Didn't think I'd ever write a negative review for Hunt, but here we are.

I'd like to preface this by saying that this is from the perspective of a long-time, high-MMR player. I started playing seriously in late 2020, but I had played during early access in 2019 as well for anyone who remembers that. I've been here for the highs and lows, and I think after years of dealing with Crytek making the same mistakes over and over I'm just tired. With every "event" (Which is just a battle-pass season) they introduce more and more clearly broken weapons or traits that aren't just occasionally "broken" in the balance sense (I'll get to that later) but broken on a technical level.

Peacemaker (Desolation's Wake) was especially egregious. I originally typed out a detailed explanation of why, but scrapped it because I don't want this review to be longer than it's already going to be. Long story short, instead of fixing it during the event, Crytek just put out a statement saying "This is against the rules and bannable" like it already wasn't. There's already a rule stating only organic teaming through VOIP or in-game text chat is allowed, and intentionally teaming before a game was already bannable. If this wasn't bad enough, it took them until the event was half over to even issue this nothing-burger statement. It never got patched. They just said they'd revert XP/Money gained by players who abused it, which didn't fix the root issue of games being ruined for 60 days.

Peacemaker is just my best example, as other traits from previous events had similar - although not as damaging - traits like the Infernal pact which made you immune to (and heal) from fire on top of automatically curing bleed. Paired with bloodless, an antidote shot, and the fact everyone was running it and nothing else for the aforementioned reasons, all status effects in the game were essentially useless, also for 60 days.

Another example on the weapon side is the Spear, and how it invalidated every other tool slot melee weapon for months and months before even being addressed by the devs where it got a nerf that did bring it down a peg but not enough to bring back the choice we once had in that category.

I could go on and on about brain-dead balance decisions over the years (Katana invalidating every other melee weapon, Dolch getting special ammo, some new special ammo being a straight upgrade to default, putting Surefoot in the base game, Lightfoot solo buff messing with the fundamentals, etc) to the point of bloating this review to be pages long, but whoever has the wheel right now genuinely needs to take a step back and listen to people who know how to play the game, or step down and let someone who knows how to play take the wheel. They also contradict themselves so often from patch to patch that it doesn't even seem coherent, the most recent example being nerfing Necromancer because they "Didn't want ranged revives to be spammed" and then adding revive bolts for the hand crossbow a patch or two later, which is ten times worse.

Problem is, they know all of this. They don't care. They balance based on usage metrics and back-end data instead of actually looking at the state of their game. It's the only reason the Uppercut keeps getting bullied; people use it because BIG IRON and they see it's popular and nerf it into the ground. I was in favour of the recent shift to a faster pace at first because I thought the most "Patient" team reliably winning every fight was intensely boring, but recently they've overstepped with Surefoot, revive bolts and really common restoration that removes a lot of the careful decision-making that made combat so interesting. I could go on for hours, I feel like I'm missing so much.

A HUGE issue for me was changing how penetration works and then claiming it was a "bug" that penetration was so good for 5-6 years. It very well could be, but if it took you half a decade to find it, that's on you. You shouldn't lower the skill ceiling just to "fix" something that wasn't a problem in the first place.

I've dealt with this for a long time, and I've always thought they're just finding their footing or they need more time to fix whatever it is they need to fix but after years of neglecting the state of the game and refusing to patch during 60 day blocks, I'm just tired.

They recently, for the first time in years, actually made a balance patch mid-event by slightly nerfing the Shredder, which again, was so busted it shouldn't have even shipped but that's the trend. If they become more hands on in the future I might be more enthusiastic but I have no more patience or hope for change anymore.

The most recent nail in the coffin for me is disregarding the game's atmosphere for IP collabs meant to draw in new players that, in my opinion, feel cheap and desperate. Why does every skin from the current pass need Post Malone's initials stamped on them? The Sparks Pistol has his initials branded on it literally 14 separate times, I wish I was joking. It feels like one of those "Every other popular game is doing it" situations where they feel like they have to as well if they want to break into the mainstream, which I think is misguided given that Hunt will never be mainstream unless they turn it into something else that isn't Hunt. They know this though, and they're working on changing it. Whether or not the game changes for the better or just becomes more generic is up in the air, but from the recent string of changes it's feeling more generic already.

I've already gone on long enough and I haven't mentioned a lot of other problems but it is what it is. The bad is starting to outweigh the good for me but don't get me wrong, I still love the game and want the best for it; I just don't think Crytek knows what to do with the game and it's going to cost them as more competition starts to appear.

If you're a new player, you won't be bothered by a lot of my personal issues with the game. Go ham, have fun. As soon as you climb in MMR (I play in 6) you'll understand, and whether or not you're patient enough to put up with the neglect will be down to you. Good luck.