“It pains us greatly to share today that we must lay off an estimated 15% of our around 400 employees,” posted Crytek. “The layoffs affect development teams and shared services. This has not been an easy decision to make, as we deeply appreciate the hard work of our talented teams. After putting the development of the next Crysis game on hold in Q3 2024, we have been trying to shift developers over to Hunt: Showdown 1896.”

Further in its statement, Crytek said that the layoffs were an inevitable thing for the company despite having done its best at remaining financially viable by reducing costs and cutting operating expenses. It is, however, offering the employees affected by the layoffs with severance packages and career assistance services.

Moving forward, Crytek has said that it will double down on Hunt: Showdown 1896 with more content and updates down the line. This also includes further work on the engine running the game, CRYENGINE.

“We firmly believe in the future of Crytek,” said the company in its statement. “With Hunt: Showdown 1896, we have a very strong gaming service and remain fully committed to its operation. We will continue to expand and evolve Hunt: Showdown 1896 with great content and drive our strategy for our engine CRYENGINE.”

Hunt: Showdown 1896 is available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

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— Crytek (@Crytek) February 12, 2025

For starters, there’s a new map in the form of Mammoth’s Gulch, which encompasses 16 unique compounds and various different environments, from mines to burnt and abandoned towns. There’s also a new target, called the Hellborn, which, in Crytek’s words, “moves frantically to slag trespassing Hunters, scorching everything in its considerable reach”, and is best dispatched with speed, given the fact that its “raging howls” can attract other Hunters to your location. Meanwhile, all of Hunt: Showdown’s previous maps will also arrive in remastered and overhauled form with a free post-launch update that’s yet to be dated.

Then there’s the new in-game Scorched Earth event, which will run from now until October 7, bringing new story details about Mammoth’s Gulch, as well as rewards in the form of new equipment, ammo, and weapons. On top of that, Crytek is also introducing a battle pass, as well as a new weekly challenges system. 

Crucially, Hunt: Showdown 1896 also sees the first-person shooter upgrading its engine. Now running on CryEngine 5.11, the game now boasts enhanced visual fidelity, and improvements across lighting, animations, audio design, and more. On PS5 and Xbox Series X, it runs at 4K and 60 FPS, while on Xbox Series S, it targets 1440p at 60 FPS. Other, gameplay-related improvements encompass improved controls, new wildlife, gunplay enhancements, and more. 

Meanwhile, as previously confirmed, this update also means that Crytek is no longer supporting Hunt: Showdown on PS4 and Xbox One. A free upgrade path is available, but going forward, the game will be unplayable on last-gen consoles.

Hunt: Showdown 1896 is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Check out the full patch notes for its big update through here, and watch its launch trailer below.