Hunt: Showdown 1896 Devs Address UI Changes Amid Review Bomb

Hunt: Showdown 1896's big update was needed, but people don't like the UI.

By Tanner Dedmon

Hunt: Showdown just recently got its massive upgrade to transform the game into Hunt: Showdown 1896, a monster-hunting game which is effectively the same experience albeit with a new engine, new and updated maps, and other changes. It's a change that the community was largely excited for with the upgrade hyped up over the course of two days when the game went offline to prep for the transition, and for the most part, it's been received well. The new UI layout, however, hasn't been embraced by the community and has unfortunately triggered a review bomb during an otherwise celebratory period for the game

In response to that speedy and "Mostly Negative" feedback per the recent Steam reviews, Hunt: Showdown 1896 developer Crytek has already addressed the situation in a community update laying out where the game's at right now in terms of UI design and the overall user experience as well as where the devs would like to see the game go. Dennis Schwarz, the design director for Hunt: Showdown 1896, appeared in that video to confer with the community and said that the team is "continuing to refine and redesign the user interface," so don't expect what you see now to be the final product. The gear screen showing what Hunters have equipped is one of the first areas to be improved.

"The player's current equipped gear configuration will have a new layout," Schwarz said. "In this rework the gear screen allows players to jump between their weapons, tools, consumables, and traits, without having to exit to the previous Hunter detail screen. Players can toggle their view between equipment details and a paper doll view that allows interacting with the Hunter's various inventory slots."

In addition to that new gear screen, Hunt: Showdown 1896 players will also see a new "Play" button added to the top navigation bar to expedite matches which, fair enough to review-bombers, probably should've been present in the first place when the UI was overhauled. Similar to how that button will streamline matchmaking, another option will be added that'll let players change their selected game mode without having to go back to the home screen every time.

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Schwarz did not say when these updates will be released, he did confirm that these changes will take more than just one update to implement.

"Please bear with us as we keep on refining menus and updating systems across the game over the next updates," he said in closing. "We are extremely grateful for the largest player base the game has ever seen and eager to keep improving the game and growing the community with each new update."

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