Crime doesn’t pay… unless you’re a bounty hunter.
In the 21st century, nations have collapsed. From the ruins of war arise a society fueled by greed. Profiteering mega corporations provide protection and jobs to anyone who abides by their policies. The alternative, a criminal path. Street gangs engage in a constant power struggle against rival gangs and "authorities." ...But there are some that have no interest in gang affiliations nor company citizenship. They only pledge allegiance to the highest bidder. Their title...Bounty Hunter. Their only objective...HUNTDOWN.
Huntdown is an action comedy arcade-style shooter developed by Swedish independent video game studio Easy Trigger Games and published by Coffee Stain Publishing.
You play as one of three bounty hunters who are tasked with bringing down the gangs of a violent war-torn future city. They are the hot-blooded and unpredictable Anna Conda, the battle-scarred cyberborg John Sawyer, and the cold, calculative Mow Man. The gangs who rule over the city are the rebellious and uncontrollable Hoodlum Dolls, the hockey-loving Misconducts, the motorcycle-riding Heatseakers, and the martial arts-trained NO.1 Suspects. The bounty hunters must fight these gangs on their own turfs to beat them and their leaders to reclaim their bounties. There are several weapons to take and use through each level that are scattered and at the end of each level you face the boss. You play solo or play with a friend in co-op.
It released on May 12, 2020 for the PC via Epic Games Store, as a timed exclusive, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. The game later ported to Steam on May 12, 2021 with new features like online co-op.
A prequel/spin-off, Huntdown: Overtime is in production. In contrast to the original game, it is a single-player Roguelite. The game is set to release in Early Access on May 7, 2026.
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General Tropes
- 100% Completion:
- In the original, getting a complete file requires the player to collect all the badges- for killing a certain number of enemies, for finding and collecting all the hidden stashes, and (this is the hardest part, of course), completing a level without dying once. The reward for all of this is the abilty to access a hidden cheat menu during levels.
- In Overtime, the game tracks your progress in terms of upgrades and getting further into the game.
- Big Bad Ensemble:
- Each of the gang leaders are trying to take control of the city in their own way, eliminating the opponents in the process. Rose Wolfmother, the face of Shimamoto Corporation you work for, turns out to also be part of the ensemble, using you to achieve this exact goal. However, she also turns out to have been betrayed by her higher ups, making whoever ordered her the Greater-Scope Villain.
- The gang leaders in Overtime act independently from each other and aren't even competing for control, but still act as threats and targets for John Sawyer. And then there's Rose Wolfmother stringing him and Doctor Salazar along from the background to turn him into a killing machine for her eventual scheme.
- Black-and-Gray Morality: The entire city of New Detroit (and lands beyond it) is a Wretched Hive filled with ruthless gangs that the police are too corrupt to stop, the bounty hunters aren't exactly on the right side of the law, and the corporation who hired them turns out to be self-serving in their own interests.
- Crapsack World: In a futuristic setting of a world ravaged by war, humanity is a complete mess. City streets are infested with gangs seeking to gain control, the police engage in brutality, bribery, or are just generally incompetent, and independent bounty hunters are morally gray at best (with a high chance they don't get paid for their efforts and even get betrayed by the employers). Then there are the normal citizens who are caught in a crossfire between all three, suffering without end.
- Exploding Barrels: A common obstacle that can be shot to kill enemies and destroy obstacles with explosion.
- Gatling Good: Miniguns are available among the various weapons in both games. They have an incredible rate of fire and large ammo count, but are accordingly rare and have a short wind-up before they start firing.
- Gotta Kill 'Em All:
- Your main objective in each zone of the original game is to kill all four captains of each gang before targeting their leader. There are twenty bosses in total.
- In Overtime, the captains you fight are randomly picked depending on the route, but you always have to fight any two of them before taking on the leader of the gang.
- Heavily Armored Mook: Every gang has mooks that can spawn with armor, requiring extra damage to break and granting a brief invincible period when removed.
- Ludicrous Gibs: This is often the result of killing enemies with explosives.Anna Conda: "Ugh, they're
on my hair!" - Mutants:
- From the original, Marlo the Mutant's mutation gives him two extra arms, which he puts to good use via quad wielding and carrying heavy objects.
- Overtime reveals that the wasteland beyond the city is irradiated and filled with mutants. Joe Bob and his gang are cannibalistic mutant farmers.
- Opening Scroll: The opening movie explains the plot and premise of both games.
- Police Are Useless: For the most part and commented on by a couple of characters. Out of the 4 gangs you face, they are only active in involvement against two of them.
