GCSHunt: Showdown Anti-Cheat
Kernel-level Easy Anti-Cheat with automated ban waves, input analysis and a manual review of every report - and bans that Crytek says are always final.
In plain EnglishThis page explains the anti-cheat that protects Hunt: Showdown - the system that tries to catch and ban cheaters. It covers how strict that system is and how cheats try to stay hidden from it. No cheat is ever 100% safe, so always check a product's status before you buy. Hunt: Showdown uses Easy Anti-Cheat, a kernel-level anti-cheat that loads a Windows driver with deep system access. Caught cheaters get an account ban, and our database rates its detection strength medium. The guide below covers how it detects, what a ban really costs and what kind of build survives.What anti-cheat does Hunt: Showdown use?
Hunt: Showdown 1896 has used Easy Anti-Cheat as its main anti-cheat since early access, and its Steam page lists EAC as kernel-level. Crytek runs a Fair Play Task Force on top, which posts regular updates with its ban counts.
A dead hunter is gone for good, along with the gear they carried, so players notice anyone who wins fights they should not. Crytek says every report gets a manual review. Crytek says it works alongside Easy Anti-Cheat, which delivers automated ban waves. It has also partnered with Anybrain to analyse in-game inputs, which it credits for its bans on consoles. Reports are the second layer: each one is reviewed by hand, there is an appeals system, and Crytek says it is adding tools that tell you when a report you filed led to a confirmed ban. Crytek has said since 2020 that EAC “will permanently ban the offending account” and that bans for cheating are always definitive. A Hunt ban takes the account and every hunter and unlock on it. Crytek has not said it bans hardware. It does say repeat offenders are banned as soon as they create a new account, so a fresh account is not a dependable way back either. We rate Hunt "Medium". Crytek counted 4,929 cheating bans in the first four months of 2025 and 3,515 between mid-April and early June 2026: steady enforcement rather than rare sweeps. In a game played slowly and by ear, a player who always knows where you are is easy to spot when spectating, and easy to report. Hunt rewards information: boss lairs, enemy hunters and the nearest exit decide where you go and when. Aim help has to cope with slow, dropping bullets from period rifles at long range, so restraint matters more than speed. Run a private, current build and keep it on an account you can afford to lose, since bans are final. The Hunt: Showdown build we keep current is below. One Hunt: Showdown build is on sale right now, listed by how each one runs according to its own description. Official pages for the systems this guide describes. They are the primary sources for how Easy Anti-Cheat works and how bans are issued; the detection ratings and build guidance are our own editorial assessment, explained in the editorial policy.How Easy Anti-Cheat works in Hunt: Showdown
What a Hunt: Showdown ban actually means
Detection track record
Cheating in Hunt: Showdown safely
Hunt: Showdown builds in the store
Hunt: Showdown anti-cheat FAQ
Is Hunt: Showdown’s anti-cheat kernel-level?
Are Hunt: Showdown bans permanent?
Does Hunt: Showdown ban your hardware?
Sources
This guide is informational and reflects how Easy Anti-Cheat and Hunt: Showdown bans generally work; anti-cheats update constantly, so treat every detail as a moving target rather than a guarantee. Last reviewed 1 November 2026.Keep reading