Exterminauts Preview and hands-on at gamescom

What is Exterminauts?

Exterminauts is a cooperative third-person shooter. Players must complete missions on the surface of an unnamed planet as part of a three-person team. At the heart of these missions are classic elements of this genre: a power plant or refinery must be repaired and reactivated—a control terminal must be brought back online. But that would be far too easy—the planet’s surface is teeming with insect-like creatures that regularly attack the team and must be repelled with appropriate firepower.

Deep Rock Galactic Meets Helldivers 2?

At first glance, the game appears to combine elements of the popular sci-fi shooters Deep Rock Galactic and Helldivers. Both games share a futuristic setting and cooperative gameplay. The use of “weaponized power tools” also offers a certain parallel to Deep Rock Galactic; after all, in that game, the pickaxe is used sometimes to mine ore and sometimes as a weapon against the native creatures on Hoxxes IV. The third-person perspective and the relatively genre-typical design language of the uniforms also evoke associations with Helldivers 2, which was briefly enormously popular before falling out of favor. The similarities between all three games are reinforced by the humor employed. The fact that the supposed aliens in all three games look more or less insect-like also fits into this picture. These similarities are rounded out by language that is slightly contemptuous toward the aliens and by the framing of the missions as civilian jobs. However, other elements—such as superweapons from orbit or the often somewhat silly humor of Deep Rock Galactic—are not currently found in this game.

A cynic might accuse Exterminauts of being a generic game cobbled together from bits and pieces of well-known titles. Someone approaching the game with a more favorable eye, however, might see it as a meaningful evolution and a fresh combination of established elements.

How does Exterminauts play?

Exterminauts performed very well during our hands-on session. The PC version could be controlled using both a mouse and keyboard as well as an Xbox controller. Technically, the game ran smoothly with seemingly stable frame rates. It’s worth noting that in the available mission, several intermediate objectives were activated simultaneously, so coordination among team members is essential. Added to this is a somewhat unusual mechanic for reviving teammates—one that isn’t easy to figure out on the first try. We really enjoyed the trade show demo. Exterminauts is set to release for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, and PC at a date yet to be announced. Anyone who enjoys the other sci-fi shooters mentioned here should keep an eye out for this game.