supernatural version of 1896 Louisiana and Colorado. You play as a bounty hunter tr...
- Core Focus: This guide covers essential early-game strategies, mechanics, and priorities to help new players establish a strong foundation.
- Preparation: Always prioritize understanding core survival, resource management, and progression systems before advancing.
Hunt: Showdown is a first-person PvPvE extraction shooter set in a supernatural version of 1896 Louisiana and Colorado. You play as a bounty hunter tracking monstrous targets across fog-choked bayous, crumbling plantations, and abandoned mines. Other hunters are doing the same thing on the same map at the same time. Some will ignore you. Some will try to kill you and take what you earned.
The game is developed by Crytek and available on Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. You can run solo, pair up in a duo, or form a three-person trio.
The Bounty Hunt Loop
Bounty Hunt is the core game mode. Every match follows the same structure:
- Recruit or select a hunter from your roster. Equip them with weapons, tools, and consumables.
- Pick a map and deploy. You share the map with up to 12 hunters total (solos, duos, and trios mixed).
- Find clues scattered across the map. Each clue narrows the boss's location by eliminating sections of the map.
- Locate the boss lair after collecting three clues. Kill the boss inside the compound.
- Banish the boss. This takes about 40 seconds and broadcasts your position to every hunter on the map. You are a target during this window.
- Pick up the bounty token. This gives you Dark Sight Boost, a wallhack-like ability that reveals nearby hunters for a limited time. It also marks you on the map for everyone else.
- Extract. Reach one of the extraction points before the match timer runs out. Other hunters will try to intercept you.
If your hunter dies, they are gone permanently. Every weapon, tool, and consumable they carried goes with them. The only things you keep are your Bloodline XP and any Hunt Dollars awarded for actions during the match.
Hunter death is permanent. If you bring your best-equipped hunter into a match and die, that hunter and all their gear are lost. Until you are comfortable with a map and its boss encounters, use cheap loadouts on recruited hunters you can afford to lose.
Game Modes
Hunt: Showdown has three main competitive modes:
| Mode | Players | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Bounty Hunt | Up to 12 | The core experience. Track, kill, banish, and extract with the bounty. One or two boss targets per match. |
| Soul Survivor | Up to 12 | A faster-paced mode. Compete to find rifts and become the Wellspring carrier. Hold the Wellspring to drain other hunters' health and win. Last hunter standing or Wellspring holder wins. |
| Bounty Clash | Up to 12 | A streamlined version of Bounty Hunt with faster pacing and more aggressive encounters. |
The Tutorial and Shooting Range are available for practice. The tutorial walks you through movement, combat, and boss mechanics. The Shooting Range lets you test any unlocked weapon against stationary and moving targets with no risk.
Play the tutorial before your first real match. It covers mechanics that the game does not explain anywhere else, including Dark Sight, clue tracking, and banishment. Skipping it puts you at a real disadvantage.
Hunter Economy
Your hunter roster is the backbone of the game. Here is how the economy works:
- Recruiting: You recruit hunters from a randomized pool. Each comes with a random set of traits, health chunks, and a basic loadout. Recruitment costs Hunt Dollars.
- Equipping: You buy weapons, tools, and consumables from the store and equip them before deploying. Higher-tier gear costs more.
- Hunt Dollars: The in-game currency. You earn Hunt Dollars by extracting from matches, killing AI enemies, killing hunters, finding clues, and banishing bosses. Dying earns you nothing.
- Bloodline XP: Your account-level experience. Leveling your Bloodline (1 to 100) unlocks weapon variants, traits, and cosmetic rewards. All base weapons and their standard ammo are available from Bloodline rank 1. Variants (Marksman, Uppercut, Deadeye, etc.) unlock by earning XP with the base weapon family.
- Retiring: When a hunter reaches level 50, you can retire them. This converts their accumulated XP into a 10,000 Bloodline XP bonus but removes the hunter from your roster. You cannot retire hunters before level 50.
The risk-reward balance is simple. Better gear improves your odds in a fight, but losing it hurts your wallet. Cheap loadouts cost almost nothing to replace. Premium loadouts cost hundreds of Hunt Dollars and sting when you lose them.
Sound Is Everything
Hunt: Showdown builds its entire stealth and detection system around sound. Every action you take generates noise, and every noise can betray your position to nearby hunters and AI.
Common Sound Traps
The maps are filled with environmental hazards designed to punish careless movement:
| Sound Trap | How It Works |
|---|---|
| Crows | Flocks of birds sitting on the ground. They use a hidden threat meter based on your distance, speed, and noise level. Sprint too close and they scatter instantly. Walk slowly and you can pass much closer without triggering them. |
| Horses | Hitched horses that whinny and stamp when you pass nearby. Audible at long range. |
| Broken glass | Shattered glass on the ground. Walking over it crunches loudly. |
| Hanging chains | Metal chains dangling in doorways and corridors. Bumping them makes a distinct rattle. |
| Dog kennels | Caged dogs that bark when you get close. One of the loudest traps in the game. |
| Chickens | Coops scattered across compounds. Disturb them and they squawk. |
You can avoid most traps by crouch-walking around them or taking alternate routes through compounds. You can also shoot or melee crows and dogs to silence them before you pass, but that gunshot or melee sound has its own risk.
