Last year at Summer Games Fest, we got to see a hands-off preview of the extraction shooter Exoborne. This year, we got to go hands-on with it ourselves, and, honestly, it was more of a blast than what we were expecting. While we only played one match where we just had one specific mission to accomplish before we needed to extract, our three man team enjoyed just exploring the map.

The best thing Exoborne has going for it is the traversal and maneuvering around the map. Characters are equipped with a grapple hook as well as the ability to jump in the air to initiate a glide. This allows for you to absolutely fly around the map at insane speeds. At one point, our team was grouped up, but then one player got way ahead of us and to the objective before we knew it thanks to how easily you can traverse the map. What really helped was the random force of nature, which is the game’s calling card, that occured as a tornado spawned near us and caused the wind to send you increasing farther if you’re going with the wind. It could also hinder us as if you tried to glide against the wind, it would push you back and away.

While we didn’t face any other teams during our time with the game, the developers said that maps will hold up to ten teams that compete with each other and extract with the best loot before losing it to other player. Teams consist of three players, so you will have up to twenty seven other players flying around the map along with all the random NPCs across the map. NPCs can still get overwhelming too. We tried to extract in the middle of a battle with the NPCs, and we had to be quick to get away. However, one of our teammates didn’t make it into the extraction ship in time. By not making it, he was still stuck there and had to take on the NPCs alone and had to find a way to extract by himself, but, unfortunately wasn’t so lucky.

The extraction shooter genre is getting very competitive, and it’s hard to stand out, but with how the game is shaping up, it looks to be poised to find its audience. Exoborne is looking to have its full release later this year.