The latest horror shooter from Crytek, "Hunt Showdown," is one step closer to release as it enters its closed alpha test run this week. 

Crytek has announced that their closed alpha test run will begin on Jan 31, and it is currently giving away access keys. There is no official announcement yet about the release date of the full version of the game.

"Hunt Showdown" is a first-person shooter game centered on supernatural bounty hunters. It is set in a dark world overran by horrors and evils, as players assume the role of a bounty hunter hired to dispose of these supernatural and paranormal creatures.

Players can find a partner and form a team of two and compete against four other teams to bring down a ghastly target with its online multi-player mode. Bounties are the stuff of nightmares and include creatures from famous horror titles, legends and mythologies. Gamers may hunt down witches, poltergeists and the like and earn rewards for purchasing and crafting new equipment.

Each horror has a unique set of AI scripts, with different strengths and weaknesses. Their movements also vary according to different times of the day. Gamers can pick from an assortment of weapons to use, each with its own effectiveness. Consumable items and weapons such as flashbangs and molotovs are also available for strategic use.

The game is highly competitive, and players only get one life and one chance to survive. Players die permanently and are restricted from participating for the rest of the match. Dead players can still watch the rest of the match as spectators.

Crytek introduces a feature called "bloodlines" where players can transfer experience points from their dead hunters to their new ones, increasing their new hunter's skills and capabilities. However, bloodlines do not carry over material belongings, so all loot and equipment will be lost upon death.

Another interesting feature of the game is "dark sight" — players can use dark sight to see paranormal elements not visible to the regular human eye. Use dark sight in hunts to find ghosts, evidence, and tracks that lead to the target.

All these features drive players to hunt in stealth so as not to draw attention from enemy teams and give away the target's location, making for a highly competitive, co-operative, and intense video game.