Blood Testament Comes to Hunt: Showdown 1896 on September 8th
A Major New In-game Event Brings Players Together
August 26, 2026
Frankfurt am Main, GERMANY – August 26th, 2026 – Crytek have announced Blood Testament, a major new update for the iconic extraction shooter Hunt: Showdown 1896. The release promises a blood bath of new content and a unique large-scale Community Event that requires players all over the world to work together to unleash a new nightmare upon the corrupted Western backwaters of Hunt: Showdown 1896. Blood Testament releases September 8th, 2026.
See the Event Trailer Now:
A New Nightmare Is Rising
Desperate men make easy victims. When Warren Russett lost everything, Lynch offered him a blood serum that awoke an insatiable thirst for blood. Where will this road lead Russett?
Hunt players are invited to follow the thread and take part in an epic three-stage Community Event titled Make Them Bleed, earning points by killing monsters, hunting down Targets, and interacting with Blood Wells.
Each Blood Well grants a new Burn Trait—Siphon, which lets players loot a Scarce Trait from a fallen enemy Hunter, leaving the “Siphon” Trait in exchange.
The first stage of Make Them Bleed unlocks a new dynamic night cycle transforming the game: Blood Moon. Red takes over the bayou. During the Intense Blood Moon phase, crimson light drives monsters to attack faster and more aggressively, whereas during the Dark Blood Moon phase, clouds shield the environment, reducing visibility and returning monsters to their usual behavior.
Stage 2 brings a new Burn Trait, Chupacabra, that allows Hunters to restore one Health Chunk through interaction with animals.
In Stage 3, a new nightmare will be unleashed upon the bayou and the gulch, unravelling the twisted story of Blood Testament.
Brutal Firepower and Feature Rich Update
Blood Testament also increases the vast Hunt arsenal by bringing the Burgess foldable slide-action shotgun. Bayonet and Trauma variants add a blade and a hammer strike for a brutal new way to dispatch the living and the dead.
Alongside comes a large update introducing changes that have widely been requested by the Hunt community. Combat systems see significant shifts: the one-hit kill range for the Hunting Bow is reduced along with its reserve ammo, while the Terminus gains damage and tighter spread, and the Heavy Knife gets an improved hit detection.
Players can now save Traits within their Loadouts, and the number of potential Hunter Slots is expanded from 75 to 100. Following the success among players, all Extraction Points, as well as Supply Points and Scout Towers, are hidden by default.
Finally, a Fair Play Follow Up system is being introduced, intended to reimburse players with Hunt Dollars for confirmed cases of being killed by a cheater. In addition, an overhauled MMR Decay system aims to smooth the experience for returning players.
More details on Blood Testament and the upcoming update can be found at the Blog.
Join the Fight
A new weapon, community-driven changes to gameplay systems, a bloody unique Time of Day, and an exciting new Community Event are just some of the things for players to look forward to. Blood Testament is a massive addition to Hunt: Showdown 1896, and it’s a perfect time to join the fight against Corruption...or succumb to it and give in to a thirst for blood. The Blood Moon rises over the bayou September 8th.
For more information, visit the official website or follow Hunt: Showdown 1896 on Steam and official channels:
YouTube - @HuntShowdown
Discord - https://discord.gg/nFqe7r6AwQ
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/huntthegame/
X/Twitter - https://twitter.com/HuntShowdown
TikTok - Hunt: Showdown (@huntshowdownofficial)
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/huntshowdown/
Hunt: Showdown 1896 official website at https://www.huntshowdown.com
# # #
For more information, please contact:
Find out more about Crytek at https://www.crytek.com/
About Hunt: Showdown 1896
Hunt: Showdown 1896 is a brutally rewarding extraction shooter blending survival horror with competitive bounty hunting. Developed by Crytek and set in corrupted backwaters of the American West in 1896, it fuses PvP and PvE into a uniquely tense experience where 12 players, solo or in teams, race to slay monsters, claim Bounty Tokens, and extract with rewards.
Survive using an arsenal of authentic yet inventive weapons, tools and abilities, from Beetles to Tarot Cards, be creative in combat and build unique personalized loadouts giving you an edge in the action. Four massive maps and transformative weather conditions like wildfires and heavy rainstorm ensure no two hunts feel the same. Sound is vital: every creak, cry, or distant gunshot could mean survival or disaster.
Every match is a deadly showdown where every bullet counts and the smallest mistake costs everything. The higher the risk, the higher the reward. Express yourself through diverse Hunters and hundreds of unlocks - no one Hunts quite like you. Hunt: Showdown 1896 is out now on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. For more information, visit http://www.huntshowdown.com.