“Why change what worked!?”: a large-scale update of Hunt: Showdown “dropped” the shooter’s rating on Steam due to an inconvenient interface

Developers from Crytek released a major update for their PvPvE shooter Hunt: Showdown last week, improving the engine and making numerous changes to gameplay mechanics and interface elements. The update not only helped the game set a new record for the number of simultaneous users, but also added many reasons for discontent.

Image Source: Crytek

After installing the update, the game changed its name to Hunt: Showdown 1896 – the authors decided to emphasize its scale and importance in a special way. Judging by recent reviews on Steam (the rating dropped to 33% based on over 11 thousand submissions), the user interface in the shooter has become too confusing and overloaded.

Here are just a few quotes from the latest reviews from indignant fans of the project (the authors’ spelling and punctuation have been preserved).

«While I enjoy the game itself, the new UI actually discourages me from playing at all. He’s really that bad,” said a player with the nickname CptKillsteal24.

«Due to the new update, the game is unplayable. It’s so dark that I can’t see the hunter a meter away from me. And this menu with windows in windows in windows… How they continue to break the game,” complains someone Dylan.

«A bunch of menus and console control are just murder. The desire to play was completely gone, the game was good, why change what worked and not fix what doesn’t work (cheaters, aimers and wallhackers)!?” – asks another angry gamer.

The development team responded quite quickly to the wave of dissatisfaction addressed to them and promised to rework the interface. In a recent video, Dennis Schwarz, design director for Hunt: Showdown 1896, said that resolving core issues around hunter and gear selection, inventory types and loadouts, and resetting sorting filters is a priority for the team.

Hunt: Showdown changed its name to Hunt: Showdown 1896 on August 15, and also switched to the CryEngine engine version 5.11. The shooter received 16 new locations, a lot of new ammunition and modifications for weapons, an improved shooting system, improved ballistics and “a million” other changes. The updated project is available on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X and S (support for versions for PS4 and Xbox One has ended).