I cannot imagine the stress of having to launch a game in 2025. The market has gone through such a challenging moment after the Covid that seems that each game, outside a few impeccable successes, is born in a battle to survive.
It would have been difficult enough to launch a game in 2025 when the market was strong, but with the studies constantly closed and even some of the largest franchises of low performance, what possibilities do you have? That is why, despite having a good time playing exoborne, I went out with a sense of fear of the market in which it is launching.
Exoborne is an extraction shooter, with the main trick as an impressive dynamic weather system. During the games, huge tornadoes can cross the map, players can be beaten by lightning or flooded by floods. The game, which is established in the context of the catastrophic environmental disaster and leader of capitalism, uses this weather system to ensure that each party feels unique.
The environmental effects are not only set; They are also tactical. You can throw yourself into a tornado to fly to an area different from the map, or you can attract other players to a storm in the hope that the rays will be beaten.
The game movement system is fast and frantic, without turning everyone into Spider-Man. You have a hook in a cooling of 5 seconds, which means that it is perfect to cross the big maps, but will not turn the game into players who sail incessantly at a maximum speed. When I asked him if Grapple cooling could be reduced because I was having a lot of fun with him, the creative director of the game, Petter Mannerfelt, laughed before giving an emphatic “no”.
He talked about the speed of the game as something closer to that of Apex’s legends instead of Titanfall. Mannerfelt uses this analogy to reflect on the latest study title, Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodhunt. Mannerfelt states that the problem with that game is that the skill gap became which player could master the movement mechanics, and the combat was marginalized. That is something that exoborne tries to avoid.
The game shooting feels receptive and clearly made by a team full of handle veterans. Going from shooting on the floor, to immersed ourselves in a tornado that shot us on the other side of the map, to deal with the ground to start shooting again, it feels very intuitive, with hypermobile characters, but also resistant enough where you are not setting each game.
Exoborne is not supposed to be unconditional. He is trying to find a gap in the market of extraction shooters that can attract players who want that type of game but do not want military simulation combat, something that Felsfelt has delayed the genre.
“The biggest challenge for us is that we didn’t want to make an unconditional extraction shooter,” Wannfelt said. “There are many. They are for a specific crowd. We wanted to play for people who love games in general. We thought we had to facilitate the game, but we quickly realized that this is wrong. What makes the game fun is high risk. Even for not hardcore players, it is the risk that makes it fun, having those fights and winning. “
So far, so good. Exoborne is at least a good game, with mechanics that can drive it at great moments, but is that enough? The last time I made a trip with Shark Mob, was to play his last game, vampire The Masquerade: Bloodhunt. It was another game that was very fun to play in an enthusiastic environment, but one that ended development only one year later.
“The biggest challenge for us is that we didn’t want to make an unconditional extraction shooter. There is a lot. They are for a specific crowd. “
While extraction shooters have been incredibly popular in recent years, the genre is already following the path of Battle Royale. There are still great batters in space, but the number of games that really succeed is eclipsed by those who are released and sink without a trace. If the success or failure of these games were determined purely because of how fun they are to play, it would have great confidence in ExoBorne, but they are not.
Exoborne has to be so good that it shakes the people of the one, or perhaps two live service games to those who have already dedicated themselves. There are only so many hours in the day. If the experiences of a single player are struggling to recover the backward hours of those who have led to live service games as a full -time work, it is difficult to see how Exoborne wins them with a game that is good, but not Earth’s shocking.
We play the game in a state -of -the -art electronic sports sand. Literally, there could not have been a better place to show what the game could be. We had communicative teammates, we did not have to synchronize three calendars to find a time when we could all play, and we had no real life responsibilities that could drag ourselves in any second.
This environment, at least playing with two other real humans, is the key to entertaining me in this genre for me. During a game, where our team was cleaned while waiting for an extraction, I was able to crawl on an enemy extraction ship when I was about to leave. The enemy, clearly without paying attention to what I was doing, gave me enough time to revive me.
When my character returned to life, I was surprised by a group of developers who had gathered behind my screen. Each one shouted: “Melee them!” Before exploding in laughter when I was later surprised with a shotgun.
These types of moments present unique compensation in a game in which you are losing your own team won with so much effort. I felt significantly better for the loss incurred because we all laugh, we all had this totally emerging moment. I am not sure that the balance can resist playing alone.
When my character returned to life, I was surprised by a group of developers who had gathered behind my screen. Each one shouted: ‘Melee them!’ Before exploding in laughter when I was later surprised with a shotgun.
There were parts of the experience for a player who certainly enjoyed, and I think the movement is the most prominent, but with any of these games, I feel a deep well in the stomach knowing how strange it will be for me to be able to form a group of friends for play.
The players’ time has never been more than one premium, and not only that, the large number of adequate high quality games for groups of friends has never been greater. When there was a greater homogeny in the market, an investment in a multiplayer game was not so unstable. Now, if I spend money in ExoBorne, I have to trust not only that other friends do the same, but not to be dragged by the brightest thing, or in the last season in their favorite free game offer.
While I understand the reasons for ExoBorne to be launched as a premium product (whose price was not willing to discuss), it is still surprising. In 2025, a game like this has to be good enough to convince players who have already invested hundreds of pounds and hours in something else to try this. If Sharkmob can get exoborne in front of people, I hope many stay to try it because it is a very funny game and is based on a very impressive technology, but doing so is the real challenge.