Huntsman Expands With Protect & Serve DLC and Free Hardcore Mode

Huntsman has received its first downloadable expansion, Protect & Serve, at the same time as a substantial free update that gives existing players a far more punishing way to experience its spider-filled horror. Both the base game and the paid DLC are available now on Steam, while the free Hardcore Mode arrives for everyone who already owns the game.

The paired release gives players two very different reasons to return. Protect & Serve continues the game's nightmare through a new area and a full quest line, while also putting a gun in the player's hands for a more direct answer to the creatures stalking the facility. Hardcore Mode, meanwhile, raises the danger throughout the existing game with more Huntsman spawns, quicker Orb Weavers, and a restricted save structure that draws from classic survival horror conventions.

To coincide with the DLC's launch, the Steam version of Huntsman is being offered through a limited-time 50% Daily Deal. The promotion applies to the base game; Protect & Serve is a separate paid add-on.

Protect & Serve Opens Another Door Into the Facility

Protect & Serve begins with a scenario that widens the story beyond the isolated survivor's immediate struggle. A lone survivor reaches a police station and recounts a horrifying sequence of events involving grotesque experiments, enormous arachnids, and a research complex littered with bodies. Officers begin looking into those claims, only to uncover another portion of the facility concealed behind a door that had previously been overlooked.

For useful background on this topic, read Sony's Rumored PlayStation Handheld Could Use Exclusive Next-Gen AMD Graphics.

That discovery forms the basis for the DLC's new playable area and quest line. The expansion carries the threat into an environment shaped by the investigation, where the nightmare does not stay neatly inside the spaces already known to players. Horrors can appear around the player and above them, continuing the game's emphasis on uneasy awareness of ceilings, corners, and routes that might initially seem safe.

The add-on also revises spider behaviors. Specific details on each altered behavior have not been outlined, but the change is notable because Huntsman's identity is built around its creatures rather than simple, routine enemy encounters. The game has drawn inspiration from real spider movement and hunting behavior, so adjustments to how the spiders act can have a meaningful effect on tension, pursuit, and the player's willingness to move through unfamiliar rooms.

Most visibly, Protect & Serve gives players access to a gun. That does not eliminate the premise of being trapped in a hostile facility, but it changes the survival-horror equation. Instead of relying solely on avoidance and escape, players will be able to confront threats more actively. The DLC's setup makes that shift clear: once hiding and running cease to be dependable options, the survivor has the means to stand their ground and fight back.

Hardcore Mode Makes Every Encounter More Dangerous

The free Hardcore Mode update takes the base game in the opposite emotional direction. Rather than adding a tool that can make a confrontation feel more manageable, it increases the pressure that surrounds every decision. Huntsman spawns are doubled in this mode, meaning the game's signature arachnid threat should be much more frequently present as players explore.

Some Orb Weavers also move faster in Hardcore Mode. Even a selective speed increase can be significant in a horror game where perception, distance, and timing determine whether an encounter becomes a frantic escape. Players accustomed to a particular creature's pace may need to reassess how much space they have, how long they can search an area, and when it is best to commit to moving on.

The update's other major change is a limited save system inspired by classic survival horror games. Saving is no longer simply a frictionless safety net in the harder mode. The design asks players to consider when progress is secure and whether it is worth pushing farther into danger before using one of their opportunities to save. That kind of structure can make even ordinary exploration more suspenseful, particularly when it is combined with doubled enemy spawns and faster hostile creatures.

Because Hardcore Mode is free, it serves both returning players looking for a stricter challenge and newcomers who want to begin with the game's harshest rules. It also provides a different type of replay value from the DLC. Protect & Serve offers additional narrative content and a new space to investigate; Hardcore Mode reshapes the conditions of survival across the existing experience.

A Survival Horror Game Built Around Arachnid Behavior

Huntsman comes from developer OnTheHouse Studios and publisher Ten Image Publishing. Before arriving in its current form, the project started as a small prototype on Itch. It subsequently grew into a viral hit, with its spider-focused premise and creature movement helping it stand out within the crowded horror field.

Its approach is rooted in the unsettling qualities of real spiders: sudden movement, unusual angles, ambush-like hunting, and the instinctive discomfort many players feel when something may be approaching from an unseen surface. That foundation helps explain why the game's updates emphasize not only bigger numbers but behavior and mobility. More enemies matter, but enemies that move differently or faster can make familiar environments feel newly unreliable.

The police station framing of Protect & Serve also offers an effective continuation of the core premise. The story is no longer confined to a single person discovering the consequences of the research facility. A survivor's account prompts an investigation, and that investigation reveals that the apparent boundaries of the horror were incomplete. The missed door is a simple but potent survival-horror image: an overlooked threshold that turns out to lead to another layer of danger.

For players who have already learned Huntsman's rhythms, the DLC's revised spider behavior and new weapon introduce an opportunity to see those rhythms disrupted. A gun can create moments of agency, yet a horror game can preserve its unease by ensuring that enemies, environments, and limited resources still demand care. The available description does not detail the weapon's ammunition, upgrades, or limitations, so players will need to discover how broad its practical role is within the expansion.

Two Paths for Returning Players

The simultaneous releases create a clear split in how players can revisit Huntsman. Those primarily interested in more story can enter Protect & Serve, investigate the newly discovered section of the facility, and follow its dedicated quest line. Those seeking greater difficulty can turn to Hardcore Mode and face an experience where threats are more numerous, certain Orb Weavers are quicker, and saving progress is more carefully controlled.

There is also overlap between the two. The DLC's more aggressive, fight-back framing and Hardcore Mode's elevated threat level both build on the same central idea: the facility remains dangerous because players can never fully assume they are alone or safe. Whether the answer is a gun or a more cautious route to the next save, the game continues to make the spiders the center of the experience.

For a project that began as a small prototype, the arrival of a first DLC is an important next step. Protect & Serve expands Huntsman with a new narrative thread, new playable territory, altered enemy behavior, and a weapon, while the free update ensures that all current owners receive a meaningful new mode rather than leaving the major gameplay change solely within paid content.

Huntsman Protect & Serve Availability

• Game: Huntsman
• Expansion: Protect & Serve
• Developer: OnTheHouse Studios
• Publisher: Ten Image Publishing
• Platform: Steam
• Protect & Serve: Paid DLC, available now
• Hardcore Mode: Free update for existing players, available now
• Launch promotion: Limited-time 50% Daily Deal on the base game

Players can now choose between pushing deeper into the newly uncovered side of the story or testing their nerve under Hardcore Mode's more severe survival rules. In either case, Huntsman's latest content keeps the focus where it has always been: on the unnerving possibility that something with too many legs is already closer than it seems.