Exoborne hands-on preview — Ride the lightning

There are some great extraction shooters out there, but we’re still waiting for the one that pulls in the masses. Sure, Escape from Tarkov has its fans, but that game is in a league of its own when it comes to a high learning curve. To make it big, you need to appeal to everyone. After heading out to Las Vegas to play Exoborne for a day, I can see the bones of something that can provide the dopamine of an intense extraction shooter run, while still allowing new players to feel like they’re accomplishing something even if they fall in battle… to a fire tornado.

Something I really like seeing in Exoborne: a tutorial. While I haven’t played a ton of extraction shooters, the ones I have tend to be obtuse and don’t go over what you’re doing well. Exoborne isn’t like that, setting you up with a nice cutscene explaining how we got here before throwing you into a linear mission to show you the ropes. It’s a short but effective introduction to the mechanics, giving you a running start before you dive into the meat and potatoes of what an extraction shooter is.

As mentioned above, there is a narrative behind what you’re doing. This is an intentional move by Sharkmob, as one of the things they’ve noticed is that it’s more rewarding for players to have a story to both immerse them in the world and to drive the tasks ahead. Beyond the few cutscenes it can be a bit sparse, but I immediately felt more connected to the world the dev team has crafted. Here, a corporation named Rebirth recruits you to help build towers that are meant as a benefit to this version of the U.S., but instead causes the natural catastrophes you’ll find yourself in and up against. Colton County is a devastated wasteland because of this, and your defection and subsequent falling in with local rebels will hopefully turn the tide against Rebirth.

This all leads to an intriguing setting for the maps. Sharkmob based Colton County on the southeastern United States, so there is a lot of apocalyptic farm land, mountainous regions, and town centers decimated by the collapse of civilization. Each map has its own theme to it, with Maynard seeming more like a backwoods area, Agnesville is more foresty with city development, and Sinkhole is… well, as its namesake. The topography of this map has been annihilated, with a lot of the ground in upheaval in different places. It’s extremely vertical compared to the design of the others, so you’ll be moving around a whole lot to be in the best position.

Before you drop into a warzone, you’ll want to make sure you’re ready to do so. This is done by checking your loadout and setting up your activities in the pre-game menus. Starting with the activities, these looked pretty standard for an extraction shooter, beginning with completing your first extraction in and out of Maynard (the opening map), and moving into things like eliminating a certain number of AI enemies or picking up specific loot around the map. These objectives tend to not get too intense, but I’m sure as you work your way up the ladder, tougher missions will eventually reveal themselves.

Picking your loadout is the most important part of any extraction shooter. Exoborne has made that quite easy, building their approachability mantra into the construction of the game. The basis of your loadout revolves around a grid system a la Resident Evil. Whatever you take in has to fit in the boxes, even if it overlaps several of them. This means if you want an extra weapon to bring in, you’ll be sacrificing some backpack space, which could be useful if you find a lot of cool gear along your run. There are upgraded backpacks with more space, and a stash thankfully to place items you may not need for your current objective or run, but it too needs to be upgraded if you want to hold all the cool things you’ll eventually unlock and retrieve.

I have to give a lot of credit to the team for taking inventory and modification seriously as they’ve built Exoborne. One of the things I noticed during my play time was how simple it was to assemble a loadout, and not just that, tweak it to my liking. Holding my mouse pointer over the top of my weapon, it only took a key press to be inside the attachment menu; no additional steps or leaving to a different menu. All of your customization in your loadout is streamlined this way, and that sort of ease of use goes a long way for a player.

Choosing your exosuit is the key differentiator between Exoborne and other extraction or looter shooters. This hunk of metal and wire assisted you in your survival, both in building the towers for Rebirth and against the storms raised along the way. For now, the team introduced us to four, the basic Coyote that you begin with (and will quickly discard), the agile Kestrel, the heavy Kodiak, and the brutal Viper. While we weren’t told if more would be on the way eventually, I’d be surprised if that isn’t a pillar for upcoming seasons; introducing new exosuit variations.

