Monster-slaying capitalism sim Exterminauts just dropped a new trailer at the Golden Joystick Awards, showing off a whole host of explosive weapons ahead of its imminent beta test.
Some of Exterminauts' influences are clear from the outset - you'll be dropping down to alien planets with a team of up to two allies, all to help clear out hordes of creatures that are threatening the local infrastructure. The nods to Helldivers are clear, but Exterminatus brings in plenty of ideas to keep the genre fresh. Those include planetside tasks that actually require fixing the machines those pesky critters have gunked up, and protecting some pretty dangerous locales, like weather stations that seem extremely open to the elements.
Overall, the vibes blend between the obvious Helldivers comparisons, the chaotic mix of task-completion and critter-killing of Deep Rock Galactic, and the bright, efficiency-focused gameplay of Satisfactory. But Exterminauts is clearly looking to add its own ideas in there too, which you can definitely see in action when the going gets tough.
The first thing you might notice is some interesting movement tech - in one scene a footloose fighter dodge-rolls away from an incoming beast. But in another, they throw themselves into danger, knee-sliding towards their foe to get underneath them and issue a deadly attack. That's helped by some very interesting weaponry. There's traditional ballistic guns, of course, but those are aided by guns that spew acid, or that freeze enemies solid so you can concentrate fire on their weak points. Speaking of fire, you can conjure walls of the stuff to slow down incoming hordes, or kit yourself out in a full mech kit capable of taking on the fight with your fists.
And you'll be able to take that fight on very soon. Exterminauts is heading into an open beta on PC for a full week, kick off at 18:00 PT on November 12 and wrapping up at 17:59 PT on November 18, so if you want to dive in and earn your first paycheck, you'll be able to pick up your first work order tomorrow, ahead of a full launch scheduled across PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. Elsewhere, you'll be able to check out Exterminauts at TwitchCon 2026.
If you're looking for more excellent games from today's Future Games Show, have a look at our official Steam page.
