The Game That Came From Hell

And Should Be Praised For It

E3 2017 was a blast and with it came a tidal wave of games to look forward to, but there’s one that I believe might have fell through the cracks. A game that rivals some of the stronger announcements such as Anthem and Assassins Creed Origins. It throws players into the 1800s but there’s something not right. The map is dark and full of terrors. Sorry I’m still getting over the fact that this season of Game of Thrones is over.

The game I’m referring to is Hunt: Showdown, and it deserves your attention, let me explain. The game starts by dividing players in either teams or leaving them stranded on their own on a multiplayer map full of demons. Your goal, to banish the demon, your obstacle, other players on the map given the same mission. And in the spirit of Left 4 Dead, the game carries a heavy penalty for death, that penalty being perma-death. That’s right, unless you have a teammate who can revive you, your death means you must spend the rest of the game as an observer. But if you can fight off the hordes of the undead and whatever else may be skulking you long enough to kill and banish the demon, you’ll be richly rewarded. It’s a high risk, high reward bounty system that should be seen more in games.

Along with the game’s no mercy mentality, it leaves players in a fantastic world that truly burns the idea of life or death into the minds of its players. The setting we were given in the E3 gameplay was a southern swamp in a very gothic 1800s where zombies and other creatures lurk freely. But there’s something even more dangerous, and that’s other players. This mix of ingredients makes for a very unique choice not normally found in games today. It makes the player ask, should we interact with the environment, should we kill these zombies, should we walk on this path, should we even go for the objective, or should we wait in the darkness? Wait for other players to make the mistake of announcing themselves one way or another so that you can shoot them down. Because for every less player there will be one less obstacle to get in your way.

There’s only one game I can compare this to. A game that pit you against other players while putting you in pursuit of a reward destined for only 1 player or 1 team. The Division, or more accurately the Darkzone within The Division. Except rather then a mid-evil swamp you’re in an abandoned concrete jungle. And instead of fighting off players as your demon is banished to hell you’re fighting off players until your helicopter arrives. Both games have elements that make them stronger, and weaker, but one element stands out to me in Hunt: Showdown. That element is the one of dark fantasy that makes everything unpredictable. In The Division you know that every piece of loot is guarded by a bad guy with either a flamethrower or a machine gun. But in the gameplay we saw from the E3 demo we saw a variety of enemy types until we were finally faced with the target, which was a giant spider. Now, I don’t know about you, but I wasn’t expecting that, but that may have been my fear of spiders not allowing me to imagine such a thing.

This adds a level of unpredictability that keeps the player wanting more, while not knowing what’s behind that door that creaks open like a 90s horror movie. And although this can’t be shown off in a single gameplay demo this may also add to the variety of weaponry and rewards you can win. After all, The Division wasn’t a bad game, but the game had a ceiling in terms of its rewards and enemies. That ceiling was the fact that it was bound to realism, which limited your experiences in the game. So this game pulls nearly everything from The Division that makes it attractive, all while removing the limitations brought on by realism.

So keep your eyes out for this game, and if this is your first time hearing about it then I’m happy to introduce you to it. What I envision for this game is something that may not be immediately popular due to the barrier of entry in terms of the skill required. But it can be a game that’s built on the sense of community found within the game, sound familiar. Yes, I think this game may rival Destiny in terms of the community it builds through its sense of PvP competition within a PvE world.

What do you think? Do you think this game could claw itself to the top ten Twitch games?