Hunt: Showdown is a PvPvE multiplayer game, which means there are AI-controlled enemies scattered around the bayou where you’re tracking down rival bounty hunters. For the most part, though, these NPC enemies aren’t serious threats – see a zombie, and you take it out with a couple quick knife stabs or brass knuckle strikes. However, when Hunt: Showdown’s update 1.8.1 arrives, you’ll have to approach these undead shamblers a bit more carefully.
The next major update for Hunt: Showdown will include armed versions of the grunt zombies that amble around the haunted bayou. There are a couple variants: they can be holding either a rusted pistol or a lantern, which can be either lighted or unlit. In both cases, you’ll need to approach with caution – not so much because they’re significantly more threatening themselves, but because of how important sound is in Hunt.
Here’s the important bit: if a zombie holding a broken pistol manages to land a hit with it, the pistol will discharge a round. The bullet won’t strike anything, but the report will be something every other bounty hunter on the map hears, allowing them to pinpoint your location.
Grunts holding lanterns are less of a stealth problem, but if they’re able to hit you with a lighted lamp, you’ll be doused in oil and set on fire. Unlit lanterns will simply break, coating your hunter in oil (which can then be set on fire).
Fortunately, you can make a grunt drop its weapon by hitting it in the arm it’s holding it in. Dropped lanterns can then be picked up and used, which is a handy feature – and it may create new options for getting sources of flame to remote areas of certain maps, too.
Update 1.8.1 also adds a new daily quest system, which you can check out in the trailer below.
The update should be available on the Hunt: Showdown test servers next week, and will make its way to the live servers at some point after that. It includes a wide variety of updates and enhancements, including a fix for the Romero shotgun aim-down-sights bug, and new sound effects for bullet casings when they fall to the ground – there are distinct effects for different types of ground cover and flooring, which will add even more to Hunt: Showdown’s spooky atmosphere.