Crytek announced Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age in the summer of 2014 as a four-player co-op shooter set in the 1880s, in a world where monsters are real and your job is to hunt them down. That was the first and last we heard of it: It was supposed to go into closed beta testing later that year but fell victim to Crytek's financial difficulties, which left it languishing (in a box in some dark corner in the basement, I would assume) at Crytek's Frankfurt studio.
But now it's back, sort of, with a new name—Hunt: Showdown—and what appears to be a somewhat changed premise: "When two hunters risk everything and evil waits unseen, the hunter becomes the hunted." What that actually means is anybody's guess, but the teaser released earlier this week suggests that the game will still be set in a 19th-century horror-fantasy world, but will feature a greater focus on competitive play.
The page source at huntshowdown.com has a little bit more to say—"Face off against unearthly horrors in the forgotten corners of the world. In Crytek's new game you will hunt together, but you will die alone"—but there's nothing else to see right now aside from the teaser and links to Facebook, Twitter, and a mailing list. The social media sites aren't exactly replete with information either, although the Twitter feed is at least maintaining an appropriately ominous tone.
@DanzyJinny the thousand eyes of evil lurk in the dark, so you have to be ready for the revelation. Patience Hunter, answers will come soon.May 18, 2017
So Hunt: Showdown might be a complete overhaul, or it could just be a new name on a revived, three-year-old project that hadn't really undergone any visible work anyway. I've emailed Crytek for more information about the new game and will update if I receive a reply.
Thanks, VG247.
