I’m not sure Exterminauts is different enough from Helldivers 2. Behaviour Interactive, the team most famous for Dead by Daylight, told me during a roundtable discussion with the press that the idea of what has become Exterminauts was swirling around in the studio for a decade, with the game being roughly “half” done when Helldivers 2 launched in February 2024. But if you didn’t know that, you’d probably think it was made in reaction to Arrowhead’s breakout hit.
In Exterminauts, the third-person co-op shooter drops you and two others on a far-off world full of missions to complete, loot to collect, and aliens to explode. Side objectives often tempt you to stray from the golden path in exchange for exciting rewards like weapon buffs and mech suits. And when the job is finished, getting home in one piece means holding out while the exfiltration shuttle comes to you, as turrets and other hazards wipe out the onslaught of monsters–and you too, if you’re not careful, since the game allows for friendly fire.
It is, in essence, Helldivers 2 with a brighter color palette, a different race of aliens to destroy, and missions with different specifics, but played at a similar cadence. Is such a familiar experience enough on its own to merit players making the time for it? We see copycats often in video games, but Exterminauts felt closer to its inspiration than most others that have chased an already-successful idea with a different wrapper.
But one aspect really stood out to me as a clever, unique boon to the game: thematic cohesion. Whereas Helldivers 2 nails its Starship Troopers vibes, everything in Exterminauts feels like a sci-fi version of a weekend project involving Home Depot, with its heroes behaving like do-it-yourself dads (and moms, depending on how you customize your character) who treat wiping out giant aliens like a fixer-upper.
Exterminauts intentionally chases this feeling, as I learned in a hands-off presentation before I got to jump in for myself. Behaviour described its heroes as “blue-collar,” and spoke of how they’re not space rangers or military heroes; they’re regular folks asked to drop into hostile territory, where it’s not card-carrying and throat-slitting Costco customers they need to fend off, but intergalactic poisonous frogs and flying space squids.
During my two hours of playing Exterminauts, it became clear that Behaviour was exceedingly committed to the bit. Characters wear very workmanlike attire, with all-weather boots, construction-site helmets, and high-vis reflectors reminiscent of flaggers directing traffic while their coworkers jackhammer the sidewalk. To heal, they chug energy drinks–which a developer told me happens without them even removing their helmets because, after a long debate, the team decided it was funnier that way. Objectives involve actions like welding cracks in the sides of mining facilities and repairing antennae to restore power to crucial communication devices.
Each player has a power source on standby, which they can use to install ziplines, unlock loot doors, or perform other tasks that always had the air of fixing stuff around the house, only the “house” here is an alien planet. Running low on that battery also means recharging it at spots across the map, like filling up the gas tank or heading to the garage to swap out batteries for your power drill.
While the few primary weapons I saw were more traditional shooter-game fare–I messed around with both an automatic rifle and a shotgun–the secondary options were more on the nose, like a hose-like weapon that sprayed corrosive liquid at enemies. It felt like I was powerwashing a deck. Other options recalled homeowner staples like lawn sprinklers or fences that, rather than simply mark property lines, electrocuted whatever crossed their threshold.
All these thematic touches floated in the background as I played. Rounds of Exterminauts are chaotic, especially as you climb its difficulty tree, so I wasn’t actively dwelling on the DIY vibes. But in an “aha!” moment that became my most memorable experience with the co-op game, it all clicked into place as we signaled for extraction. With my allies and I fending off waves of monsters, the soundtrack in the background was the most Home Depot-jingle-like song I’ve ever heard outside of, well, Home Depot advertisements.
Behaviour may as well have swapped the exfil song with a commercial break from a college football game. I looked for the tune online so you could hear it for yourself, and I couldn’t find it, but the announcement trailer offers a decent replacement.
Though I don’t think a funny and cohesive aesthetic is the kind of back-of-the-box material that will claim Helldivers 2 players en masse, it gives the game a strong identity. Its major verbs overlap heavily with those in Helldivers 2, but the nitty-gritty details are where they pull apart–and clearly, nitty-gritty is what Behavior is going for here.
There’s no release date yet, but Exterminauts will launch on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S with full cross-play enabled.
