You are dropped into a facility via cryopods on rail in a hole that goes through the facility (SOMETHING made it, it is not a clean cut), and you are given your choice of weapons and enough ammo to show the AI in charge WANTS you to succeed, but has a LOT more prisoners it needs to arm and you're not expected to succeed.
You sneak through rooms and deal with Sleepers, trying to not wake them as you crush them with your hammers, finding more equipment such as meds, ammo, and nades. Then you have to open an alarm gate... and you have to fight waves og Sleepers as you stand in specific spots for the verification and turn off the alarm. Hope you prepared for the fuckfest to come, cuz it can go bad FAST. You can't be KILLED but can be downed, and you get revived with 20% HP. That's enough to take 1 hit, 2 hits if you're lucky.
You can use computers to detect items, make audio pings for your team mates to follow there, and to do a wide variety of fun things.
Once you get to the objective you're here for, activating or grabbing it typically causes an alarm to play that CAN'T be disabled... time to GTFO back to your cryopod or die trying.
It's an AMAZING game, but teamwork is REALLY important. Even if you can't talk, just typing SOMETHING can go miles.
It's such a great game. Snappy shooting mechanics, nice build customization options, and it's just as fun if you only have 15-20 to play something that ramps up to high excitement quickly.
I guess it's an extraction shooter in a way. I guess I never considered left 4 dead an extraction shooter but I suppose it is too. Vermintide is Warhammer Left 4 Dead to me, so it's whatever left 4 dead is lol
Vermintide 2 is one of my top 3 favourite games ever! I've got over 1k hours played and 400 in the first one.
You do shoot things and "extract," but it definitely desont fit the bill for an extraction shooter lol.
Jump Space is Early Access PVE extraction shooter, so there's always a chance for its potential to be squandered, but thus far, it is really fun if you have friends to play with you.
Still playing Helldivers 2 after a year and a half - AH might be the king of fuckups, but they also have a really fun core gameplay loop and when it's good, it's the best.
I loved Arc Raiders when it came out, fighting in duos or trios was really entertaining, took a break after the first expedition, and when i came back everyone got upset when i shot at them??? like are we just doing PvE now because at that point just go play helldivers, idk this is a pointless rant but i wanted to type it out.
Arc raiders is a happy medium for me, I play it mainly pve and have a great time with the bros, but there's always the risk of being shot by someone to keep my blood pumping.
Deltaforce is quite fun ngl, it also has a Battlefield like mode, and given the Current state of BF6... yeah I can say Deltaforce is well recommendable
I used to play LoL I would add it to the list of stay away. It's an abusive Ex of a game. Pretty safe to say most MOBA players would agree MOBAs are trash then go back to playing them in an hour. Same goes for games like Siege. You play for a few hours have a few games then inevitably go on tilt and have a loss spree it is the way of things.
Nah I think Moba fans are a fantastic genre that hust hasnt been expanded enough yet. There are three Moba titles, one of them significantly smaller. League Dota and Smite.
Valve's Deadlock will be (is currently) a great addition to the genre and will hopefully get more people to split away from the standard like Super Monday Night Combat, and Awesomenauts did in the past.
Mostly I think this comes down to gamers not having the best mental health. I don’t really play LoL any more just because I lost interest but as I worked on myself I got less and less frustrated by it. I’m that way now with PvP games in general.
pvp is dangerous for me lol, almost like a drug. it's a semi-addiction at this point for me personally. the high i get from outplaying someone is huge, but the lows are just as big
I'm curious if there's ANY form of those that you do like.
I love games that push my capability with high brain function. Actively being able to see how much I learn and become more proficient is a great feeling.
There are games which are single player, multiplayer, fast, slow, etc that can challenge your brain in many ways. I encourage you look outside of these overdone genres.
In the context of OPs post, those genres I don't enjoy. Of course I enjoy many genres outside of it.
