I spent 20 years looking for a game like this

Since I was a kid flying a Blackhawk outside of the map area in Joint Operations (2004) to flank 10km around other enemy players, I've been on the hunt for a game that gives me those same post-firefight adrenaline shakes. The original DayZ mod firefights in 2012 were probably the peak of intensity for me but as I grew older I just didn't have 100s of hours to sink into gearing my characters up. Then, in 2022 I rediscovered a game I had shelved and once again I found those heart-pounding firefights I'd been looking for!

● Special thanks to @FreakinShane for his help recording and editing this video.

00:00 Chasing the dragon for intense FPS firefights
00:48 The huge maps and battles of Joint Ops (2004)
01:52 No game has ever been as intense as DayZ (2012)
04:04 Enjoying a little Tarkov and PUBG
05:07 The short life of Battlefield V: Firestorm Mode
05:57 Returning to try Hunt: Showdown in 2022
08:19 Hunt's more accessible in-game economy
10:13 You get more firefights in less time in Hunt
11:19 Hunt's setting is Red Dead 2 + Bloodborne
12:21 The first "Dave Flank"
14:33 This game is about to hit new player records
15:38 Outro

» Title music starting at 06:06:

Track: "Nothing To See"

Outro music:

HUNT Showdown OST - Its Dark in New Orleans (Instrumental Version)

#fpsgames #extractionshooter #RangerDave

Hey folks! My name is Dave and I'm here to be your immersion tour guide. I make videos about games and mods along with some real-world firearms and history videos and the occasional oddball project thrown in as well.

I spent 20 years looking for a game like this

RangerDave

[sixthgatebass]

I remember bringing the family computer into my room at 15 and claiming it was for videogames too.

[ieajackson]

I always call hunt “the thinking man’s shooter”. There is so much depth to the combat and the tactics you can use it’s incredible. I was able to get a kill because I heard someone aim down sights once, that’s how detailed the game is. You build up a picture of the state of play as you progress through a match, assigning loadouts to certain players based on their skins and such… there’s just so much more *thought* involved, which is why I love the game. The fact the guns shoot so slow is also a big draw to me, seeing as most of the time I can actually react to getting shot rather than getting gunned down by an assault rifle before I can blink lol. (We don’t talk about the avto)

[Morbus]

The rage.
The losses.
The confusion of your death.
The missed shots that shouldn't have been.

The legendary clutches.
The outplays.
The threaded needle headshots.
The theft of another's bounty.

The last bullet fired being yours.

Hunt giveth, and Hunt damn sure taketh.

[flyyhighhr]

DayZ makes you realize how scary a single human can be. Probably my fav game of all time

[HuggieWuggies]

the fact that they added a centered crosshair in hunt actually made me get in the talks with my friend about giving the game a chance

[lastlogicallib]

I stumbled upon DayZ after a 20 year hiatus from gaming. I searched Game Pass for an open world survival game and cross referenced with YouTube reviews. Imagine my shock going from the gaming quality of 2003 to 2021 in a flash. I was blown away by the vastness of Chernarus and the endless possibilities for strategy. With that said, it’s been a couple years and DayZ is literally 94% of my gaming. And i still suck at PvP

[GrimaldiJ]

Playing Hunt as a solo is the most stressful, intense FPS experience I've ever had. You know there are people all around trying to kil you, but tou you have to keep moving. Every little sound might be an indicator they're near....and if they DO get the jump on you and shoot first, unexpectedly...you will jump!

[judechauhan]

The game for me was Arma 3. The downtime between fights was more scary than the fight because at least when they're shooting at you, it's obvious where they are. All that preparation and planning could end in 1 well placed shot and that kind of importance and emphasis on being fragile and not being able to see a marker on your enemy or avoiding a gunship because you can't just shoot the pilot out from 1km with a pistol but he can shoot rockets back at you is what makes those games more meaningful and fun.

[TechKnightJ]

Playing dayz when it was just an arma 2 mod was such a wild experience in gaming for me. The engine and saturation of the game in first person felt like looking through the lens of a cheap body cam. Supplies were so scarce and everything that moved was an enemy. Having to drive past the map borders to store your stuff because no where was safe to make a “base”. Staying up for 3 days with a couple of dudes all the way from Australia to protect that base and build a helicopter that inevitably crashed and burned. It was lightning in a bottle to me.

[Red_Lion]

This is the best extraction shooter.
No BS armour system to make rich players invinsible to low levels, just pure aiming skill. One headshot = kill.

