Hunt: Showdown Dev Tracker

Port Sulphur Band, Hunt’s in-game band, have had an incredible 2024 and with this Developer Insight we would like to shine a light on their achievements for the year!

Originally conceived as both a way to drive atmosphere and tell stories in the supernatural world of Hunt, Port Sulphur Band was born. Their music brings life to the haunting tales of the 1800s Louisiana bayou, and over time what began as a storytelling tool has become a fully-fledged band with over 67 million streams.

2024 was a huge year for the band, and they released 5 different singles: An Acquired Taste, Make Them Bleed, Dressed to Die, Curtain Call and their latest single, You Call it Madness.

In August their vinyl collection, Shadows Calling, was launched in partnership with Black Screen Records, and it was an incredible success - even charting number 62 on the Germa... Read more

With Update 2.2, Lawson Delta finally returns with a visual overhaul and many gameplay improvements driven by player feedback and facilitated by CryEngine 5.11.

We want to share an overview of the most impactful gameplay changes coming to the various compounds of Lawson Delta. In addition to the specifically listed changes below, a litany of smaller quality of life and readability enhancements have been made - it should be easier to understand where you're able to vault over or jump to, certain building interiors should feel simpler to navigate, and so on.

Highlighted changes per compound:


IRON WORKS

• Added new ladder, window and two iron double doors to the boss building's East side, giving defenders another opening and attackers more options for entry.
  
• Added new windows to the bos...

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Come one come all! The Circus compound appears at various locations in each Bounty Hunt Mission. On the circus grounds you can find sealed items and rewards. Once under the control of The Ringmaster, The Circus has run rampant and beyond his control under the influence of a Corrupted artifact known as the HelioStone.

Step inside Post Malone’s Murder Circus to find showstopping Traits from The Trickshooter Troupe, The Ringmaster Troupe, and The Mystic Troupe.

The circus will appear at a random location in every Mission. Don’t miss out, but be on guard—it’s not just occupied by clowns.

Troupe Traits
Similar to previous Events, there are special Troupe-specific Traits that can be gained at Supply Points in the world, as well as at the circus.

At Supply Points and the circus, you will find Pledge Boxes. These can be used to pl... Read more

Hunters,

The patch notes for Update 2.2 can be found below. Happy Hunting!

For full description of Post Malone's Murder Circus, head over here.

~ The Hunt Team



Dark Sight Boost Changes
With Update 2.2, players can receive a Dark Sight Boost even while not holding a Bounty Token. While looting a Bounty Token still ... Read more

Hunters,

Below you will find the list of bug fixes in Update 2.2.

for Post Malone's Murder Circus description, head over here.
You will find the full list of Update 2.2 patch notes ... Read more

With Post Malone's Murder Circus comes another Battle Pass full of rewards for you to unlock.

Take a peak below to see what the Ringmaster himself thinks of what we've got in store.

With the release of Update 2.1.1, we've observed the reappearance of several bugs that had been resolved in previous patches. We are actively tracking these regressions to confirm the scope of change and begin implementing fixes into future updates.

Here’s a rundown of the regressions that we currently have confirmed for fixes coming in Update 2.2:

• Game Crashes During Streaming - Attempting to stream Hunt may result in crashes, interrupting your broadcast experience.
  
• Party Disbanding After Matches - Staying in a party after a mission does not work always as intended, this will now be resolved.
  
• Texture Loading Issues - Various objects, Hunters, and items at times fails to load properly, leaving grey placeholder textures visible.
  
• Invisible Weapons ...

Read more

Post Malone's Murder Circus is on the horizon! Step right up and take a look at what we've got planned for the Event and Update 2.2.

Watch the full video:

Post Malone's Murder Circus is Coming to Hunt!

Our biggest event to date is just around the corner, coming on December 12th!

#HuntShowdown1896 #PostMalonesMurderCircus #HuntPartner

Along with the many other fixes and new features coming to Hunt with Update 2.2, we are also introducing improvements to our Hunter Evolution System. Designed to deepen the identity and progression of your Hunters, the new system has been revamped with enhanced progression tracking and more. Here’s an in-depth look at the evolution of this system, why changes were made, and what you can expect to see in the future.

The Original Recruitment System
Previously, the recruitment system offered players two primary methods of acquiring new Hunters. You could directly purchase empty-handed Legendary Hunters with random Traits using Hunt Dollars or select from a random roster of rotating regular Hunters, all of whom varied in their gear, Traits, appearances, and names. These Hunters were organized into tiers, with early recruits appearing simple and inexperienc... Read more

Coming in our next big content update, we’re introducing a new mechanic: ammo scarcity.
This change will allow us to cycle specific custom ammo types and items in and out of
availability, helping us fine-tune the game's balance, shift the meta, and encourage an even
wider range of unique player strategies.