- The first instance is them actually helping against the Hoodlum Dolls (the weakest gang mind you), but the majority of them gets murdered by the gang's mooks and elites, on top of one of their own apparently betrayed them and stole one of their riot mechs for the gang to use.
- The other time is with the NO.1 Suspects, and they are competent and dangerous... but are working for the gang instead of against due to huge bribes.
- Overtime follows suit, as the police can do nothing in New Detroit because of ongoing gang activity and don't exist in Silent Zone at all.
- Punch-Clock Hero: The bounty hunter protagonists are anything but saints themselves, but they're more than happy to mow down all these psychopathic gangs in return for a paycheck.
- Retraux: The game resembles one you'd see on an 16-bit console or MS-DOS era IBM PC, and has a very 80s Cyberpunk feel.
Huntdown
- Advancing Wall of Doom: Sonny Rooster's invulnerable armored carrier will chase you in the latter half of his level.
- Anti-Frustration Features: Most of the bosses with more than one phase require you to start from the beginning if you lose to them. Due to the high difficulty of his battle, this doesn’t apply to the Shogun.
- Anti-Vehicle: Remote Bombs are provided in most of the Heatseekers levels. They're very useful for the high armor but predictable vehicle enemies.
- Arm Cannon: Unholy Goalie has a minigun instead of a left arm. It swaps over to his right when he faces the other direction, though.
- Arms Dealer: The Heatseekers. Their stages are filled with crates that can be broken open to reveal bonus weapons. The final fight against Ringo Road Rage is on his transport, and there are eight different weapons available to pick up and use during the fight.
- Attack Animal: All gangs will occasionally use attack dogs against the player. They are VERY fast but cannot jump.
- Background Boss: The Shogun in his mech will move to the background to fire weapons at the player.
- Badass Biker: The Heat Seekers Gang, expanded to all kinds of tricked out vehicles like muscle cars and freight trucks.
- The Bad Guys Are Cops:
- Troy Lawman is implied to be a former dirty cop, which is how he stole his riot mech so easily.
- Marlo the Mutant has corrupt cops and a police helicopter as backup during his level and boss fight. The No. 1 Suspects have bribed most of the law enforcement of their Sector to work for them instead of the city.
- The Bad Guys Win: By the end of the game, the true villains of the game win without even being encountered or seen at all. Shimamoto Corporation successfully rids itself of all its competition at the hands of bounty hunters, then places a bounty on said hunters, as well as their own face Rose Wolfmother. With the hunters on the run and both the rivals and Rose Wolfmother eliminated, the higher-ups of Shimamoto Corporation gets exactly what they want — being free to further expand their influence and control with no one to stop it.
- Big Badass Rig: Ringo Road Rage has an absolutely massive one for hauling weapons, including a laser cannon mounted on the back of the cab.
- Breakable Weapons: Melee weapons break after a handful of swings.
- Car Fu: The bounty hunters always arrive at the final level of each area by slamming their car through several gang members (or through a wall in Unholy Goalie's level).
- Chariot Pulled by Cats: The Overseer rides a chariot pulled by two motorcycles, complete with whipping their drivers.
- Continuing Is Painful: In Arcade Mode, continuing after running out of lives will cost you a 10 percent of your accumulated score for the area. This is justified In-Universe as Tony the Surgeon's fee for healing/repairing the bounty hunters.
- Contract on the Hitman: In the ending, after the bounty hunters have cleansed the cities of the Hoodlum Dolls, the Misconducts, the Heatseekers and No. 1 Suspects, Rose Wolfmother puts a bounty on their heads as they've now outlived their usefulness.
- Disney Villain Death: The Shogun is finally finished when he falls off the debris and plummets to his death. The Bounty Hunters almost follow but are saved by Tony and his flying ambulance.
- Suki the Sniper also dies in this fashion, with her jetpack exploding and sending her plummeting to her doom.
- Downer Ending: It turns out that Shimamoto Corporation was in fact Evil All Along, having used you to take control of the city. Now that you're finished, they place a bounty on both you and their own head, Rose Wolfmother. It ends with Rose being assassinated by another bounty hunter as the screen turns to black.
- Dual Boss: The Dudson Twins.
- '80s Hair: Everyone in the Misconducts gang is required to dye it blonde and wear it long or poofy.
- Evil Power Vacuum: The Shogun's last words has him tell the bounty hunters that "others will rise to take my place". Sure enough, Shimamoto Corporation takes over the city, and after Rose Wolfmother places a bounty on the bounty hunters' heads, she herself gets one placed on her by her own corporation.
