UPDATED: Going to change my review for now to Negative. If you read through the rest of my review, you can see a progression from 600 hours to now double that. A lot has happened in those 600 hours, including a full engine update and content drops. The reasons I am changing the review to negative now are these: UI updates that are bad and IP collaborations that make no sense.

With the 1896 update to the new engine, the UI was also substantially changed and is much worse off. This isn't a case of "It's a new UI and people hate it but will get used to it eventually". This is just BAD UI design, coming from a professional UI/UX designer. Multiple clicks to get to things where it used to be less, organization and hierarchy issues within the elements, and deficiencies in the overall UX that contribute to this feeling. I haven't gone a day since the update that I haven't said "God I hate that I have to do this now" pertaining to the UI.

The second reason is the Ghostface (and potentially subsequent collaborations) DLC. The meme for Hunt has always been that even if there are bugs, Crytek will find a way to put out new DLC and skins for people to buy. You can always chalk that up to the teams working on bugs and the art department working on the DLC being different. But the addition to IP collaborations for skins opens a whole new bag of possibilities. First and foremost, Ghostface does not fit the Hunt mythos. You can argue that his skin design fits the overall look of Hunt, and that would be valid. But anyone arguing that he BELONGS in Hunt is delusional. This opens the door to an increased number of skins that don't fit the Hunt theme. One of Hunt's strengths has always been its uniqueness when it comes to it being it's own thing. With IP collaborations that don't make sense, this changes that to be more in line with other extraction shooters and mainstream games and that does not fit Hunt.

I understand the need to monetize a live service game. And I understand that IP collaborations have the potential to bring in more players and funding. And I am not totally against them, IF THEY MAKE SENSE. That's the caveat. Pull from IP that fits the western theme. Pull from IP that fits the theme of pre-1900s. There are plenty. And those I can stomach a lot more than this move towards putting in anything that will sell.

For these reasons, my review will stay negative until (if ever) Crytek addresses these issues.

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Close to 600 hours in, I feel like I can give a more comprehensive recommendation for Hunt. When people say it's "the best shooter you've never heard of", they aren't lying. When I started playing a couple years back, it truly was a game that not that many people played. Luckily, the community and playerbase has grown to a much larger number.

Hunt has a really good balance of PVP and PVE. While it has PVE elements, those elements really serve to get you into PVP. You kill zombies and world mobs, and there are bosses. But those bosses are there to funnel people into the same area to fight. Both of these PVP and PVE elements are pretty satisfying for what they are. PVE is frustrating at times (especially since Crytek updated how many mobs are in the world). but that is their purpose. PVP fights are mostly fun and you feel pretty rewarded when you win an engagement.

There are plenty of guns and weapons you can use. Lots of variety in loadouts for sure. While there are some guns that seem OP, I feel it's few and far between. Crytek has done mostly a good job at balancing weapons and ammo types and constantly update these things to keep it balanced. Meta at the current time is long ammo for sure, but for the most part, the drawbacks to playing that make it balanced.

Cheaters are also few and far between. Yeah, they exist. But in my 600 hours, I probably have only encountered 4-5 obvious cheaters. Sure, that is anecdotal. But I'd say in my experience, that percentage rate (whatever the math works out to) is pretty good.

This game for me, is significantly better with friends to play with. Yes, you can play solo in both Bounty Hunt ("main" mode) and Quickplay (only solo) and do well. But having teammates to call out things and help is more fun. You can also play with randoms, though in full honesty, I never have. When I started playing, the general consensus was that when you got a random teammate, there was a high chance they would leave especially if you were lower level.

Crytek has also implemented events into the game. Up until the most current event (Serpent Moon), the other events have been bland and been a copy/paste of every other event. So it's nice to see some more variation in the event structure. It also seems as if Crytek is going to implement potential "seasons" and battle passes into the game after this event. There might be a lot of contention to this, but for a live service game that the data suggest isn't making much money from game sales anymore and the DLC and in game currency is doesn't make that much either, I feel like this is completely fine to continue funding the development of the game.

All in all, if you want a "hardcore" shooter game that is more inviting than something like Tarkov, and also like the elements of 1800s Louisiana and zombies, this is a great game and has become one of my favorites. I imagine I will continue to play it for several hundred if not thousands of hours as long as they continue to develop it.

EDIT: Almost another 100 hours into this and I have to say, it's getting better with each update. Crytek continues to add new ways to play and it mixes up the meta. They also recently adjusted prices for the guns in game to reflect their power and usage. Some people hate this, but I feel like increasing the prices of some of the more powerful guns makes sense. Especially when you consider that people who don't prestige are probably rolling in Hunt dollars as it is.

EDIT EDIT: Now almost another 400 hours in since my initial review, this is a game I would still recommend wholeheartedly. The amount of care that Crytek has put into this game is great. And while there are a lot of complaints about the team only making paid cosmetic DLC, I don't hate it. This isn't Stockholm syndrome either. The fact is, Crytek needs to pay for the development and only so many people can buy the base game. You aren't required to buy the DLC or even pay for the event passes. The only SLIGHT advantage you get by buying event passes is that sometimes, a specific gun variant is only available to unlock during the event if you bought the pass. But after the event is over, they work the those variants into the normal leveling structure. Plus, there is nothing stopping you from picking those weapons up from hunters you killed. I can see the above as a valid criticism as how they handle putting specific variants into the game, but again, I don't hate it. I would rather them do it this way to continue bringing in money to develop the game as opposed to having to cease development on Hunt and make a Hunt 2, or have to focus on creating legit DLC that is being a paywall.