Weird Weird West: Co-Op Monster-Slaying In Crytek's Hunt

If that's one thing I want, it's world peace. But if there are two things I want, they're world peace and happiness. Three things though, the three things are world peace, happiness, and a pair of cool cowboy boots. Like many living in The Big Smoke, I hear the call of the wild frontier, and now Crytek have answered with the announcement of Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age.

Set in a spooky version of late-1800s America, it's a monster-hunting third-person monster-masher with four-player co-op. Think long guns, zombies, fancy hats, reptilemen, and great boots. It's being made by Crytek USA, the studio founded with remnants of Darksiders developers Vigil Games.

My thoughts, and I imagine yours too, jumped straight to Left 4 Dead and there's nowt wrong with that. Like those co-op monster-murdering sim, the level layouts and enemy placement have a touch of procedural generation to add a little uncertainty. Unlike them, though, it'll have ways to customise characters and weapons. Which will probably where the monetisation comes in.

Crytek say Hunt will be part of their "Games-as-a-Service range," joining fairytale MOBA Arena of Fate. I'm pretty sure that's their own jargon for trying to distance themselves from the not-wholly-positive connotations of 'free-to-play.'

As with so many free-to-play games, the idea sounds interesting but we'll need to see how aggressively they try to hoist us up in the air and shake pennies out our pockets. If the game's fun and enough friends take to it, I'd be perfectly happy paying for cosmetic-only hats and cowboy boots (cool hats, of course, being the fourth thing I want).

Beta signups are open on the official site, and here's a cinematic announcement trailer. More details are, of course, promised for E3 next week.