Hunt Showdown 1896 is out now and free on Steam if you're quick

Hunt Showdown doesn't want to be pushed aside by several newcomers to the extraction shooter scene and has therefore just undergone a makeover. And a big one at that. The revised and improved Hunting Showdown 1896 is finally here and to celebrate the day, the FPS will be free to play for everyone on Steam – but only for a very short time.

I write about a lot of different genres here on PCGamesN, but right now it seems like at least half of my stories are about Extraction shooters. Because of this, I'm now inventing the phrase “Extraction Shooter Summer.” I might even trademark it… Anyway, everywhere you look, new Extraction games are being launched, trailers and betas are being released for those still in the making, and entirely new projects are being announced. Hunt Showdown 1896 is a rarity, however, in that it's one of the forefathers of the genre that's currently undergoing a major overhaul.

While 1896 is technically a massive update to the FPS game, similar to how Overwatch was revamped into Overwatch 2, it will feel like a new game. Not only does it have a new engine and switch to a new map, but there are so many changes and features that the patch notes will have to span three separate Steam blog posts. It's insane.

With better graphics and performance, Hunt: Showdown is making sure it doesn't fall behind in the race to recover. Set in Colorado and called Mammon's Gulch, the new map “combines the best elements of previous maps with fresh content to create a unique setting.” New wildlife roams the environment. There's a new selection of weapons and equipment, existing firearms have undergone a major balance tweak, and shooting has been massively improved overall. An incredible amount of work has gone into this update and it should make this already fun FPS league even better.

Hunt Showdown 1896 is now available for PC via Steam and also for the current generation of consoles. There is also currently a free weekend for the game that ends on Monday, August 19th.

The combination of this groundbreaking update and the free weekend is having an immediate impact on player numbers. While Hunt Showdown has comfortably fluctuated between 20,000 and 40,000 concurrent players over the past few years, at the time of writing it sits at an all-time peak player count of 57,000, and that number is still rising.

You should definitely try it out in the next few days, it's free but if it doesn't grab your attention there are tons of other free PC games and great multiplayer games available.

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