Ever heard of the Hatfish? He's an elusive hat-wearing catfish who surprises and delights Hunters by popping up in different places all around the bayou! But do you know where he came from and the inspiration behind him? Well reel no more, Hunter, and read on…
It all started with a Reddit post about a regular catfish in Godard Docks which stated, “Give us map 3, or the fish gets it," and showed the player aiming at the fish in-game. For the next update, our Senior Level Designer, Tom Nietfeld (a.k.a Hatfish's manager) flipped the fish around and put a hat on him. And so Hatfish was born!
Hatfish has been in a total of seven locations, sometimes giving away clues as to what may be coming to Hunt in the future. Overall, he is managed by our Level Design team and is placed around the map whenever a good idea pops up, normally in cooperation with the Art team as well.
Hatfish's varying positions also sometimes come together as a story. For example, when the new DeSalle map was first being teased, he was put on a small island and then dragged away, leaving only blood trails behind. But fear not as he returned shortly thereafter, this time during the next update with some packed luggage next to him, leaving players to speculate that he was going on a trip—but to where? Eventually, a small picture of the new map was placed next to Hatfish with his luggage on a rowboat, revealing his destination at last.
Another more intricate Easter Egg involving Hatfish was when we teased the new map even further by including four separate tracks from an upcoming Port Sulphur Band song on a tiny gramophone on Hatfish's boat. The community didn't take long to figure it out that the tracks could be overlapped to create a song. It was the first musically focused Easter Egg in the game!
Witnessing the community spot the legend known as Hatfish after every update and discuss his changes has been a big highlight for everyone working on Hunt, so we want to say thank you to all the Hatfish fans out there!
This time, he's making the journey all the way from the bayou to your front door with the latest Hunt: Showdown Hatifish merchandise. Pick yours up today, before he leaves for his next trip!
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Don't own Hunt yet? Get your copy for PC on Steam or from the Crytek Shop. For Xbox, head to the Microsoft Store, and for PS4, find Hunt on the PlayStation Store.