The 1997 cult classic movie Starship Troopers by director Paul Verhoeven is a relentless war film that leans heavily into the spectacle and over-the-top nature of intergalactic warfare. With the upcoming Starship Troopers: Extermination from Beyond the Wire developer Offworld Industries, the video game adaptation seeks to expand upon the film’s chaotic and gory combat sequences for its focus on co-op squad-based action.
I got an early look at Extermination ahead of its early access release on May 17th and saw its unique blend of large-scale combat and tower defense-style gameplay firsthand. And so far, it has the makings for a compelling twist on the original film’s concept of soldiers out of their depth being thrust head-first into a fight against an endless swarm of alien bugs.
Extermination takes place decades after the original film and sees a new division of Deep Space Vanguards face off against the extremely hostile alien species known as the Arachnids – otherwise known as “bugs.” The squad of troopers takes on a variety of resource-gathering and bug hunt missions, all while facing off against an onslaught of vicious Arachnids that can easily tear your squad apart.
The main loop focuses on running and gunning against the bugs, capturing territory, and building bases and ammo depots to mostly even the playing field against the opposition. Before each game, you get to choose from one of three different class types; the jet-pack-wearing Assault class, a Heavy class that can pull up a mobile shield to hunker down and lay down suppressive fire on bugs, and a support unit that can call up medic drones to heal the squad.
When the action goes off, Extermination features some solid shooting and team mechanics at work, including a helpful ping system. But as the Infestation level increases, more bugs and new variants appear, pushing the need for more focused tactics and class skills to survive. The sheer scale of the onslaught can be overwhelming, especially when some of the sneakier bugs catch you off-guard. But Extermination is fairly generous with the revives and respawns, allowing you and the squad to quickly get back into the action.
The sheer scale of the onslaught can be overwhelming, especially when some of the sneakier bugs catch you off-guard.
On the surface, this setup is quite the norm for most other co-op focused shooters, such as Warhammer 40,000: Darktide or the Left 4 Dead series. However, what Starship Troopers: Extermination leans into is the sheer scale of the battlefield and the conflict. With large player counts of 16, battles are out in the open, forcing you and your squad to keep on the move to knock out the randomized objectives that take you to different areas of the field. While I did feel that there was some extended downtime in between objectives, which resulted in uneventful stretches of running around, the game’s dynamic pacing and encounters mostly keeps a steady flow going.
One of Extermination’s most interesting additions is the surprisingly robust and engaging base-building system. At the key building points across the map, your team can rapidly build structures to create defensive perimeters, traps, and vantage points for your group to defend yourselves against the swarm of bugs. During my hands-on, I worked diligently to get a wall in place, but as soon as I turned out, the rest of the base’s defenses were already built up by the rest of the squad.
My favorite moments from the preview session all came from the final sequences of each match, which focus on hunkering down to defend a derelict base and wait for evacuation. These blend the tower-defense gameplay with intense close-quarters action, balancing the need to repair structures while gunning down the bugs trying to get inside. The final push, no matter how well prepared we were, always felt intense and challenging, and making for an exciting capper to each round.
I really enjoyed the relentless nature of Starship Troopers: Extermination, which captures the film’s breakneck pace. At times, though, I did feel that its heightened action made some battles feel a bit too overwhelming to keep up with. Still, getting into the thick of it reminded me of the more intense moments from the movie, which the game captures so well.
The upcoming early access release puts the game in a great place to refine its mechanics and develop its overall tone and vibe. At launch, the game will have its core map and set of classes, with new content dropping within the first year. While it often spends time recreating those movie moments, which is what many film fans no doubt want, there are periods where the game’s original idea shows promise, and that was exciting to see.
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