Savage, nightmarish monsters roam the Louisiana swamps, and you are part of a group of rugged bounty hunters bound to rid the world of their ghastly presence. Banish these creatures from our world, and you will be paid generously—and given the chance to buy more gruesome and powerful weapons. Fail, and death will strip you of both character and gear. Your experience, however, remains in your pool of hunters—called your Bloodline—always.

Hunt’s competitive, match-based gameplay mixes PvP and PvE elements to create a uniquely tense experience where your life, your character, and your gear are always on the line. At the beginning of each match, up to five teams of two set out to track their monstrous targets. Once they’ve found and defeated one of these they will receive a bounty—and instantly become a target for every other Hunter left on the map. If you don’t watch your back, you’ll find a knife in it, and your last memory will be of another team of Hunters walking away with your prize. The higher the risk, the higher the reward–but a single mistake could cost you everything.

The Update 3.0 contains NVIDIA highlights, as well as many changes intended to improve the overall user experience, the biggest of which are the additions of a new Louisiana map—called Lawson Delta—for beta testing and skill-based matchmaking.

The Lawson Delta map debuted at TwitchCon 2018, and the new map also contains a brand-new Time of Day setting: Daylight. Under the unforgivingly bright light of the afternoon sun, players will need more stealth than ever to succeed. The updated skill-based matchmaking system is based on the Elo rating used in chess and should solve many of the past issues players have experienced. Update 3.0 also includes free tier 1 Hunters (replacing Tier 0 Hunters—and equipped with gear that cannot be resold), weapons-looting, a cash register sandbox feature, and one new weapon: the Nagant Officer Brawler.

Via the addition of NVIDIA Highlights, players will also be able to capture and share their most exciting moments from the match.

Alongside Update 3.0, Crytek has released a new Hunt developer diary, in which Hunt team members explore the thought process behind the creation of Lawson Delta.

“We wanted to make sure that the compound locations and their positions made sense in the world—that they didn’t just exist somewhere because we needed them there, but because that is where they would naturally have been built,” says Level Design Director Chris Auty.

With geographical realism in mind, the team began to flesh out the map, and the developer diary takes a deeper look at this process, while the footage gives players a closer look at some of the new map’s compounds.

Even in death, you will be able to progress among the ranks of Hunters via your Bloodline. Though one character may die, their experience will be transferred to your Bloodline, where it can be applied your other Hunters. If you make it off of the map alive, you will be able to use the money and experience you earn to kit out new Hunters and prepare for the next match. If you die, you lose everything but your experience.

Dark Sight allows Hunters to see into the veil between worlds, making that which cannot be seen by mortal eyes visible to those who have been initiated. Use Dark Sight when you are tracking monsters, and a ghostly light will guide you toward your next target. Dark Sight also marks players carrying a bounty, making them more vulnerable to ambush while trying to escape.

Hunt: Showdown is now currently available via Steam Early Access, priced at 29.99 EUR/USD and 25.99 GBP.