Hunt: Showdown 1896 goes offline for a day after its latest update caused so many problems Crytek had to remove it completely

It’s been a rough day for Crytek, which after struggling for a day to get the new Hunt: Showdown 1896 2.4 update working properly has given up, rolled the whole thing back, and says it will try again later.

Trouble with the update became apparent almost as soon as the Judgment of the Fool update went live, as a raft of complaints about server problems and the inability to purchase Blood Bonds came flooding in. A couple hours after the update went up, Crytek said it was aware of the problem and took all game servers offline so it could fix the issue, with a promise to “update you as soon as the servers are back online.”

More than eight hours later, the servers finally came back—to Steam, anyway—but the 2.4 update did not.

“After exhausting all possible solutions, we have decided to revert the game back to Update 2.3 to restore stability and will be monitoring stability,” Crytek wrote on X. “At this time, the return to Update 2.3 is now available for Steam players. Console players can expect an update soon as we work on restoring availability to PlayStation and Xbox.”

A return date for the 2.4 update was not provided, but Crytek said it will bring it back “as soon as possible.” It also promised that players who encountered problems with purchases during the 2.4 update’s brief life will receive the items they bought as well as other unspecified compensation, and that “as a token of our appreciation for your patience,” all players will have until June 27 to redeem a code (XIE25T57R247N190) granting them 10,000 Hunt dollars.

This has not mollified much of the Hunt: Showdown community. Some fans (particularly those with less-than-great internet) are annoyed at having to download 26GB of data for the 2.4 update, only to have to download another 26GB of data to get rid of it, while others are irritated by the fact that they’ve been unable to play the game for an entire day.

The lack of regular updates from Crytek during the downtime is also a big sore point, and the offer of 10,000 Hunt dollars has also not made much of an impression: It’s a decent amount but not the premium currency, so it can’t be used for things like Legendary skins or battle passes.

Naturally, there’s also been a spate of negative user reviews on Steam, where the “recent reviews” rating now sits at “mixed.” 146 negative reviews have been posted so far today, many of them by players with literally hundreds or even thousands of hours in the game.

For now, that’s where things stand: Hunt: Showdown is playable on Steam, apparently not yet playable on consoles, and the 2.4 update is coming but it’s not clear when. We’ll keep our eyes open and let you know when it does.