- Expy:
- Anna Conda's name and eyepatch are a reference to Snake Pliskin.
- The leader of the Heatseekers, Ringo Road Rage, is designed to look like a fatter Ben Throttle.
- The Ending Changes Everything: You may start the game with assumption that Shimamoto Corporation is a virtuous organization that seeks to clear crime in the city. The ending reveals that, in reality, their motives are different, as they are too part of the power struggle and used bounty hunters to clear out competition.
- Eyepatch of Power: Anna Conda has one.
- Facial Horror: When a boss is beaten, the player gets to see their bounty portrait turn into a "defeated" one. Several of them can be pretty nightmarish considering the injuries, like Shogun's face turning into a skull, or Sonny Rooster's completely disfigured face.
- Fat Bastard: Ringo Road Rage is extremely obese. He has to stop and catch his breath multiple times while fighting the player.
- Fish Eyes: Shell Shock Murdoch has these bulging out of his head. His defeat portrait has them popped out and hanging by tendons.
- Flame Spewer Obstacle: Last two stages of the third chapter have pipes that shoot out flames at regular intervals.
- Flamethrower Backfire: Psychonaught's second phase is her running around screaming and burning after her flamethrower ruptures. Don't get in her way, and don't follow behind her, either.
- Free-Fall Fight: The final part of the battle against The Shogun is this.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: Unholy Goalie's uppercut attack has an image of a skull in the particle effect.
- Futuristic Superhighway: Both Dean Dandy and Ringo Road Rage fight you there, in the former case you're on a traffic island while Dean is trying to use his hoverbike to knock you into the traffic below, in the latter you're on Ringo's massive convoy truck and he periodically rams cars in front of him making them bounce along the truckbed to hit you.
- Gangbangers: The No.1 Suspects combine this aesthetic with a Chinese/Japanese aesthetic.
- Getting the Boot: When being revived, Antonio "Tony" Salazar kicks you out of the van with only his boot to be seen.
- Giggling Villain: Psychonaught giggles while stalking you with her flamethrower.
- The Gunslinger: Marlow the Mutant, who wields semi-action pistols in each of his four arms.
- Hard Light: Cyra Rhodes of the No. 1 Suspects attacks with a hologram version of herself, and then a giant snake when the first is destroyed. She is defeated when her control goggles explode in her face.
- Humongous Mecha: Both Troy Lawman and The Shogun use these to fight the player.
- Infinity +1 Sword: In levels 4-3 and 4-5, you can find the Mono Katana, which is a vastly superior version of the regular Katana that is indestructible and will One-Hit Kill most enemy Mooks. The one you find in 4-3 can make Grandmaster Yuudai a whole lot easier as long as you can avoid his melee strikes.
- Jet Pack: The Heatseekers have minions wearing them, and Suki the Sniper uses one as well.
- Just Fine Without You: Teddy Taxman gets a phone call from his boss, Unholy Goalie, at the start of his bossfight and spends the first phase denying that any gunshots or alarms are going off near his office.
- Killer Robot: Mow Man is a modified recon drone that now is more than capable of acting as a bounty hunter. He does draw the line at unarmed targets and kittens, however.
- Kill Tally: Tally marks with blood can be seen during Sid Handsome's fight.
- Masked Luchador: Bad Boy Bob, though he speaks like Randy Savage.
- Metal Slime: Couriers will flee to a waiting escape vehicle when they spot the Bounty Hunters. Killing them drops their Stash, which is required to 100% complete the level.
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Marlo the Mutant has four arms, each using a semi-action pistol.
- Motorcycle Jousting: Dean Dandy does this to the player with his flying motorcycle, complete with giant metal lance.
- Noodle Incident: Tony says not to ask how he got his flying vehicle into the sewer because they wouldn't believe him.
- No Main Villain: Subverted. For all of the crimes they commit, NONE of the target gangs have any personal feuds with the bounty hunters, and the targets put at their leaders and lieutenants are ultimately nothing more than business as usual. The subversion comes at the end, with the reveal that Shimamoto was the Big Bad all along, simply using the hunters to kill the gangs and thus claim their territories, and whom even go back on their word in regards to paying them, putting bounties on the hunters themselves and killing their handler, Rosa Wolfmother.
- No OSHA Compliance:
- Sonny Rooster is fought atop a slag melting pit. Shooting him enough makes him fall into the slag, then crawl back out and keep trying to kill you.
- Psychonaught's level has falling, burning debris at regular intervals, including during the boss fight itself.
