Hunt has absolutely spectacular environmental graphics, rivaling the best I've ever seen. Its wealth of atmosphere abounds in spades.

You'll find yourself running through a dark copse of trees, as lightning flashes above a grassy field ahead, and you will dread the impending doom that could await at the hands of human hunters or a monstrous metaphysical horror that might lurk in a random, lonely barn. In this way, Hunt's core concept is excellent. However, despite having weapon customization, character perks, consumables and character skin options, the game feels remarkably empty and devoid of purpose. You enter the map, find three clues, confront a monstrous boss and kill it. Then you defend waves of human-controlled hunters as you hurry towards an extraction point. Sometimes human players set traps and try to camp a boss spot but for the most part, the game is just endless tension punctuated by brief periods of combative relief.

Your characters die permanently and since you only get about 6-8 per day, the game feels slightly iPhone-like in its artificial bottlenecking of your progress. There is only one map and, while gorgeous and expansive, you will soon be tired of playing in the same environment again and again. The game, while beautiful, is very badly optimized. Despite running the game with a Core i7 8700, 32 GB of RAM and a overclocked Radeon VII, I was still only getting about 65-70 frames on 1440p, ultra or ~ 45 at 4K, ultra and the game would slowly decay in performance wherein after a few matches I'd be looking at 45 fps at 1440p, or 35 at 4K.

Ultimately, the problem with Hunt is that they moved away from the best elements of the original alpha/beta-test, while providing very little content in an online-only experience. The game vacillates between day and night but it's obviously a more oppressively tense experience at night. I like that it has day games but the night games are much brighter than they used to be and that's a shame. Also, with the same map and the same three enemies, which vary surprisingly little in combat, you quickly get a feeling that you've done it all in this game after a scant, few hours. The permanence of death also makes unlocking characters mildly onerous, as does leveling and crafting expensive equipment. I also don't understand why they don't have a single-player mode available (or perhaps offline) so that players that want to practice, can do so without losing everything they have.

Crytek used to be a AAA developer but Hunt honestly feels like an incomplete AAA title or a budget indie game. The game might be worth playing with friends if you obtain it on a 7-15 USD sale but it's not worth playing alone and the community just isn't there. Unless you get it on sale and group up with chums, I'd skip it and go for something else.

Not worth the time. You'll find better games elsewhere.

6.5/10.

Hunt has absolutely spectacular environmental graphics, rivaling the best I've ever seen. Its wealth of atmosphere abounds in spades. You'll find yourself running through a dark copse of trees, as lightning flashes above a grassy field ahead, and you will dread the impending doom that could await at the hands of human hunters or a monstrous metaphysical horror that might lurk in a random, lonely barn. In this way, Hunt's core concept is excellent. However, despite having weapon customization, character perks, consumables and character skin options, the game feels remarkably empty and devoid of purpose. You enter the map, find three clues, confront a monstrous boss and kill it. Then you defend waves of human-controlled hunters as you hurry towards an extraction point. Sometimes human players set traps and try to camp a boss spot but for the most part, the game is just endless tension punctuated by brief periods of combative relief. Your characters die permanently and since you only get about 6-8 per day, the game feels slightly iPhone-like in its artificial bottlenecking of your progress. There is only one map and, while gorgeous and expansive, you will soon be tired of playing in the same environment again and again. The game, while beautiful, is very badly optimized. Despite running the game with a Core i7 8700, 32 GB of RAM and a overclocked Radeon VII, I was still only getting about 65-70 frames on 1440p, ultra or ~ 45 at 4K, ultra and the game would slowly decay in performance wherein after a few matches I'd be looking at 45 fps at 1440p, or 35 at 4K. Ultimately, the problem with Hunt is that they moved away from the best elements of the original alpha/beta-test, while providing very little content in an online-only experience. The game vacillates between day and night but it's obviously a more oppressively tense experience at night. I like that it has day games but the night games are much brighter than they used to be and that's a shame. Also, with the same map and the same three enemies, which vary surprisingly little in combat, you quickly get a feeling that you've done it all in this game after a scant, few hours. The permanence of death also makes unlocking characters mildly onerous, as does leveling and crafting expensive equipment. I also don't understand why they don't have a single-player mode available (or perhaps offline) so that players that want to practice, can do so without losing everything they have. Crytek used to be a AAA developer but Hunt honestly feels like an incomplete AAA title or a budget indie game. The game might be worth playing with friends if you obtain it on a 7-15 USD sale but it's not worth playing alone and the community just isn't there. Unless you get it on sale and group up with chums, I'd skip it and go for something else. Not worth the time. You'll find better games elsewhere. 6.5/10.