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.

Hunt: Showdown 1896, the next chapter of Hunt, where players can join a whole new experience as we leap forward chronologically and head west of the Bayou backwaters to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

Crytek is thrilled to unveil that Garden of the Witch, 2025’s first major Event of Hunt: Showdown 1896, will launch on March 26th and run until May 5th, introducing a gripping narrative pitting mystical forces and industrial occultism against the encroaching Corruption. ​

The Event comes alongside the highly anticipated Update 2.3, kicking off a year of improvements, fixes, and performance updates for the game.

When Hunters return home, someone has to patch their wounds and repair their gear. But what happens when even this falls apart and the healers and the fixers are forced to fight too? Garden of the Witch explores this question through a tale of desperation and resilience of the Hunters wounded and left behind.

The Event story sees The Brujas, masters of organic mysticism, face a crisis as the Corruption poisons their healing plants. Meanwhile, the Welders, reliant on industrial occult practices, find their minds warped by blood-soaked metal. Initially at odds, these factions are forced to unite against the Corruption, forming an uneasy alliance as they fight for survival.

Earlier this year, Hunt revealed a renewed focus on improvements, fixes, and performance coming throughout 2025. Community feedback has played a key role in shaping our priorities moving forward. As a result, Garden of the Witch features a more scaled-back Event design while we concentrate on delivering key fixes, balance changes, and performance improvements in the months ahead.

Garden of the Witch

​Garden of the Witch sees cursed nature and Corrupted metal clash. In the story of the Bruja duo and the Welders, each group fights against the Corruption with their own strengths. The Brujas bring organic mysticism to the table, while the Welders are armed with industrial occult practices and fire.

​Players will earn Event Points and Pledge Marks like in previous Events, however instead of a vow pledging a Hunter to a Pact or a Troupe, Garden of the Witch brings three Event-exclusive Sealed Trait Rewards, which have been selected from past Events.

Event Highlights

• Exclusive Sealed Traits: ​ Players can use their earned Pledge Marks to unseal and equip three Event-exclusive Sealed Traits—Blademancer, Corpse Seer, and Gunrunner—each offering unique abilities to enhance gameplay. These Traits are only available during Garden of the Witch.
  • Blademancer: Use Dark Sight to quickly retrieve launched projectiles.
  • Corpse Seer: Receive a Dark Sight Boost when looting Hunters, even without a Bounty Token.
  • Gunrunner: Allow your Hunter to equip two large guns at the same time.
• Rare Supply Points: Scattered across the map, these rare areas offer coveted rewards, including Sealed Bounty Tokens, Master Clues, and Full Health Restoration Kits, as well as an Event-exclusive Sealed Trait, Sealed Cash Registers, and all types of Sealed Envelopes that can be paid for by Pledge Marks.
• New Hunters and Cosmetics: ​ Unlock the Bruja and Welder Hunters, each with two variants, and explore a wealth of new equipment Skins, Charms, and Inspect Animations.
• Weekly Challenges: A revamped Weekly Challenge system ensures a more balanced and varied experience, preventing weapon dominance and keeping gameplay fresh.

Earn enough Event Points, gain Pledge Marks, and spend them on some awesome Sealed Rewards which include exclusive Traits. Just like in the previous Event, players will also be able to steal Pledge Marks from other players by looting their dead bodies, bringing even more havoc and ways to play.

Update 2.3

Based on our commitment to refining the game’s core experience and listening to player feedback, we’re refocusing on quality-of-life improvements, bug fixing, and performance throughout 2025.

​Ahead of Update 2.3, we rolled back and adjusted several changes done in the past year. ​ This included balancing Traits such as Lightfoot’s silent crouch, the Bear Trap’s damage, and stuck projectile mechanics. We’ve also addressed community-reported issues such as concertina wire damage through floors, hanging chains blocking attacks, lingering poison effects, and UI bugs.

Performance, stability, and quality-of-life features for our players remain our top priority, each with their own planned improvements throughout 2025. A lot more fixes and tweaks are upcoming, along with bigger changes.

Update 2.3 brings exciting new changes, including:

• Recruitment Revamp: New Hunters now come with 10 Upgrade Points to freely spend on unlocked Traits, offering greater customization options from the get-go.
• Trait Adjustment: Poltergeist and Blast Sense return as regular Traits, with Blast Sense now also detecting silenced shots.
• New Compounds for Bounty Clash: Arden Parish and Darrow Livestock join the pool of possible Bounty Clash compounds, alongside refined spawn points and item locations.
• Gameplay Tweaks: Syringe use has been improved, and Dark Dynamite Satchels ​ can now be disabled and picked up.
• Bounty Clash Tweaks: Following community feedback, the number of teams has been reduced to four in order to ease the pressure at the start of the clash. The “Nighttime” Time of Day has also been removed from Bounty Clash Missions to ensure better gameplay flow.
• Stealth Adjustments: Stealth mechanics have been rebalanced to better reflect their value. Silenced weapons now suffer a 10% damage decrease, and throwable melee Tools have been adjusted to emphasize specialization.

Gunplay changes reflecting community feedback:

• The Bolt Thrower Trait now works with the Bomb Lance and Bomb Launcher for faster reloads.
• The Maynard and Martini-Henry now also benefit from the Fast Fingers Trait.
• New Weapon Variants: Introducing the 1865 Carbine Silencer, Obrez Match, and Obrez Sharpeye.

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 1896 is available for PC (Steam), PS5 and Xbox Series X|S