What Is Ammo Scarcity? In Update 2.2, certain custom ammo types will gain the status of "Scarce", similar to our
Scarce Traits system. When an ammo type is marked as Scarce:

• It will no longer be available for purchase in the store
  
• Players can still pick it up during missions
  
• Existing inventory of the affected ammo types can still be used

What Ammo Has Been Marked Scarce? For Update 2.2, the following custom ammo types will receive scarcity status:

...

Read more

The Steam Awards Have Returned!

You have the chance to nominate the best and brightest games of the year.

We want to thank you all for your support and hope you will nominate us for the “Labor of Love” award.

You can find out more information here: https://store.steampowered.com/steamawards/nominations

Roll up, roll up! Post Malone's Murder Circus is coming to town!

Join the Deposed King and his corrupted sideshow in our biggest ever event, coming soon to Hunt: Showdown 1896.

Watch now!

Matchmaking is a crucial element of the Hunt experience, and is something we are always working to improve. The MMR system is key to creating fair and competitive matches, so today we’re providing some insight into how it works, the challenges we sometimes face, and why your matchmaking experiences might sometimes feel uneven.

MMR Calculations
MMR is determined by your performance in-game — not by your playtime, rank, or prestige. The system uses a modified version of the OpenSkill algorithm, which includes a certainty variable that adjusts over time. This means that when you’re new to the game, your rank will fluctuate more often than when you have hundreds of hours racked up.

As the system learns about your skill level, it can more accurately determine your rank and as such your MMR stabilizes, leading to less radical changes after each matc... Read more

Hunters,

Update 2.1.1 is live! With it, we are adding the contents from Harvest of Ghosts to regular progression and rolling out a number of fixes. Check out the full list of changes below!


Harvest of Ghosts Ends Harvest of Ghosts content added to regular progression

Weekly Challenges Updated Weekly Challenge Sets



Meta
The new Weapons, their variants, and their Custom Ammo have been added to the regular progression.

• Rifles:
  
  • Maynard Sniper – Bloodline Rank 1
    
  • Maynard Sniper Dumdum Ammo – Bloodline Rank 1
    
  • ...

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Hunters, 
 
The Live Servers will be taken offline Tomorrow, 25 November at 08:00 CET to deploy Update 2.1.1. With it, we are adding the contents from Harvest of Ghosts to regular progression and rolling out a number of fixes. Check out the full list of changes below!

Est. Downtime ~3 hours.


Harvest of Ghosts Ends Harvest of Ghosts content added to regular progression

Weekly Challenges Updated Weekly Challenge Sets



Meta
The new Weapons, their variants, and their Custom Ammo have been added to the regular progression.

• Rifles:
  
  • Maynard ...

Read more

Hunters, in today’s Developer Insight we are bringing an update from our Fair Play Task Force and providing some data regarding recent bans and actions we have taken against popular exploits.

NPI Exploit & Tracking
We recently implemented new detection measures that we are employing to catch several kinds of offenders - one of which is the well-known Nvidia Profile Inspector abuse.

Nvidia Profile Inspector (NPI) is a tool that helps users customize their graphics card performance in ways that aren’t possible in regular settings. It allows players to fine-tune how their machine runs games, making it possible to improve performance or change specific visual effects.

This tool was being misused to force Hunt to render the game at such low graphical quality that the abuser would be able to see through vegetation across maps and remove visibi... Read more

They say he came out of the Georgia hills, way up north near the Tennessee state line. Walked out of them woods with a guitar on his back and a dream, back in those wilder days. He'd wander from town to town, singing songs with power in them, songs that called to the lonely and the desperate and the strange. Every town he went through, one or two or five of these misfits would just pick up and follow him when he left. He never asked, and he never offered. They just came, and put their faith in him. Pretty soon what had been one man with song on his lips turned into a traveling carnival, a circus where folks slotted themselves into roles they discovered they had all been born to play. They got big enough so that real circus acts heard tell of them and joined up too. Made things respectable, at least on the outside.

The circus followed the roads, going wherever ... Read more

We sat down with Hunt veteran Post Malone for an exclusive Q&A!
From dream Traits to the perfect loadout and tons more, check out the full interview now.

Hunters,

We are back again to discuss a hot topic in any gaming community: monetization. With this post, we want to clarify our philosophy around monetization in Hunt: Showdown 1896 and provide transparency to how we have reached those decisions.

Ultimately, the key message we want you to take away is this: Our central goal with monetizing is to support live service operations, updates, and new content going forward.

We want to ensure our processes around monetization are fair and transparent, and we will discuss some instances where we missed the mark as well as some examples of successes. We acknowledge we do not always get it right on the first try, but it is important to us that you understand that the money you spend in-game funds all aspects of Hunt’s development and ongoing operations.

Base Game Sales

Earli... Read more