Garden of the Witch opens its gates to Hunters seeking sanctuary March 26th
Cursed nature and corrupted metal clash in a new Hunt: Showdown 1896 update
March 20, 2025
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Garden of the Witch, 2025’s first major Event of Hunt: Showdown 1896, will launch on March 26th and run until May 5th . The highly anticipated Event introduces a gripping narrative pitting mystical forces and industrial occultism against the encroaching Corruption. The Event is released as part of Update 2.3, which includes many quality-of-life features, fixes and tweaks.
Watch the trailer now before it goes live later this evening:
A Story of Conflict and Survival
When Hunters return home, someone has to patch their wounds and repair their gear. But what happens when even this falls apart and the healers and the fixers are forced to fight too? Garden of the Witch explores this question through a tale of desperation and resilience of the Hunters wounded and left behind.
The Event story sees The Brujas, masters of organic mysticism, face a crisis as the Corruption poisons their healing plants. Meanwhile, the Welders, reliant on industrial occult practices, find their minds warped by blood-soaked metal. Initially at odds, these factions are forced to unite against the Corruption, forming an uneasy alliance as they fight for survival.
Earlier this year, Hunt revealed a renewed focus on improvements, fixes, and performance coming throughout 2025. Community feedback has played a key role in shaping our priorities moving forward. As a result, Garden of the Witch features a more scaled-back Event design while we concentrate on delivering key fixes, balance changes, and performance improvements in the months ahead.
Event Highlights
- Exclusive Sealed Traits: Players can use their earned Pledge Marks to unseal and equip three Event-exclusive Sealed Traits—Blademancer, Corpse Seer, and Gunrunner—each offering unique abilities to enhance gameplay. These Traits are only available during Garden of the Witch.
- Rare Supply Points: Scattered across the map, these rare areas offer coveted rewards, including Sealed Bounty Tokens, Master Clues, and Full Health Restoration Kits, as well as an Event-exclusive Sealed Trait, Sealed Cash Registers, and all types of Sealed Envelopes that can be paid for by Pledge Marks.
- New Hunters and Cosmetics: Unlock the Bruja and Welder Hunters, each with two variants, and explore a wealth of new equipment Skins, Charms, and Inspect Animations.
- Weekly Challenges: A revamped Weekly Challenge system ensures a more balanced and varied experience, preventing weapon dominance and keeping gameplay fresh.
Earn enough Event Points, gain Pledge Marks, and spend them on some awesome Sealed Rewards which include exclusive Traits. Just like in the previous Event, players will also be able to steal Pledge Marks from other players by looting their dead bodies, bringing even more havoc and ways to play.
Community-Driven Improvements
Alongside the Event, Hunt: Showdown 1896’s Update 2.3 introduces a host of gameplay refinements and quality-of-life enhancements. From rebalanced Traits and weapons to improved UI and performance fixes, the update reflects Crytek’s commitment to bringing new content along with addressing player feedback and delivering a polished experience.
Join the Hunt in Garden of the Witch
Garden of the Witch promises to be a thrilling addition to Hunt: Showdown 1896’s evolving world. Whether you’re a seasoned Hunter or new to the bayou, this Event brings something for everyone. Step forth, Hunters, and uncover the secrets of Garden of the Witch, a sanctuary for those who seek the healing this March 26th.
Fans of Port Sulphur Band can also look forward to their next track “Let Us Prey,” which will release on March 28th . You can pre-save it on Spotify now here
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About Hunt: Showdown 1896
Hunt: Showdown 1896 is the new era of the competitive first-person bounty hunting game, packing the thrill of survival and the reward of profit into a horror match-based format. Set in Colorado and the Louisiana Bayou in 1896, the game boasts a mixture of PvP and PvE elements that create a uniquely tense experience. It's not just the monsters who are a threat—it's every Hunter on the map. In the classic Bounty Hunt game mode, a match pits 12 players—playing solo or in teams of two or three—against each other as they race to take out gruesome creatures for a Bounty they must collect and extract from the map. Hunt's Soul Survivor mode offers a shorter match for solo players to scavenge for weapons as they compete for a diminishing pool of Bounty. The higher the risk, the higher the reward–but a single mistake could cost you everything. Hunt: Showdown 1896 is out now on PC, PlayStation 5 and Series X|S. For more information, visit www.huntshowdown.com