What HUNTDOWN is
HUNTDOWN is a 2D side-scrolling arcade shooter set in a future city run by criminal gangs. You play as a bounty hunter clearing street after street of thugs, then finishing each level by taking down the gang boss and collecting the bounty. There are 20 levels spread across neon-lit, graffiti-covered 80s cityscapes, and four gangs to work through: the Hoodlum Dolls, the Misconducts, the Heatseekers, and the NO.1 Suspects. Each gang has its own flavor, from feral punks to hockey hooligans to a motorcycle club styled after Ancient Rome to martial arts crime bosses running casinos.
Three bounty hunters are available: Anna Conda, an ex-commando and firearms expert; John Sawyer, a former Special Forces cop who has lost so many limbs that he is practically half robot; and Mow Man, a modified recon droid running banned software. Weapons are taken from the gangs themselves — machine guns, laser weapons, katanas, grenades and more — and turned back on their owners.
Playing it together
HUNTDOWN supports playing solo or with a friend. In co-op you can cover each other, with one player laying down suppressive fire while the other advances, and both of you running, jumping and taking cover through the streets together. Couch co-op works when your friend is in the same room, and Steam Remote Play lets you team up with someone on the other side of the planet.
There is also an Arcade mode, which is a score attack: you compete against players worldwide, climbing the leaderboards by piling up bounties against the clock. Score comes from combo-kills, quickdraw weapon-swap bonuses, and even throwing criminals off rooftops.
Before you start
The game runs at 60 FPS with hand-painted 16-bit pixel art and hand-drawn animations, backed by a synthesized soundtrack, so expect a retro look with modern responsiveness. It is tagged as a precision platformer and as violent, so the action is constant and the platforming asks for accurate jumps. Pick your hunter for the playstyle you want, grab whatever weapon is nearest, and work through the gangs one boss at a time.