Exterminauts is the new game from Behaviour Interactive, but the title couldn’t be further from the studio’s most popular title, Dead by Daylight. Instead, Exterminauts puts you and two friends together as “blue collar workers” who are tasked to punch in, clear up, and get out.
During my hands-on time with the game at Gamescom, I was immediately drawn to the brighter visuals and more chaotic gameplay than other similar games, such as Helldivers. Friendly fire means you’re not only at the mercy of the strange alien creatures that are constantly attempting to thwart your task progress as they thirst for the Polymorphic Plasma on the planet, but you’re also attempting to dodge incoming fire from your own teammates.
Ziplines can only be used by one teammate at a time, so if more than one person attempts to leap on to one, they’ll fall to an untimely–but pretty funny–death. Weapons can be overcharged to deal greater damage with special effects or elemental shots, but they can also cause your entire trio to fly backwards comically as someone accidentally electrifies the body of water you’re all standing in.
While the premise is simple–get in, complete tasks, get out–it’s also very engaging. We completed a longer contract with several objectives in around 25 minutes, and that shorter burst of gameplay means I can imagine the variation of different contracts is pretty satisfying.
While we didn’t get to play with any, the team showed us a variety of mods and variants that you’ll be able to seek out during a run in order to perfect your build. This feels like a surefire way to incentivize players and get that “just one more run” feeling in full flow.
Exterminauts isn’t anything revolutionary, but it doesn’t have to be. Its bright, lighthearted combat, chaotic possibilities, and co-op fun are all crafted in an impressive way, and I can see myself uninstalling Helldivers in its favor when it releases in 2027 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.
