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Preview: Exoborne's Environmental Hazards Create Memorable Firefights In Sharkmob's Upcoming Extraction Shooter

Joseph Bradford Posted:
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I’ll admit: I’m not the biggest fan of the extraction shooter genre. Games like Escape from Tarkov or Hunt: Showdown are intriguing at first, but I often get bored of the same old “drop in, loot, and try to escape” formula these all devolve into. There’s often not an interesting hook that makes these worlds fun to explore. Instead, much of the excitement is borne purely by interactions with other players.

On the one hand, this is what PvP-centric games have always done. The interactions with players and the excitement you can get when holding your own in a firefight, trying to get to the chopper before the other team ruins your day are the highlights of many a match.

Exoborne, the upcoming extraction shooter from Sharkmob, has many of these elements. You drop into a map, loot around and try to complete tasks and quests given to you by NPCs at a social hub ahead of time, all while avoiding other players and extracting safely in the end. 

When I went into a preview event here in Las Vegas at the HyperX Arena at the Luxor earlier this month, I don’t think I was expecting to enjoy that loop much. Sure, I figured I’d have fun - even an extraction shooter curmudgeon like myself can find the fun in the loop occasionally. However, after a few hours with the shooter, I came away wanting more, and it’s down to the unique draw that Exoborne brings with it: dynamic weather.

Set in a future version of Earth where the world has been ripped apart by extreme weather  - and I mean extreme weather - Exoborne will see players explore, loot, and survive a fictional county on the East Coast of the United States. Equipped with powerful Exo-Rigs as the Reborn, players will need to survive each other as well as the extreme weather ravaging the land, all in the hope eventually healing the world from those who wish to exploit it after a disastrous attempt at saving humanity called Project Rebirth.

Exoborne

Playing a game that was all about a world torn apart by extreme weather felt a little weird at the same time Los Angeles was literally on fire just a state away, something Sharkmob acknowledged during a presentation. But it’s certainly pointing to a future we can all admit we don’t want to see, especially as climate challenges continue to wrack the world we currently live within.

To set the stage, Earth was on the brink of ecological disaster when a society turned to its last hope: Project Rebirth. This was meant to save the planet and, by extension, humanity. But like most post-apocalyptic worlds, this was too good to be true, and it seems the progenitors of Project Rebirth had other plans for what they were doing.

You play as one of the soldiers who were convinced to join the watch to protect Project Rebirth - until you were forced to turn your guns on society itself. You break free of the Rebirth Corporation’s control, joining your fellow Reborn in bringing your powerful Exo-Rig to bear against Rebirth and its soldiers, all on the side of rebellion led by the charismatic leader, Tar.

Come on, Tar(s), indeed.

Man your own Exo-Rig

Each player is equipped with their own Exo-Rig, which can also act as a de-facto class to choose from. The Kestrel EX1 is a high flying, lightly armored Rig that is great at repositioning in the air, scouting and even good as a solo Exo-Rig should you need to brave Colton County alone. The Viper STR1 is a great damage dealer, thanks in large part to its fast-paced movement and reliance on its blade dash to close the distance and mess up rival Exobornes with a flurry of melee attacks. 

Meanwhile, the Kodiak OX1 is a brute of an Exo-Rig, easily playing the tank of any group. The Rig can smash the ground with a powerful slam, dealing damage in a 360-radius around the player, while sprinting provides a buff against damage dealt to the Kodiak. 

Figuring out which one was my favorite took a bit of trial and error, but it should be noted that each Rig does come with some standard abilities, such as an enhanced sprint which uses the Rig to propel the player forward for a short distance, as well as a grappling hook to reach those high, hard to reach places.

Also, to play into the power fantasy, there is no fall damage, which is incredible in a game where you can easily be flung across the map by a flaming tornado if you’re not careful.

Each Rig can be customized through Exoborne’s crafting system while back at your base, with upgrades that can boost your stamina while sprinting, or more Rig-specific modules that give bonuses to weapons, such as one that electrified the Viper’s Blades, dealing arcing lightning damage to nearby enemies.

You’ll find crafting materials on your travels, and honestly, in my experience with Exoborne, these materials were rather plentiful early on. Higher tier crafting items do require more specialized materials, which is when I started to notice they were harder to come by, meaning it could necessitate multiple runs to finally get that module you need to upgrade to the next powerful piece of kit.

Exo-Rigs themselves can be crafted at higher tiers, with each progressive tier allowing for more powerful versions of the Rig to be deployed. 

I found myself gravitating more and more to the Viper as my playtest went on, but I will say, playing as a maxed out Kodiak Rig is a ton of fun in the right moments, especially when surrounded and a good ground pound helped to get me and my teammates out of a sticky situation.