The unique qualities of these exosuits boil down to what you can equip to them, alongside a few abilities. For instance, the Kestral is lighter, and the earlier model I used had less grid boxes available for bringing larger weapons, armor, and support items along. As for abilities, the Kestrel has a short hover you can use while in the air – which sounds great for surprising an enemy from above. The melee attack also gets a compressed air boost cooldown, adding some extra damage to your punch along with some stun capability.

My first upgraded rig was the Viper, which has a perk which starts health regen when you down a player or kill an NPC. Your melee attack for the Viper is a blade, which adds a dash that can cause some real harm. There are also extra traits these better models can have, like how this one gives my blade double the backstab damage. Given there is no skill tree or percentage based upgrading of your character, these exos make for a fun way to choose what playstyle you plan to roll out with onto the battlefield.

If I had to make instant comparisons to the feel of Exoborne, it’s something in the middle of Just Cause and The Division. Both are third-person shooters, with one leaning into open-world movement mechanics and the other focused on the looter shooter aspect. This combination fits right for Exoborne, especially with the exosuits adding variation to the formula.

As soon as I dropped onto the map, it was time to figure out what the crap I was doing. Aiming down the sights of your weapon swaps you into first person, so all of your gunfighting happens from that POV unless you decide to fire from the hip. Everything else you’ll do in third-person, which certainly helps you survey your surroundings as you try to stay alive in this hostile environment.

It’s not the most hostile when it comes to NPCs, as at least in our matches they were a bit stupid. That’s par for the course from my time playing DMZ from Call of Duty, so it’s not a dealbreaker. I do hope the next build and maybe the other maps you play beyond the entry level one has more challenging AI to engage. There are some robots that are pretty dope that Rebirth started sending my way in the second map, so that’s a start even if they were a bit easy to defeat.

When you find yourself in the midst of combatants, it’s important you don’t simply run and gun. If you’re like me, some survival instincts may kick in, but working with your team is paramount to making it to extraction. Just like any shooter, matching up your exosuits and loadouts will make life easier… just as much as not doing so will make it harder. If I’m running the Kodiak exosuit, I should probably play ahead as my perk gives me an extra plasma shield. Similarly, if I’m using a Kestrel exosuit, it may benefit me to play back and use a sniper as I’m a bit more brittle compared to the capabilities of my peers. Truly, it’s going to be similar to what you’re used to if you’ve played any battle royales or extraction shooters: know your kit, know your positioning, know where your teammates are. That isn’t to say you might not be able to clutch some insane 1v3s (as I did in the clip above), but with your and your friends’ loadouts on the line if you perish, it’s smarter to not put yourself or your teammates in that position.

Once you’ve defeated your enemies, you’ll have the opportunity to loot them and the area you’re in, and sometimes you’ll find some awesome stuff. Some things will be mission oriented, others you’ll have to wait to open at the main menu, like artifacts. One addition I really appreciate is being able to instantly equip something I’ve picked up. For example, I was in a fight with other players, and ran out of grenades. My opponent still had some, and I was able to grab his and equip them in that slot of my loadout. Doing this on the fly is awesome, and allows for you to engage a lot more without the fear you’re going to run out of ordnance… even if you’ll have to fight for it at times.

To my surprise – even in this beta form – firefights in Exoborne feel smooth. There aren’t jagged edges to the third to first-person ADSing, the recoil seems fair even if certain guns will need better attachments (or me to be using a controller instead of a keyboard and mouse), and it in general seems further ahead mechanically than I’d expect. The strafing does seem a bit slow, and even that might be more of a personal preference from someone who plays Call of Duty regularly.

