Hunt: Showdown Targets the “Pay to Win” Character, Cain, Once Again.
If you’ve ever played Hunt: Showdown you’ll know the world is covered in mud and muted brown colors. It takes place deep out in the bayou where you can run across a lot of strange things. However, most of the other hunters you run across are easy to see. Many wear bright white shirts, leather coats, gold masks, or even huge targets on them. The skins of Hunt: Showdown usually stand out against the dead world.
As you can see, covered in war paint or wearing bright white cloaks is not something that hides well in the swamp. The idea behind the legendary hunters is for players to have a cool look and find a style that fits them, but not to be able to pay to blend into the swamp. However, the release of one character has arguably given players a good advantage over the rest in the stealth department. That would be legendary hunter, Cain.
Since Cain came out players have been vocal about how hard he is to spot in the world. Covered in mud and bone and wearing nothing that really separates him from the background he is easy to miss. Making him great for ambushing (a little too great some might say).
I’ve played games where groups of three players have all played as Cain and even had “Cain” in their gamer tags. The sweaty players of Hunt will all be running this character. It’s often that you will get killed from just meters away with no clue where the bullet came from…. until you see the death summary saying it was from a Cain.
I don’t think that Crytek meant to create a pay-to-win character in the game, but it sure looks like it has turned out to be this way. Cain runs you around $7 for the pack that includes him, and while to some this is no problem, not everyone wants to be dropping additional money on a game they already purchased. In free-to-play games (Fortnite, Warzone, etc) I understand the idea of charging for characters and skins that maybe do something extra… but in a game that you already have to pay for I think the idea of a skin that can alter play is a bit shady.
But what do you do once you have a large group of people who have already purchased Cain? To do a complete rework would mean you would have to go around refunding everyone who purchased the original version. But to leave it alone would mean the player base keeps complaining and accusing the company of creating pay to win material.
The solution is a second round of reworking some of the character art. While not much, they have made him stand out a little bit more from the mud.
It’s not much, and seeing the before and after comparison with the trees behind makes it hardly look like anything. It does seem to add a bit more glow to his skin, making it pop just a bit. How much that will change it I’m not too sure.
I think Crytek is doing a good job at trying to balance it while not taking away an entire skin people have paid for. Hopefully, this will make some players happy. We will see how it turns out once fully implemented into the game and people get a chance to see for themselves.