Embrace The Weather

Remember when I said the extreme weather was the hook that had me interested the most in Exoborne? This was made clear the first time I dropped onto a map. The map, a war torn flooded coastline known as Maynard, as we dropped nearby two towering tornados. Equipped with the Kodiak Exo-Rig, I didn’t really get bothered too much by the torrential winds, but my two teammates found themselves flung far by the windy vortex, which on one hand was a great way to quickly get around, but it also split up our group. 

Exoborne

Thankfully, we are all equipped with a glider that feels like a mix between The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s glider system and literally every battle royale’s parachute as you drop in. The glider can be caught by the wind, lifting you up and carrying you wherever it aims to go. This was undoubtedly the best way to travel, and travel quickly, especially as the slow-moving Kodiak Rig, but you are also at the whims of the wind. If there is no breeze, you’re not flying. On the flip side, if there is a torrential breeze, it might not always be blowing the direction you need it to go.

That said, I found myself constantly attempting glider flight when I could, taking the to the skies to cross the vast and densely populated map, as well as to help reach high places that my grappling hook might not have been able to reach otherwise. I do think there is something missed by not allowing players to swing using the grappling hook like a low-rent Spider-man, but you can’t have everything, I guess.

It’s not just extreme wind to deal with, either. Those tornadoes might sometimes be swirling columns of fire, setting ablaze anything and anyone they pick up, while rain doesn’t just bring a refreshing drizzle, but the prospect of devastating lightning strikes. While I couldn’t tell whether the metal from our Exo-Rigs attracted the lightning like metal can in games like Tears of the Kingdom, I usually didn’t stick around to find out, if I’m honest.

The fact that the weather is always something I had to keep in the back of my mind brought on a tension all its own. It wasn’t just the prospect of getting whacked by other players or even an overpowered enemy, but a fire tornado forming on top of me, sending me flying while engulfed in flames. But it’s foolish to think the weather is the only danger. 

Exoborne

The unfortunate thing is that this weather might be the most exciting thing about the moment-to-moment gameplay in Exoborne. This isn’t to say that it’s bad - far from it. However, there’s something more harrowing about a death tornado than just another nameless NPC I gunned down for the fiftieth time this run. 

It does help that the gunplay is superb, with each shot feeling and sounding immaculate. Guns have a heft and weight that makes them fun to wield, especially as I would weave in my Exo-Rig’s unique melee abilities to finish off an enemy. Popping off a few rounds and then downing a foe with a blast of concentrated air from the Kestrel Exo-Rig was incredibly satisfying, while absorbing bullet damage as the Kodiak as I rushed into the fray, shotgun blazing, was a treat.

But, I’ll admit that over time, after happening on my third Bodkin camp of the run, this got old. Thankfully, fighting other Exos made things interesting again. The three on three battles are some of the fiercest I faced during the event, with Exo-Rigs slamming into each other, angling to knock each other out and steal their loot. Everything from your weapons to the Exo-Rig you’re wearing is fair game should you fall, meaning that the risk of engaging an enemy squad can far outweigh the reward if you lose your Tier 5 rig in the process.

One engagement saw my team and I have to overcome two squads at once as a dense fog cloud rolled in. This created a harrowing environment, as at any turn, I could face an enemy, his Viper blades poised to strike. This felt like what Peak Exoborne aims to be: overcoming the enemy and the world to accomplish your task. In these moments, I started to fall in love with the game.

Exoborne

I do like that there is a fairly forgiving revive system in Exoborne, with an allied player able to pick you back up even long after your defeat. There’s no guarantee you’ll have any items on you when you are picked back up  -this happened to me twice being revived without guns, ammo, and more, but I do like the system. It means as long as one of you survives, you’re not really out of the fight. 

As far as the staying power of Exoborne, it’s joining what is already a crowded market. Tarkov, Arena: Breakout Infinite, Grey Zone Warfare, Witchfire, and so many more already dominate the market. It makes me wonder if the dynamic weather system combined with the Exo-Rig power fantasy is enough to bring the players to Colton County. Thankfully, Exoborne is aiming to weave a full narrative into the mix, with quests that further the story along with each drop into the map. 

I didn’t get enough time with the narrative to state definitively whether this will be enough of a draw, but the world-building is interesting enough at the surface level presented to us during the preview event that I am interested in checking the outcome its 2025 launch. 

All in all, this was an impressive first look at Exoborne, and while I’m not the biggest fan of extraction shooters, this is definitely on my radar when it releases sometime this year.


lotrlore

Joseph Bradford

Joseph has been writing or podcasting about games in some form since about 2012. Having written for multiple major outlets such as IGN, Playboy, and more, Joseph started writing for MMORPG in 2015. When he's not writing or talking about games, you can typically find him hanging out with his 15-year old or playing Magic: The Gathering with his family. Also, don't get him started on why Balrogs *don't* have wings. You can find him on Twitter @LotrLore