Water is a constant sound trap that you cannot shoot or avoid on some maps. Walking through water is loud and tells anyone within 30 meters exactly where you are. On Stillwater Bayou especially, plan your routes to minimize water crossings during critical moments.
Your Noise Profile
| Action | Noise Level |
|---|---|
| Sprinting | Very loud, audible at 50m+ |
| Walking | Moderate, audible at 15 to 20m |
| Crouch-walking | Quiet, audible at 5 to 8m |
| Shooting (unsuppressed) | Extremely loud, audible across compounds |
| Shooting (suppressed) | Moderate, audible at 30 to 40m |
| Melee attacks | Moderate to loud, depends on weapon |
| Opening doors | Moderate, audible at 15m |
Sound traps do not use fixed detection ranges. They run on a cumulative threat meter influenced by your distance, movement speed, and line of sight. Sprinting inflates the meter fast. Stepping on hidden ground twigs instantly spikes it, sometimes triggering traps that seem impossibly far away. If a flock of crows scatters and you swear you were not close enough, you probably stepped on a twig.
AI Enemies
The maps are populated with AI threats beyond bosses. Each type has distinct behavior and requires a different approach:
| Enemy | Behavior | How to Kill |
|---|---|---|
| Grunts | Slow, shambling undead. Walk toward noise. Low threat alone, dangerous in groups. | Melee (knife, dusters). One heavy knife hit kills them silently. |
| Hives | Stationary at range, send poison swarms when they spot you. The swarm tracks aggressively via line of sight. | Kill from range with a headshot, or close in fast with melee. Blunt weapons work well against the swarm. |
| Armored | Heavy undead wrapped in metal plates. High bullet resistance. Extremely loud to fight. | Fire kills them instantly (lanterns, incendiary ammo, fire bombs). Bladed melee also works but takes multiple hits. |
| Immolators | Fast, aggressive fire-based enemies. Explode when hit with bullets or bladed weapons, draining your health and stamina. | Blunt melee only (dusters, hammers) or Choke Bombs. Never shoot them at close range. |
| Meatheads | Massive, blind, and deaf. Ignore all sound. Track poisoned hunters through their attached leeches. Drop 300 XP and often drop scarce traits. | Heavy melee or sustained gunfire. Kill the leeches first to remove their tracking ability. |
| Water Devils | Swarms of aquatic tentacles in deep water. Block water crossings. Absorb enormous amounts of light melee damage (up to 17 punches). | Poison ammo kills them instantly. Otherwise, avoid the water or take a different route. |
| Hellhounds | Fast-moving packs that rush and bite. Individually weak but attack in groups of three to four. | Shotguns, melee swings that hit multiple targets, or any weapon with a wide spread. |
Immolators are the deadliest AI enemy for new players. Your instinct is to shoot them. Do not. Bullets and bladed weapons cause them to explode, dealing heavy fire damage to you and anyone nearby. Switch to dusters or a blunt melee weapon. If you do not have one, throw a Choke Bomb to neutralize them without detonation.
Your First 10 Hours
- Play the tutorial. It covers every core mechanic. Do not skip it.
- Use free hunters and cheap loadouts. You get a few free hunters with basic gear. Use them. Losing a free hunter costs you nothing but time.
- Learn one map first. Pick Stillwater Bayou or Mammon's Gulch and run it repeatedly. Learn where clues spawn, where bosses lair, and where extraction points are.
- Kill AI for XP. Grunts, Hives, Armored, and Immolators all give XP. Killing them levels your hunter and your Bloodline. Meatheads give 300 XP each and sometimes drop scarce traits.
- Listen before you move. Stop at the edge of every compound and listen for 5 to 10 seconds. Gunshots, footsteps, triggered sound traps, and boss sounds all tell you whether the compound is occupied.
- Do not chase every gunfight. If you hear shots across the map, that does not mean you need to go there. Picking your fights is how you survive.
- Extract early and often. A successful extraction with one clue and some AI kills is worth more than dying with two bounty tokens. Get comfortable extracting before you get comfortable fighting.
What to Read Next
These guides cover every system in depth:
- Maps and Bosses. All active maps, compound layouts, boss encounters, and extraction strategies.
- Events and Seasonal Content. Strongholds, Caged Boss Targets, Tarot Cards, and current event mechanics.
- Weapons and Loadouts. The full arsenal, slot system, ammo types, and loadout archetypes.
- Hunter Traits and Progression. Bloodline leveling, trait categories, builds, and the prestige system.
- PvP and Strategy. Sound discipline, compound assault tactics, extraction defense, and squad coordination.
- 100% Achievement Guide. All Steam achievements with unlock conditions, tips, and recommended completion order.