Hunt: Showdown 1896 Takes to the Skies with Cargo Balloon Extraction in Road to Hell: Chapter 2

New Stronghold locations, Cargo Crates, and more in the second installment of this military epic.

July 2, 2026

Frankfurt am Main, Germany – July 2^nd, 2026 – Today, Crytek launched Chapter 2 of the highly popular in-game Event “Road to Hell” for Hunt: Showdown 1896. Chapter 2 takes the action outdoors with the introduction of a game-changing new feature: Cargo Balloons. This new extraction objective allows teams to work together to inflate a balloon and extract with their prizes. Found in Stronghold areas, this technology can be used to recover valuable Cargo Crates filled with all the loot a Hunter could yearn for.

Cargo Balloons

Based on real 19^th century military technology, the Cargo Balloon utilizes hydrogen stores to lift from the ground. Players will need to inflate the balloon by activating its gas tanks. Each balloon is connected to three tanks via a network of hoses.

Interacting with a tank valve opens the flow of gas and contributes to the inflation process. You want to activate those valves! This determines how quickly (or slowly) the vessel will inflate to be ready for lift off.

Loading Cargo

Hunters can load loot onto a Cargo Balloon at any time. You just need to interact with it while carrying cargo to ready it onboard.

Each balloon can carry up to 4 Cargo Crates and 1 Bounty Token stored in a Bounty Canister. When you've primed the Cargo Balloon and you're ready to launch, all that precious cargo will successfully extract with you.

But beware...if you're caught off guard while loading up, another team might just swoop in and claim the loot you worked so hard to collect. Whichever team extracts the Cargo Balloon will be the one who receives the rewards, regardless of who loaded the rewards into the balloon. So keep your wits about you and launch that Cargo Balloon as soon as you can!

New Cargo Crates

There are three Cargo Crates which have been added and are scattered across the Stronghold for you to find:

Scarce Ammo Cargo Crate
Hunt Dollar Cargo Crate
Weapon Cargo Crate

Each crate type can appear in either a Standard or Worn variant. The condition of the crate will determine the quality of the rewards inside.

Counterplay

Enemy Hunters can easily disrupt your extraction process by sabotaging the gas tanks and forcing the valves closed. Worse yet, coordinated attacks from a strategically sophisticated team can significantly delay the inflation process and prevent a Cargo Balloon from being launched entirely.

"Hunt lives in that moment right before everything goes wrong. The Cargo Balloon is built around it. The second your team starts inflating the balloon, you're out in the open, the prize is loaded, and every other team knows exactly where you are. That puts a real choice in front of your enemies," commented Zoher Toutanji, Chief Publishing Officer and latest addition to Crytek leadership. "Do they go for the gas tanks and shut it down before it ever lifts off, or do they hold back, let you do the work, and hit you at the last second to take everything you fought for? Some of the best moments in Hunt are ones we never could have planned, and this one's going to be full of them. Whatever you pull off in the Stronghold, we'll be watching."

Cargo Balloons can be disrupted by enemy Hunters.

Damaging an active gas tank valve forces it closed, stopping the flow of hydrogen from that gas tank. Coordinated attacks can significantly delay inflation progress and prevent a balloon from being launched before rival teams arrive.

Cargo Balloons create new opportunities for risk-versus-reward gameplay, encouraging teams to defend valuable cargo while remaining vulnerable to attacks from competing Hunters.

Even More Content

Additional content coming to this update include new Story Challenges “The Regiment’s Last Stand” (Free) and “Let Us Prey” (Premium). Avatars featuring past DLC Legendary Hunters for Player Profile Cards will now be available too. The full list of what is available in the update can be found in the Patch Notes here.

Take Off Now

Get ready to experience Chapter 2 of Road to Hell on July 2^nd! What will happen in your next game? It’s all up in the air…

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

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