Improved Engine Costs Hunt Showdown Increased Requirements and Cancellation of PS4 and XONE Versions

Crytek has revealed details of the switch of the upcoming Hunt: Showdown to a new version of CryEngine. The price for the numerous improvements will be an increase in system requirements on PC and the abandonment of old consoles.

October 3, 2023 13:34

Improved Engine Costs Hunt Showdown Increased Requirements and Cancellation of PS4 and XONE Versions, image source: Crytek. — Improved Engine Costs Hunt Showdown Increased Requirements and Cancellation of PS4 and XONE Versions *Source: Crytek*.

Hunt: Showdown, despite being five years old (the game debuted in early access in 2018), is currently experiencing a golden period - in June the game set a new activity record. Many gamers will therefore be interested in the roadmap revealed by Crytek for the coming months.

The most important change will be the switch to version 5.11 of CryEngine, announced some time ago, which will take place in the first quarter of 2024.

The update introducing the improved version of the engine will also offer an additional map (with a new biome), which will be designed to showcase the new graphical capabilities of the technology.
The upgraded engine will also bring support for DirectX 12, FSR 2.1.2 and HDR.
The price for this will be an increase in minimum system requirements. To play, you will need a 7th-generation Intel processor (now an Intel i5-4590 will suffice) and an Nvidia GTX 1650 Super graphics card (now only a GTX 660 is required).

Raising the requirements was not an easy decision. However, according to an analysis of player hardware, the devs claim that these changes will affect less than 10% of the community, while significantly improving gameplay for the rest of the players.

Abandoning the version for older consoles

Larger consequences of the engine change will be for the consoles. Indeed, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions are scheduled to be abandoned in April 2024. Some consolation should come from the fact that users playing on old consoles will be given a free upgrade to the upcoming PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X releases.

Other changes are also planned, including an improved user interface to coincide with the engine upgrade. A number of other improvements will also be made ahead of the switch to the new version of the engine. There will be gamepad support, among others, and the progression system and matchmaking will also be improved.

Hunt: Showdown was released in early access in February 2018. A year later, the game lived to see version 1.0 and an Xbox One release. In turn, a PlayStation 4 port was released in 2020.