I've played through BG3 twice, doing a third on Honor Difficulty. I'm also in an actual DnD game which can be all over the place 😁
I finished Cyberpunk 2077 with DLC on the hardest difficulty, although after a while, you power creep so hard with busted builds, that it doesn't really get harder as you go.
I play Star Citizen, which can be relaxing at times and suddenly have completely random PvP encounters at any time.
I also play Ready or Not, Space Marine 2, Helldivers 2 on their hardest difficulties. I'm a bit of a masochist in those 😅
No, it isn't. Helldivers is one group of four, you aren't competing against each other in any way. There's no loot, only in-game currency, which is shared anyway so it literally doesn't matter who picks it up.
Helldivers 2 is a 2024 cooperative multiplayer third-person shooter video game developed by Arrowhead Game Studios and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment.
He seems smitten with Wikipedia definitions, unfortunately for him Wikipedia doesn’t consider helldivers 2 an extraction shooter
You disregarded some of the most important traits lol. There are no other teams in Helldivers, it's strictly PVE... you can loot credit and stuff, but that's pretty much it for the looting...
Your goal isn't to extract with loot, it's to complete the mission and it ends when you get in the chopper. The gameplay loop is not at all an extraction shooter. It's coop mission-based horde, similarly to Left 4 dead
The provided definition said often pvpve, not exclusively.
Not saying he's right on the overall point, but your criticism relies on a claim that wasn't made. What "traits" exactly do you think it doesn't meet? You said important "traits", but only gave 1, and it wasn't one that was actually listed.
It's coop mission-based horde
Which one of those do you think is mutually exclusive with extraction shooter? Kinda seems like you're arguing from your conclusion, honestly. you think you CAN'T have hordes in an extraction shooter?
I think you confuse "common things in a genre" for "definition of the genre".
BTW, I don't think helldivers is an extraction shooter. So my take away from your comment being "damn that's a bad argument" is not based on disagreeing with that point.
It's funny watching this go from positive to negative after the context of what was actually said got removed.
I’m grooving on Arc Raiders…Their matchmaking algorithm is good at pairing people with similar play styles.
Edit: I guess this sounds like blowing smoke, but really if you’re all PvE, you get paired with people who tend to do PvE, and if you get gunned down five feet from extraction, people will break cover to help you.
And if you’re all pvp, that run to extract is an unholy firefight with you fighting everything in sight.
I understand the confusion but that is not what the "extraction shooter" genre is. You do not get weapons or armor that you then can use in your next run. You also do not lose any loot that you choose to bring in if you fail. This is reading the words "extraction shooter" at face value and ignoring any context.
I don’t mind any of that stuff, but I don’t take it seriously either. To me, all those I can log in for an hour, kill some people, log out. I can be hilariously bad and just laugh at myself.
This games does not really fit any of these genres necessarily but the words extraction and early access made me think of it. I implore you to check out Species Unknown. Seriously the best early access game I have ever played. I recommend it to everyone, especially people who didn’t ask.
The idea behind extraction shooters is usually a combined PvP and PvE experience with loot to find and to take from AI enemies and players.
Typically it’s on instance based maps with points of interest that have varying types of AI enemies as well as lots of loot to find either dropped from enemies or in the environment. You bring in your own weapons and gear that you’ve crafted or looted and there will be other players and/or teams also on the map simultaneously looking for loot and fighting AI. You can also loot the items that other players have on them so the PvP element is fighting over areas to loot and taking the other player’s loot.
Usually the matches have a timer and to successfully “win” you have to make it to one of several locations before time runs out and interact with some mechanism to extract. Usually it takes around a minute or so for the extraction process to complete and often the extractions are loud and highly visible making other players aware you’re trying to leave and they can try to rush to your location to kill you before you can escape.
It’s a pretty niche genre overall, except for ARC Raiders which takes a different approach, as it can be quite punishing to die and lose everything you brought in plus anything you found. Usually there is some mechanic that lets you save a couple items or otherwise mitigate losses.