Even though the shooting feels good, the weapons are a bit boring. I’m not sure there’s a lot that can be changed, but the futuristic take had me hoping for more unique firearms. For the most part it’s what you’d expect, with assault rifles, marksman rifles, snipers, submachine guns, light machine guns, and shotguns in the armory. The support items exemplify my desires, with toxic gas launchers, electric-charge grenades; even full on mortar strikes. Hopefully this can be adjusted with upcoming content, because I don’t want the minute-to-minute gunplay getting stale due to dull weaponry.

Your movement is as smooth as the gunplay, and depending on your exosuit choice can be faster or slower. The grappling hook is a permanent addition to your kit now, and although I often forgot it, works nicely with a more vertical map design. One specific callout, the mantling rocks. There were multiple instances where I thought I’d miss a ledge, only for my character to automatically hoist himself up. I get the feeling this is exo boosted, and I like it. Also, when this happens with the Kestrel, there’s a special animation, which is satisfying in a show off kind of way.

Speaking of map design, there are three maps available in the current Exoborne experience. I discussed the settings earlier, but they all play differently. Maynard is the first, which is a bit larger and flatter while hosting easier enemies. This map will allow you to get your feet wet. Agnesville is the second, and straight away felt like a challenge comparably, at least with the terrain. There’s a lot more to move and climb around, alongside those robot baddies I mentioned earlier. Third, Sinkhole rounds out the lot, and it was pure chaos. Between incredulous verticality, some really sweaty players, and a huge robot crawler to defeat in one area we reached, your work will be cut out for you, but likely with the possibility of great rewards for your risk.

Risk comes in many forms in Exoborne, and the storms you’ll encounter are no joke. At one point I decided to try and loot a body of a fallen foe, when suddenly everything on my screen disappeared and I was thrown out of the looting menu. To my dismay, I was riding at the apex of a fire tornado. Thankfully I had the time to hit my glider button and cruise back to my team, but this is just an example of how your head has to be on a swivel. A tornado could interrupt an important gunfight and screw you over. Or, if you’re quick witted, a tornado could also give you the boost you need to hit your glider and get the heck out of harm’s way. You’ll still take some minor damage, but that might be the difference between extraction and death.

Tornados aren’t the only hazards you’ll encounter, as toxic air, fog that envelops everything around you, lighting bolts, and more can get in your way. While the tornado was the most impressive and dangerous threat I remember encountering, I’m sure Sharkmob has some more weather up their sleeve to throw at us as the game progresses. These storms and perils randomly generate, so keeping your eyes peeled is an important part of playing Exoborne. That, and these can also be in your area as soon as you drop, so be careful.

Dying and losing your kit sucks, but I didn’t feel like abandoning the game afterwards. Sure, we had some preset gear in our stash to get back out there, but the constant cycle of rewards from progressing missions, finding things on the map beforehand, and items available to purchase helps to soften the blow. Sharkmob seems to have their finger on delivering the right amount of loot so even the worst death doesn’t sting the same way it does in the more intense extraction shooters. I’m certain there will be instances worse than others, like planning a high-level run with your best loadout that doesn’t pan out, but I also feel like it won’t take too long to reload for another crack.

Lastly, let’s talk customization. There’s a decent amount of choices you have for your initial operator, with hair styles, facial features, and body types to cycle through. You’re not locked in either, so feel free to experiment. As you play, you’ll also get new clothing options, and from what I can see from the battle pass, there will be a lot of new items to swap in, along with new camos to customize your kit even further.

That battle pass I mentioned is a pretty standard affair, with a linear path you unlock via XP obtained while playing. It’s nothing revolutionary, but I do appreciate the linear design as it’s the most straightforward. Pages are cool and all, but nothing beats getting my battle pass loot in a straight line and not having to interact with it at all.

Exoborne is facing an uphill battle, and not just because of the sloping of the maps. Any live service shooter is in a war for attention with its peers, both for money and time. This is a space you have to break out in, not break into. Can Exoborne find its place? We’ll see as the rollout continues in 2025, including the playtest scheduled for February 12-17. You can sign up on Steam here!

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