- Offscreen Start Bonus: Before the boss fight against Ringo Road Rage, the player is presented with eight different weapons to bring with them from Ringo's cargo. However, once the fight starts nothing stops the player from walking back to the weapons and grabbing a new one except for a camera that doesn't pan unless you go off-screen.
- The Pawns Go First: Teddy Taxman lets his minions fight the bounty hunter before deciding to fight himself.
- Punny Name:
- Anna Conda, of course.
- Master Yuudai. He likes to shout it when fighting his enemies.
- The Quincy Punk: The Hoodlum Dolls are a textbook example.
- Raised Hand of Survival: Sonny Rooster does this after falling into the molten pit, then climbs out. He continues to try to clobber you with his newly melted arms.
- Rollerblade Good: Many, many of the Misconducts use rollerblades. It fits with their Ice Hockey theme, since obviously real ice skates wouldn't work in subway stations and sewers.
- Sentry Gun:
- Teddy Taxman's security system includes lots of these that move on rails vertically to shoot the Bounty Hunter.
- These can be found as thrown subweapons.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Shell Shock Murdoch of the Misconduct Gang is described as a World War 3 veteran. He spends most of his boss fight screaming Vietnam War slang or moaning about "The Horrors", and once he takes some damage, his PTSD flares up and he moves around firing like a maniac or using Grenade Spam if he sees you.
- Shield Surf: One of the Heatseekers minions does this while being towed by a muscle car and whooping like a maniac. Destroy the car and the surfer will bail painfully.
- Short-Range Shotgun: The pump-action shotgun actually has a respectable range of about two-thirds of the screen, and the auto shotgun is much the same. You’ll find yourself cursing the auto shotgun’s range when facing Grandmaster Yuudai, in fact. The sawed-off, however sacrifices this for damage and is less useful against bosses or other enemies you’d rather keep your distance from.
- Shout-Out: The narrator's introduction of the bad-guy gangs in the launch trailer
copies the one of the trailer of The Warriors. - Super Serum: Unholy Goalie is given some by a follower during his boss fight, making him even larger and stronger than before.
- A Taste of the Lash: The Overseer whips the motorcyclists that pull his chariot whenever they stop.
- Title Drop: Three times, no less. One in the intro, completing the Opening Scroll, second by Rose Wolfmother and the third in the ending just after Wolfmother is shot and the screen cuts to black.
- Tornado Move: Master Yuudai does this by spinning while constantly firing his automatic shotguns. He even calls out "TOOOORNAAADO" when he performs it.
- Turns Red: Several bosses do this once they take enough damage:
- Sid Handsome picks up his weight lifts and uses them in his melee attack, as well as throwing them around as bouncy projectiles.
- Psychonaught's flamethrower pack explodes, setting her on fire and causing her to run around causing collision damage as well as leaving a harmful trail of flames.
- Once Nadja Drago's armor is knocked off, she activates a laser device that aids her in the second half of the fight.
- Shell-Shock Murdoch's PTSD flares up after he takes enough damage, causing him to run around firing a lot or launching salvos of grenades.
- Once Unholy Goalie's first health bar is depleted, he gets a serum injection that makes him Hulk Out, causing him to fight a lot more fiercely.
- After enough damage, Sonny Rooster falls into the molten metal, then gets back out and uses his new stretchy melted arms to continue smashing.
- When one of the Dudson Twins is killed, the other activates the traps around their arena to avenge her sister's death.
- Warm-Up Boss: Sweet Angel of the Hoodlum Dolls. His moveset is very simple, just stay away and jump over his heavily telegraphed throwing knife.
- Weaponized Exhaust: Psychonaught's last phase can harm you with the exhaust from her leaking fuel tank.
- Western Samurai: The Nº1 Suspects are comprised of African-American ninjas and martial artists along with the more traditional Gangbangers.
- The Worf Effect: The Misconducts are introduced by showing them easily capturing and executing members of the previous gang, the Hoodlum Dolls.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Not just the Bounty Hunters, but Rose Wolfmother as well. She's killed during the ending of the game.
Huntdown: Overtime
- A Day in the Limelight: The prequel focuses on John Sawyer's bounty-hunting escapades nine months before the events of the original game.
- Art Evolution: The pixel aesthetic of the game is even more detailed than of its predecessor, with realistic lighting and higher-quality character models. Some NPCs are rendered in even bigger detail, while some cutscenes are drawn in comic book style.
- Ascended Extra: Doctor Salazar, the checkpoint doctor from the first game, is one of the central characters to the plot, revealing he personally worked with John Sawyer before and even personally knows Rose Wolfmother, working for her to bring Sawyer into prime condition for his mission in the original.