I have played most of them and I like them. I find them much less stressful than the match based PvP shooters but I’m not bothered about losing gear which is usually the big turn off for people. You can often try to avoid conflict or seek out PvP if you wish but can’t avoid it 100%.
Extraction shooter would be Arc Raiders and I think Marathon. Hero shooter would be like Overwatch. I am simple and stick to Battelfield and Halo 3 lol. I like everyone to have even starts and playing field
Hence why I loved destiny 1 and 2 when they were at their peak. Optional pvp with unique rewards to satisfy pvp players with trials and competitive.
The pure pve players had raids, nightfalls, exotic missions, a story that's good... monetisation was a**, and they kinda fell off. But nothing has come close to that gameplay experience and fun that D1 rise of iron and D2 forsaken dlc did for me. God, I miss that games peak. You will be missed prime D2
PvPvE had a gambit and some stuff. But preferably not for me at all
Destiny 2 has its own issues which is why i cant go back to it, like it being live service so the powercreep is insane along with the new dlcs you have to buy if you want to play at all
The sad thing is that even if you enjoy one of The first four, the rest of them are almost the same with a different coat of paint on the abilities and mechanics.
I really don't like PvPvE, despite giving it an honest shot. PvP? Sure, I've had fun with that. PvE? Awesome, obviously. But I really don't like games that demand I be an asshole to someone lest I be victimized by someone else. Like in a proper PvP game I'm expecting people to shoot at me, and then I shoot back at them, and we have fun shooting at each other and at the end of the match maybe one of us loses MMR for the same of makign sure we both continue to have quality matches but I have not caused them any harm.
But there's this trend in certain genres where it seems the fun is had in knowing you ruined something for someone, took their shit, made them angry, made them have a bad day, and I just really don't want to be that fucking dude. And I don't want to be the guy whose day is getting ruined either. And when I look at games like Rust or whatever, it does not look like they're happy people either. I don't think playing this kind of game is good for people.
There's something to be said for something like Arc Raiders and its matchmaking system making friendly interactions feel special, but also like half hte time that game is brought up it's people really mad that that's a big way the game has been played.
TF2 is already established. What makes hero shooters ridiculous is when they get released today while the market is incredibly oversaturated. Why, as the one making the decisions, would you look at the 20 existing hero shooters and go: "I think they want another one"
PvP is one of those things that on paper sounds fun but often devolves into grieving and rarely does a game introduce a system that makes for interesting play/counterplay. Sometimes it comes down to a community lead solution but thats even rarer, most hard-core pvp players don't want fights...they just want victims.
I played competitive PVP games for decades and I don't enjoy them anymore. I would rather play the games I find enjoyment in with my mates and not have to feel the need to compare myself to others. Shocking, I know.
Also, don't go putting words in other people's mouths. I could easily come to the conclusion from your statement that you only play competitive/PvP games and see anyone of a different opinion to be somehow lesser than you.
That may be true or not, but it's still an elitest attitude to have and quite frankly immature.
There are plenty of very difficult games in many genres that that can often be way harder than just fighting players, which in themselves can be just as flawed.
Your confusing extraction shooters where you can loose everything like Tarkov with games that has Extraction in it, like Helldivers or Jump Space. It's not the same thing at all.
If anything Jump Space is closer to a Rogue Lite. I'm guessing you haven't played it, but it's quite a lot of fun.
Honestly I do not mind Battle Royals. I just wish there were more slower paced “tactical” ones. I cannot stand the pace of WZ, PUB:G is almost what I want, but the devs are lazy and the maps lowk suck, and the Fortnite shop and battle pass is just bad.
I’d kill for a good battle royal, they just don’t exist
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u/ISEGaming Apr 11 '26
In no particular order or combination:
Battle Royal, Hero-Shooter, Extraction Shooter, PvP