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Assassin Monster Now Live in Version 6.0 Update For ‘Hunt: Showdown’
It’s been a long time coming, but after teasing the new Assassin monster a month ago, Crytec have finally added the monster in the version 6.0 update of Hunt: Showdown. The update also includes new weapons and character traits.
According to Crytek, “The Assassin is the product born from a lot of investigation into what bosses mean to Hunt in its current state, since the previous two boss targets were created, the game has shifted a lot to build a better core experience. With this in mind, we wanted to approach the issues that came out of the other bosses and see where we can build a benchmark that offers a few things; a challenge to new and old players, a balance between boss PvE engagement and the ever looming PvP, and something unique to set each boss apart.”
What this means is that those who previously had a chance to tackle the monster in its alpha stages will find that it now behaves much differently. Specifically, The Assassin “will use its behaviors in specific ways to punish the unprepared and reward those who keep calm and pay attention to what is about to happen.”
On top of that, players will be getting new weapons including the LeMat Mark II revolver and Lebel 1886 bolt-action rifle, the Bomb Lance (basically a huge spear that also fires explosive harpoons), a couple of trip mines, and placeable ammo boxes.
As for the new character traits, players can choose from Ghoul (players instantly heal 50 hitpoints when looting a dead Hunter), Vulture (players will always be able to loot dead Hunters they come across, even if they had already been looted by other players) and Adrenaline (enables players to instantly start recharging stamina when their health is critically low).
Lastly, the update also makes a big change to burning or burnt bodies. The update prevents “burning or burned-out” hunters from being looted as “an attempt to introduce more choice into existing player actions.” Basically, players will have to consider whether it makes sense to burn a downed player. “If they burn them, they lose the chance to loot the body. If they don’t, that player’s partner might have a chance to go for a revive,” Crytek said.
Hunt: Showdown is currently in Early Access on Steam, with Xbox One receiving the game via its Game Preview program later this Spring.
Let’s start with the good news. Lockbox looks far better than its misleading marketing materials suggest, a supernatural horror movie so darkly lit and color graded that you’ll have to squint your way through jump scares. It’s also anchored by reliable genre performers. That’s also about where the good news ends with this rote adaptation of Knifepoint Horror Podcast story “Winthrop.”
The empathetic Carla Gugino gives her all as Ellen, a saint of a woman with boundless patience who takes on life’s hard luck with a kind smile. After giving up her career as a fashion designer to become caretaker for a dying mother, she’s then forced to reinvent herself once more when her caretaker role ends. That catches us up to the events of Lockbox, where Ellen is asked to take in a cousin she hasn’t seen in quite some time who’s dealing with severe PTSD.
Just as Ellen finally establishes a real connection with Winthrop (Lou Taylor Pucci), it’s interrupted by the arrival of peculiar neighbor Vahna (Katharine Isabelle), who spells clear trouble. When Vahna shows up dead, it sets in motion a supernatural battle of possession.
Image Credit: Aura entertainment
Director Daniel Stamm (The Last Exorcism, Prey for the Devil) and screenwriter Justin Yoffe approach Lockbox in the broadest of brushstrokes, dooming it from the start with clunky storytelling and woefully underdeveloped themes of heady topics like PTSD. Winthrop is a character that comes loaded with emotional baggage and trauma that’s piled on throughout his tragic life, but much like its title, his interiority and history are treated like a tightly guarded secret meant to prolong the supernatural mystery.
The problem here, though, is that Lockbox is too sparse to sustain mystery at all, and it instead robs Winthrop of characterization. It winds up trapping the talented Pucci without anywhere to go, toggling between wounded animal and mentally disoriented.
From there, Lockbox bounds through plot developments without any sense of stakes or purpose, peppered by a smattering of haphazard paint-by-numbers jump scares. The only unwavering constant is Ellen’s resolute faith, and Stamm seems to leave it entirely to Gugino to guide confused audiences through this inconsequential story right up until its supernatural climax.
Image Credit: Aura entertainment
To give more credit, Lockbox at least injects an unconventional exorcism here; just don’t expect much in the way of explanation. When the film finally reveals the meaning behind its title, it dangles a fascinating carrot it has zero interest in delivering. More than a severe lack of fleshing out its characters beyond plot drivers or devices, this faith-based flick also seems terrified to offer any worldbuilding whatsoever.
Yoffe’s script stretches the short story beyond its means instead of fleshing it out, and Stamm fills out the gaps with cheap CGI scares and overwrought performances; Isabelle’s Vahna is beyond cartoonish in her villainy. It’s also pretty nonsensical, treating only Ellen’s faith with the utmost sincerity and largely squandering its typically reliable talent. So much so that the final imagery, pure sunkissed saccharine sentimentality, leaves you with the feeling that this horror movie might be better suited as an entry in Chicken Soup for the Soul.
Lockbox releases in select theaters on July 3, 2026.
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