- Ringo Road Rage, the Heatseekers' boss from the first game, also makes a cameo as a gun vendor in the Silent Zone.
- Awesome, but Impractical:
- Weapons like the Lightning Justice and Plasma Breacher may look potent, but require to be charged or have too few ammunition (at most two shots) for some sustained firepower, which can get the player in trouble when handling large numbers or a fast charging boss.
- Sniper rifles or assault cannons can only deliver their strongest punch after the player takes a few seconds "aiming" (by holding the firing mouse button until the crosshair appears).
- Explosive and airbag charges, as well as landmines. While awesome as advertised, they rely too much on the target being in proximity.
- Heavy, but slow melee weapons such as the Sledgehammer and Power Fist fall into this category.
- Boring, but Practical:
- Basic melee weapons such as brass knuckles, baseball bats and crowbars, especially when they can be added modifications in later levels. In conjunction with the Speed Swinging upgrade that allows Sawyer to use melee weapons faster, these basic bruisers can become vicious damage dealers.
- Basic weapons such as small pistols, shotguns, machine guns and assault rifles can deliver devastation in the right hands.
- The Kunai secondary weapon falls into this as it can be thrown repeatedly over four times (increased to 8 with cybernetic upgrades) and deals bleeding damage on impact.
- Grenades and molotov cocktails.
- Blessed with Suck: Sawyer may even be getting impressed with his new cyber-enhanced abilities, but a conversation between Tony and Wolfmother reveals Sawyer has an expiry date which he doesn't know.
- Death as Game Mechanic: The very point of Overtime, given it's a roguelike. Dying a few times is required, as well:
- The first time, at the prologue, is justified as it's how Sawyer gains his iconic metallic jaw, revealed to be the cybernetic mainframe, and how he meets both Tony and his assistant Dorothy.
- The second time is in order to open Dorothy's shop, where Sawyer gets his weapon licences and hunt-related upgrades via Swiss Francs.
- The third time is where it's revealed Tony to be directly on Rose Wolfmother's payroll, whom is investing heavily on Sawyer and his upgrades.
- Sometimes death is mandatory to unlock additional cybernetic upgrades.
- Death Is the Only Option: The very case of the prologue scene of the hunt. Sawyer's only exit is him dying so Tony can pick him up and upgrade him. And even if Sawyer manages to gun down all goons and come out intact, he is still downed in one shot by Ronny Bull's Eye.
- Dungeon Shop: Weapon shops can be found in the game's areas, selling primary and secondary weapons for Street Cash.
- Fun with Acronyms: C.I.R.E. - Cybernetic Implant Reinforcement Enhancer
- Genre Shift: While still Run-and-Gun at the core, Overtime shifts from level-based arcade game to a sprawling roguelite with meta-progression and branching maps.
- Hillbilly Horrors: The second faction of the game, The Barnes Family (a.k.a the Cousins), is a conglomeration of mutant cannibal rednecks that dwell in the Silent Zone.
- Magikarp Power: Some basic weapons such as a standard pistol, a Uzi SMG and even melee weapons like crowbars and baseball bats may not look like much even on higher levels... until you can install mods on them, which allow small firearms to shoot explosive or incendiary rounds, or melee weapons to cause freezing, shocking or incendiary damage.
- Misguided Missile: The Midnight Pack mini-boss, Cherry Boom Boom, puts up a shield that greatly reduces the damage she takes while firing out homing missiles. You can instantly break her shield and deal damage to her by positioning yourself so that her missiles blow her up, instead.
- One-Hit-Point Wonder: The case of the "Boiling Point" malfunction if you ever do a black market augment. Even a single stray bullet or explosion collateral damage is enough to kill Sawyer and thus scrap the entire run.
- Power at a Price: One of the upgrades allows you to encounter black market dealers, who sell powerful (but expensive) implants. However, there is a chance they will malfunction (and the risk grows the cheaper the deal is) and inflict a debuff that must be stabilized at the clinic.
- You Require More Vespene Gas: There are three resources available to Sawyer at Overtime, all of which must be acquired through killing criminals, small or big.
- Street Cash (green) is commonly used for buying/upgrading weapons and replenishing your Stim Pack stock.
- Swiss Francs (purple) are exclusive to Dorothy's goods shop, where upgrades concerning hunts as well as weapon licences can be purchased and ready for Sawyer to equip when he starts his huntdown.
- Credits (blue) are exclusive to Tony and his C.I.R.E, and are used to upgrade both Sawyer's mainframe and cybernetic parts.