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Coming hot off the heals of their recent announcement of Homefront: The Revolution, Crytek is continuing their trend of preempting the E3 rush. This time, rather than an open-world FPS the game on tap is HUNT: Horrors of the Gilded Age, a new IP in the guise of a dark and twisted third-person co-op shooter.

Intended to be the next step in Crytek's move towards their "Games-as-a-Service" model, HUNT puts players in the role of hunters tasked with tracking down and eliminating the things that go bump in the night. Taking place in the late 1800s, players will venture out together into the dark wilderness to take on creatures of myth and folklore and defeat fearsome bosses before they can completely envelope the land.

Setting this game apart from similar co-op shooters, Crytek has employed a means of generating content that will be unique to players each time they jump into its foreboding lands. With a healthy dose of cooperation required between players to take down the game's bosses, the game seems to be a cross between Diablo 3 and Evolve.

Judging by the trailer, the landscape of HUNT will be filled with plenty of unspeakable horrors to hunt down. While some games like to give at least a glimmer of hope, the evils that threaten to overrun this world quite literally blanket the landscape. According to Crytek USA Corp. CEO David Adams, "players will be counting their bullets and crying out for help as they delve deeper into the shadowy world we've created."

Slated to be shown in action during the annual E3 expo in Los Angeles next week, it will be interesting to see how the promises of this announcement trailer translates to actual gameplay. Games that face players with seemingly insurmountable odds are all the rage these days as evidenced by titles like Dark Souls 2 (check out our review). The trailer gives a good first impression of an oppressive landscape filled with baddies, so one can only hope that the difficulty and progression are satisfying to match.

For those interested in the title, Crytek is promising a closed beta for PC later this year. Even though console players may not be getting a beta, the title itself will still be coming their way at launch. Details may still be sparse for HUNT, but it can be expected that much more will be elucidated come E3 where it will no doubt receive a more formal introduction.

Are you ready for another co-op shooter involving hordes of fearsome creatures? What do you think HUNT: Horrors of the Gilded Age needs to stand out from other games in the genre?

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Follow Ryan on Twitter @ThatRyanB.