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.

Exactly one year ago today, Crytek released their multi player bounty hunting game Hunt: Showdown on Steam Early Access. In that time, the Hunt team has released 16 updates and patches, adding a new map, two new times of day, additional AI, a quick play game mode, challenges, and over a dozen weapons to the game throughout the year. Today the team is celebrating by looking back at everything they have accomplished and kicking off a 30% discount on Steam, running from now until March 4th at 10 am PT/ 1pm ET/ 7pm CEST.

Performance improvements have been an important part of the Early Access process, and many of the updates have focused on increasing the Hunt experience for players with all kinds of hardware specifications. Two performance patches were released right out of the gate, and then Hunt’s first big updates added more content: five new scoped weapons, two tactical bombs, 11 Hunter outfits, 12 new traits, and fall damage. Updates have kept up a steady pace ever since. The team has continued to steadily update the game on a regular basis since the game’s launch.

“I remember launch day like it was yesterday. The entire team got together in the lounge at the Frankfurt office, so we could all be there when Hunt went live, and celebrate how much we’d achieved. You could feel the excitement in that room. It was a huge milestone for the team,” said Hunt Producer Fatih Özbayram.

Afterwards, Update 2.0 kept the ball rolling with the addition of the Dark Sight Boost, looting, bear traps, the hive bomb, a flare pistol, and the Beastface and Tomahawk traits. These were soon followed by fog, crossbows, throwing knives, weapons with silencers, a combat axe, the Bolt Thrower and Bolt Seer traits, a reporting system, mission accolades, and more equipment. Next, the Water Devil, the ducks, water-based sound traps, liquid fire bombs, waxed dynamite, and rank and prestige badges were added as well. And that only brings the retrospective up to Update 2.3.

Update 2.4 was, again, focused on performance, while 2.5 brought trainee mode, new server regions, and weapon-balancing changes to the mix. With Update 3.0, Hunt celebrated the addition of its second map, Lawson Delta, as well as the addition of a skill-based matchmaking system, movement inertia system, corpse looting, anti-teaming mechanisms, and Nvidia Highlights.

Update 4.0 was another big update, with the addition of an all-new game mode—Quick Play—for those who enjoy playing solo or wanted a shorter match time. Alongside the new mode, Hunt also got daily and weekly in-game challenges, as well as gunplay and meta changes in 4.0. This was followed by 4.1., which added night-time lighting on Lawson Delta and holiday content.

With the release of each update, the team carefully tracked community feedback, taking their comments to heart, and modifying the development roadmap to reflect what active players were saying about how to improve the game and make it an even more fun experience. The result combines the community wishes with the team’s own vision, and has made Hunt what it is today.

Hunt’s latest update, Update 4.2., focused exclusively on performance, and community members can test Update 5.0 on Hunt’s Test Server right now. One of 5.0's big highlights is a new AI character called the Immolator. Players can get a preview of this fast and persistent AI in a new teaser video or by playing a few rounds of Hunt on the Test Server.

“It has been a busy year, and I’m proud of what the team has been able to accomplish with Hunt in that time,” said Crytek CEO Avni Yerli. “Everyone has worked really hard to make Hunt what it is today. Developing the game alongside such an engaged community has been a truly rewarding experience, and Hunt’s second year is going to be even more exciting.”

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 Early Access, priced at 29.99 EUR/USD and 25.99 GBP.