[roondoger]

The one thing that truly makes the game a unique experience to me is the fast paced gunfights with slow, clunky weapons. Fighting another person while being closed in by another team looking to capitalize and only 6 bullets to get it done is one hell of a rush. It's nice that it rewards good strategy, planning, and skill instead of spray, praying, and relying on volume over precision.

[ConfidentMelon]

I always love introducing people to Dayz and getting into their first geared firefight after hours of down time and witnessing their nervous system spike, altering communication, breathing, and making hands tremble; there’s no other game like it

[bigh]

DayZ was crazy shit to be honest. I spent hours online, just chilling in trees, waiting, watching.... nothing can explain it.

[ollie___]

as someone whos been playing hunt for 2-3 years its so awesome seeing it get the recognition it so deserves

[SonofSpewy]

Hunt is probably my favorite fps ever, there is really nothing else that gives me that rush in combat with the satisfaction that comes from getting a kill in an encounter.

[lmao.]

hunt showdown but instead of intense gunfights it's you getting one tapped in the back from 8 miles away by a solo player with 4000 hours 🔥🔥🔥

[aidanhogan]

This video is a story about adult Dave finding a game he loves, but its also a tale about a young lad who loved Joint Ops, and chased that high until he finally found it. Glad you found that white whale, Dave!

[zdspider]

DayZ is 98% chill, and 2% *shit-your-pants* moments. Nothing beats it. You could be looting for DAYS, not seeing anyone (doesn't mean others didn't see YOU! 😆) and them BAM, shots fired!

[mattm]

Dave! You didn't even mentioned the audio...THE AUDIO!
For real though, glad you found Hunt. It's such a great game and the more folks that jump in, the better it gets. Thanks for the great video. See you in there Hunter...

[TEJR]

I found my "calling" in Tarkov AND Hunt.
Hunt for me is more arcade, casual type of game where after around 2500 hours you just know everything, you have muscle memory of certain jumps, weapon switching, quick peeking, you just hop into autopilot and just run around and instead of focusing on the objective since you've done it all already numerous times?
Me and my friends just do stupid shit like going into the raid without a weapon and using only the random rare spawned weapons or simply the axes, pitchforks and whatnot.
We tried to go into the raid with nothing but a derringers and not only we've banished both bosses, but had 6 hunters killed.
And that's what I love about Hunt.
You can take it more seriously and have a good time, or do some goofy shit and still have fun.

But Tarkov is where my heart is, clocking around 4500 hours played (I know these hours are for some outrageous, but I play both games since day 1 and in addition to these 2 games I play only Dota2, so hey there's not much room to drown my hours into anything else innit?)
I same as in Hunt, tried it all, did it all.
Some wipes were played purely with shotguns or pistols and nothing else.
When daily/weekly quests came out, you COULD ignore the main quests and still have traders leveled up to max.
I tried a hardcore account, as mentioned a certain category of wepons only (Shotguns only wipe, Pistols only wipe and so on)
Me and my friends tried "The Cultist Playthrough" where we rushed towards NV equipment and hunted down cultists for their poison knives, dressed in all black and set up ambush spots where we'd shank someone with the poison knife and tried to break their legs so they couldn't run away from us.
We went into the Labs with grenade launchers and just spammed grenades all over the map.
But not to sound like a bunch of retards that just bully people, we had two wipes where we were actively searching for people on Discord/Youtube/Twitch and offered our help.
Thanks to this we've met so many interesting people who we talk with today and from time to time we play together, but the ultimate reward that brought this "helping playthroughs" was that we've built a "community" of around 14 people from all across Europe and just month ago we all had a meet up in Finland at one of the guy's cottage for a week.
There was this guy from Netherlands, 2 Germans, 2 swedish blokes, 1 madman from Italy, My stupid ass from Czech Republic and one guy from France that brought his wife and a dog and we all just spent the whole week fishing on a lake, having trips around the mountains and each day someone cooked the most traditional meal from their own country.
Actually when I think of it the guy from Netherlands wasn't on our "helping spree" ... he was just a random bloke that accidentally added me in-game instead of buying my stuff on the Flea Market.

And I know, these types of "friendships" could've been built in any other game with any other reasons, but somehow this whole trip to Finland, being soaked through all day long from the fishing trips, trying out food from different countries, sharing stories and just getting to know different cultures was so magical and all thanks to this stupidass game where you'd never expect such friendly and I dare to say wholesome outcome since ... you know?
Tarkov ain't exactly known for being the friendliest game out there :))