Crytek released the 1896 update for Hunt: Showdown last week, and PC players have returned to the multiplayer shooter in droves.Per SteamDB, the game reached a new peak of concurrent players with 60,124 players on its August 15 release. According to PCGamer, that's well up from its last high of 41,255 players in October 2023.Significant updates and new expansions (or an incoming sequel) often revitalize a game's community. In Hunt's case, 1896 was deemed by Crytek to be the start of a "whole new era" for the game, which turns five years old on August 27.

Hunt: Showdown will keep on keeping on

Late last year, general manager David Fifield explained Crytek has no plans to make Hunt 2 anytime soon. It wants to keep the player base right where it is, and 1896 works just fine as a major shakeup to extends the game's lifecycle.Despite the player numbers, Hunt 1896 has received criticism for performance problems and its revamped UI reportedly making it more difficult to enter games. Crytek later released a video saying it would make changes in the future.In 2022, Game Developer spoke with Crytek about making sure Hunt: Showdown avoids the same issues as similar live-service shooters, which you can read here.