At Gamescom, Behaviour Interactive unveiled Exterminauts, a three-player player-versus-environment shooter that trades the usual power fantasy for something far more mundane—and refreshingly different. Instead of playing as chosen ones or genetically enhanced soldiers, players step into the boots of an everyman working a 9-to-5 on distant planets. The premise is simple: get in, do what needs doing, and clock out before the alien fauna gets you. After a hands-on session with the game’s early build, it became clear that this blue-collar approach to the co-op shooter genre could be one the studio has been cultivating for years.
The working-class ethos permeates nearly every aspect of Exterminauts. Players don their orange worksuits rather than power armor, and they cannot simply sprint off to tackle everything solo. Teamwork is mandatory, with a boss figure guiding your next task through your earpiece while you labor for interstellar megacorporations—the modern equivalent of working for The Man. According to the development team, this identity was intentional from the outset, even though Exterminauts has been in production for roughly five years.
An Alien World That Feels Genuinely Alien
The demo I experienced centered on a single three-man contract. After selecting pre-built characters—full customization options including weapon mods and passive abilities await in the finished game—the real work began. Despite battling otherworldly creatures, from air jellyfish to bug-like monstrosities with giant pincers, the overall tone remained surprisingly low-key. The world glowed with bright, vivid colors, yet its inhabitants retained a genuinely alien quality that many games struggle to achieve.
“I think one of the things that we went for initially was just to try to look at shapes that were really interesting… So we always think about our enemies in that way to try to go against expectations a little bit and just try to surprise the audience.”
Vincent Regimbald, Creative Director
Creative Director Vincent Regimbald explained that crafting these creatures required deliberate thought. He pointed to an unshown enemy called the wrecking slug—a rolling, boulder-like beast that opens to reveal a soft, vulnerable core. This contrast between threatening exterior and fragile interior reflects the studio’s broader philosophy of subverting player expectations.
The Best Co-Op Shooter Requires Actual Work
Despite its name, Exterminauts isn’t merely about blasting whatever you find planetside. You must actually complete your job, which involves climbing massive structures, ziplining across chasms, and performing tasks like turning valves, repairing electrical shorts, and welding metal. One standout moment had me replicating Bioshock’s pipe-connecting minigame while my turret and squadmates fended off local wildlife that clearly wanted us gone.
Some problems demand coordination, which proved to be among the most enjoyable elements of my session. Even something as straightforward as turning two valves simultaneously becomes challenging when only one teammate remains to defend the group. Players can also fast-track certain fixes by sacrificing resources—juicing a terminal with your backpack if you have spare power rather than playing through the full minigame.
“We looked at a lot of the typical things that a blue-collar worker might do on a work site… So we only saw a portion here, but there is welding, there are terminals that are shut down that need to be rebooted. There’s electrical systems that are offline that need to be rebooted. So it’s a lot of interaction points.”
Vincent Regimbald, Creative Director
The traversal system added another layer of engagement, with environments featuring gorges and cliffs that demand ziplines or careful timing to navigate safely. Half the time spent on any job seemed devoted to figuring out how to reach the destination in the first place.
Chaos Is Intentional
Once all terminals were rebooted, welds repaired, pipes installed, and machine goop cleared away, it was finally time to clock out. Players literally punch in and out, calling in a dropship for extraction before holding their ground until arrival. During my session, I managed to accidentally eliminate two teammates with an overcharged rocket launcher—a reminder that lives are limited, and running out means contract failure.
This chaos is deliberate, according to the developers. Whether you’re blowing up friends by accident, getting knocked off a structure mid-repair, or reacting to unexpected threats, players constantly make decisions while dealing with circumstances beyond their control. It was one of the most enjoyable aspects of my time with Exterminauts.
With full customization options like ice mods that freeze and shatter enemies already teased for the finished game, Exterminauts has plenty in store. Behaviour Interactive’s blue-collar co-op shooter continues to develop toward an unannounced release window, promising a refreshing take on teamwork, labor, and interstellar manual work.
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