Marathon is one of the big releases of the year. It is the biggest title of this year from Sony and Bungie, and so far, they have not had a single failure. Destiny is a great franchise and Halo, while they were making it, had not a single bad installment. That’s why it’s interesting to see what they are cooking up with this game that can raise a question. Because they have said it is an extraction shooter, but what is an extraction shooter?
What is an extraction shooter?
To summarize a lot, what characterizes extraction shooters is that they are games where we have to enter a certain hostile area, gather as much loot as possible, and escape from there alive. Maintaining the gear and materials between matches, the more we play and the better we play, the better our character will be. At least until our character resets in each new season, forcing us to start from scratch.
This is a tough, difficult, and very satisfying genre. And that’s why we are going to recommend the six most interesting games in the genre that are currently on the market. Because not everything is about waiting to see if Bungie can democratize a genre that is considered too complex to reach the masses.
Escape from Tarkov
The most popular game in the genre, also one of the toughest. Set in a fictional region of Eastern Europe, we are part of a private military company at war with another military company where we have a single objective: to venture into hostile territory, gather all the materials and weapons we can, and escape from there. Very focused on weapon skills, but also on achieving maximum realism with its injury and survival system, it is a game as complex as it is satisfying. But you will need more than a couple of YouTube videos to start mastering it.
HUNT: Showdown 1896
One of the first extraction shooters is one of the most famous. And not without reason. Here we are a monster hunter who must take down a mythical creature in a series of different scenarios, with one particularity. There are also other monster hunters who want to do the same. We can try to ally with other players to achieve the objectives or attack them, but whatever we do, before going after the monsters we will have to find the clues of where they are and go in search of them. Because the life of a hunter is never easy, no matter how mythical the creatures may be.
The Forever Winter
The most recent addition to the genre is also one of the most striking. In a post-apocalyptic world where an eternal war occurs between three countries controlled by AIs, war machines fight 24/7 without stopping. In Forever Winter, we are nothing more than simple humans trying to survive these battles, making our way and stealing what we can in an absolutely hostile world where everything can kill us, and drawing attention will ensure we end up three meters underground. Absolutely hostile, tremendously dark, and with a base resource management that makes each fight even more desperate, it is one of the most interesting extraction shooters you can play today.
Zero Sievert
All the other games on this list are 3D games that aim to be as realistic as possible. Zero Sievert tries something diametrically opposite. It is a top-down game with relatively simple pixelated graphics that seeks to create a completely different experience. Skill is less important than knowledge, and that makes many people appreciate this game above the rest of the genre: there is no way to overcome knowing what you should do and when in each situation. Because it doesn’t matter how good you are at aiming in Zero Sievert. Nothing will save your life out there if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Witchfire
Perhaps the most controversial inclusion, because in fairness it is more of an RPG shooter than an extraction shooter, but at the end of the day there is such an evident overlap between both genres in the case of Witchfire that it is different to separate them. If you want an entry into the genre that is based on a structure more similar to Destiny 2, with RPG-style dungeons, as well as the ability to mod your weapons, Witchfire is the perfect way to understand what extraction shooters offer without having to face a pure game of the genre.
Deep Rock: Galactic
The other great game of the genre. A very unique game both for its aesthetics and its approach and setting, because Deep Rock Galactic has a much greater focus on PvE, as in this game we have a single objective: to travel to strange planets to extract materials from their mines and survive. This means we will have to work as a team to obtain the maximum amount of materials possible and repel the alien threats lurking in every place. With a procedurally generated cave system, no game is the same as another, and if you want a cooperative game that can last an infinite amount of time, no other will offer you what Deep Rock: Galactic does.
