'We want to increase the cost of silence': Hunt: Showdown 1896's latest update brings a new event, a massive list of bugfixes and a tougher challenge for stealthy players

Here's a double-barreled blast of news for Hunt: Showdown fans. Crytek just launched a massive patch for its grungy Victorian extraction shooter, which scatters an array of adjustments across most of the game and provides a long list of bug-fixes to boot. This coincides with the launch of a brand new in-game event that brings event-exclusive character traits and a whole new type of supply point.

We'll explore the neatly trimmed verges of the event first. Titled Garden of the Witch, it's themed around a clash between nature and industry with the introduction of new Hunters—the druidic Bruja duo and the metallically-minded Welders. "Each fights the Corruption with their own strengths," the update's Steam page explains. "The Brujas with organic mysticism, the Welders with industrial occult practices and fire."

Alongside these new hunters, the event brings back an assortment of traits (namely Blademancer, Corpse Seer and Gunrunner) from previous events for a limited time, while also adding a new type of supply point called 'rare supply'. Aside from the valuable rewards it contains, rare supply is distinguished by the fact it moves around, with rewards "appearing together at various locations and are marked by black canvas and with a unique map icon."

Naturally, the event also adds a bunch of new weapon and equipment variants. These include two shortened Mosin Nagant rifles named the Mosin Obrez Sharpeye and the Mosin Obrez Match, as well as an 1865 carbine modified with a silencer, and custom 1865 carbine subsonic ammo which brings "quieter gunshots" to match.

On the subject of quieter gunshots, let's move on to the 2.3 patch. The headline change here is an adjustment to silencers, reducing their base damage by 10%. Crytek explains that it has "undervalued" the value of stealth previously, which seems odd considering noise has always played an enormous role in Hunt: Showdown. In any case, for update 2.3, Crytek says "we want to increase the cost of silence, and make sure the advantage it grants is counterbalanced appropriately."

Elsewhere, hand crossbow revive bolts have been removed completely. Crytek feels that revive bolts aren't "meeting our expectations" as things stand, though the developer will "continue exploring options" for more support-oriented items. Throwable weapons, meanwhile, have had their damage against AI enemies adjusted, making knives more effective against weaker enemies, and axes and spears are better against larger foes. And there's a wide array of more granular adjustments to things like traits, the arsenal meta, and audio.

Finally, there's that big ol' list of bugfixes. Players will no longer be pestered by bunnyhopping snipers, as Crytek has fixed an issue where "shooting while jumping resulted in 100% accuracy". Meanwhile, players can no longer accidentally ignite dead hunters by "touching them while on fire." By far my favourite fix, however is "Fixed an issue where Player A could appear to be killed by Player B even after Player B was already visually dead." Player B is always up to nonsense like that. About time someone put them in their place.

You can read the full patch notes here. Hunt Showdown's currently on a 50% discount as part of a broader sale on all things Crytek, so if you haven't checked out the game since its massive 1896 overhaul, now might be an opportune moment to do so.