Crytek says that it won't be bringing Peter Griffin or any anime characters to Hunt in response to fears about its Scream crossover meaning it's Fortnite.

The first premium cross-over cosmetic for Hunt: Showdown1896 didn't go down well with many players. They felt that the mask from Scream didn't quite fit in a paranormal extract shooter set more than 100 years ago. Is the Ghost Face Rampage downloadable content the beginning of Hunt becoming Fortnite? Crytek says no.

In an email to PC Gamer, the developer stated that it planned to do more collaborations with "IPs and personalities" that have ties to Hunt's world. However, "you won’t be seeing Peter Griffin or anime character coming to Hunt anytime soon."

Crytek said, "We've been looking for a long time to work with brands that can blend in the 19th Century world Hunt while staying true both to themselves and their lore." "These collaborations allow us to continue building unique and interesting stories in the Hunt mythos while inviting new audiences into our world for the very first time," said Crytek.

It's funny that Crytek doesn't completely rule out the possibility of a Mosin-Nagant-wielding Peter Griffin, but I don't think the "any time soon" was meant seriously. The developer has said that it is committed to integrating cross-over cosmetics into Hunt's fiction. It did give the Ghost Face Costume era-appropriate style - up close, you can see the mask's cracked wood texture - and a story explaining why the killer of a '90s film is running around the 1890s.

Crytek said, "In retrospect we should have done more in order to elaborate on the story we have built around Ghost Face Hunter before going for the full release." Crytek told us that a lot of thought was put into the crossover, both from an artistic and narrative perspective. There's a really interesting story behind our Ghost Face Hunter iteration and we didn't share that with the community at the beginning. Lesson learned.

"From a narrative perspective, we focused on a mask that was passed down from killer to killer and found its way to those who were easily corrupted by its foul whispers. We loved the idea to explore the 1890s history of the Mask, before it became an icon of the 1990s."

Crytek responded to the negative reactions earlier this week with a similar appeal, saying the cosmetic made sense if you accept the idea that "in 1890, a madman donned the mask, driven by its foul whispers during a Louisiana hunting trip."

Some players are happy to not make a big fuss about it, while others remain disappointed because, well, whatever lore Crytek has come up with to explain its presence, it's a Halloween Mask from a 1990s movie.

Crytek hopes that the collaboration will "capture horror fans who are not familiar with the Hunt series." It's no easy task to attract new players to a game with a steep learning curve and a unique extraction loop like Hunt. Hunt has resisted the trend of glitzy crossover cosmetics that so many shooters adopt over their five-plus-year lifespan. Whether or not this is a first step towards that fate, is still to be determined, but Crytek claims it isn't.
The Ghost Face Rampage is a $10 DLC, so I wouldn't expect to see a map full of Ghost Faces. Ironically, I can imagine some impulse purchases to make other players laugh. (I enjoyed using the annoying Batmobile in Rocket League. Sorry for being the guy.