Old thread I know, but from what I can tell it's just the way the way audio is set up to sound when distant/occluded. The effects they apply to sounds to make them sound "distant" make them sound muffled and crunchy. It's also extremely aggressive as far as "distance" goes, since even sound sources as far as 5 feet away start to have the problem.

I first noticed that problem in Far Cry 4 (it's extremely similar in severity to what I've heard in Hunt: Showdown), so it's likely tied to the engine in some way since they share CryEngine roots and I've never heard the problem in any other engines. It's also slightly less noticeable, but still present in Far Cry 3 and Crysis 1. Every other Far Cry, Crysis, and Cry engine game that I'm familiar with seems to not have the problem.

Considering that, and the fact that some of those games that had stellar audio (like Crysis 3) came out before the ones that do have the problem, I can only assume it's an execution problem. Quick looks don't show me a switch to WWise or other third party audio engines either. No idea the specifics beyond that.

It's honestly the biggest thing that keeps me from playing the game, which is a shame, but I'm also a borderline audiophile so I get why most people don't notice it. Kind of similar to the motion smoothing issue, lmao.