Starship Troopers: Extermination has come a long way in a very short time, and while it has been thoroughly overshadowed by Helldivers 2, it is still one of the best Horde survival games on the market.
Singleplayer.
Co-op Multiplayer.
We originally reviewed Starship Troopers: Extermination shortly after its early access release in May 2023, and we were fairly impressed despite having a few reservations about its declining player base and lack of cross-platform and cross-progression support.
While some of these concerns have been partially addressed, a rather major issue (no cross-progression support) remains, which could prove detrimental to the game’s long-term success.
When we originally reviewed Starship Troopers: Extermination, we found it good value for money. While its price has increased considerably ($24.99 > $49.99), we are happy to say that it still offers fairly good value for money, considering the amount of new content and polish Starship Troopers: Extermination received during early access.
While I would have liked to see it retail closer to the original price point and raise additional funding through cosmetic microtransactions, the developers have chosen to limit the amount of cosmetic DLC for sale, and while I feel there is not enough DLC for sale to fund long term ongoing development, I hope that the model works for them, or they swap to a different model before it is too late to do so.
When we originally reviewed Starship Troopers: Extermination, we were slightly disappointed that there was no single-player content, considering the rich lore of Starship Troopers and how desperate the fanbase is for a good single-player game set in the universe.
Unfortunately, while the full release of Starship Troopers: Extermination does have a single-player campaign, it is rather short.
Despite being described as a single-player campaign, it is very much a tutorial for the main game with added narrative elements, which is unfortunate.
While adding voice acting and enlisting Casper Van Dien shows the developers care about making a good single-player campaign, compared to some of the truly exceptional single-player campaigns in FPS games such as Titanfall 2 and most of the Call of Duty Campaigns, Starship Troopers: Extermination‘s campaign feels lacking.
I would love to see the developers invest more time in making the campaign missions feel less like playing a multiplayer mission solo and more like a true single-player game when the next chapter of the campaign releases in early 2025.
Offworld Industries has always been very open with the community about what they have planned, what has fallen behind, and what has been cut. That transparency goes a long way towards building trust between the player community and the developers of Starship Troopers: Extermination.
Their recent roadmap is no exception, with the developers being transparent that the rest of 2024 is being dedicated to bug fixes and improving performance while the addition of new features, maps and bugs (of the blastable kind), in addition to new weapons, a raised progression cap, and even a chapter two of the single-player campaign voiced by none other than Casper Van Dien (Johnny Rico) of Starship Troopers fame.
While the current roadmap only covers the first two quarters of 2025, there is no indication that the developers intend to end support at the end of the current roadmap.
I, for one, would have no issue with a paid expansion pack released in Q3 2025 if it ensured that development could continue for at least another year.
Starship Troopers: Extermination has an easy-to-understand but surprisingly robust progression system that will be instantly familiar to anyone who has played Call of Duty or any lobby-based multiplayer title; earning XP levels up your character and weapons, which in turn unlocks new weapons, attachments, perks and cosmetic items.
With each playable class having a separate progression track, there is plenty to keep players grinding, which is why it’s such a good thing that the core gameplay loop is so enjoyable.
Personal progression aside, the Galactic Front mode allows clans, aka “companies,” and solo players, to progress as a community by slaying bugs over several months.
For each global milestone bypassed, players will receive spoils of war at the end of the season, even if they did not partake in the event.
So much for “I’m doing my part!”
Community side events have been popular in the MMORPG genre for many years and should keep the players engaged long-term. That is, assuming that the rewards are worth fighting for and gameplay is occasionally rebalanced with new weapons, perks, and, most importantly, bugs to keep players on their toes!
The current Galactic Front, “A New Frontier,” is scheduled to finish in December 2024, and a new front is assumed to open shortly after that.
You can read more about Galactic Front here.
I must admit that while I am glad to see that Starship Troopers: Extermination fully supports cross-platform multiplayer between all supported platforms, I am very disappointed that it does not support cross-progression.
As someone who owns and plays on multiple platforms, I find that titles that do not allow me to “take my progression with me” get played far less than titles that do.
A perfect example of this is Deceive Inc, a title I enjoyed at launch but hardly play anymore due to its lack of cross-progression support, which prevents me from accessing my unlocked items and characters if I play on any platform other than my Xbox Series X.
While the developer’s decision not to support cross-progression is not the death blow that avoiding cross-platform multiplayer support would be, it is still a huge mistake on the developers’ part, and one I hope that they address in short order and that I mean early 2025 at the latest.
Starship Troopers: Extermination offers an intense battle experience against the enemy despite having a maximum of 16 players split across four teams. It’s one of the best games I’ve played in terms of battles, second only to some of the encounters in the Battlefield franchise.
Of particular note is the last few minutes of every round, where players make a mad dash for the evacuation shuttle as gunfire, radio chatter, war cries, and explosions combine with excellent visual effects to create a feeling of confusion and urgency that, when combined with a decent selection of bugs, each with their unique traits, the last few moments feel like a true last stand, and ensures that the few times when I have not been able to ensure the safe evacuation of my entire squad feel meaningful.
In a recent match, I was forced to leave the relative safety of the excavation ship to help a group of players who had fallen behind reach the dropship safety, which honestly felt epic.
That is the best thing about Starship Troopers: Extermination: it allows the player to feel like part of a team, and everyone has the chance to be a hero and “do their part!”.
I would be remiss not to highlight that Starship Troopers: Extermination‘s gunplay has more in common with Squad than with Call of Duty. After playing thousands of hours of the latter, I must admit to feeling a little off-put by how slow the aiming-down-sight was.
However, after just a few minutes, I was no longer distracted and appreciated the “more realistic” aiming, which helped make the onslaught of bugs feel more intimidating.
I love the simplicity in which players can build and repair defences, and whileStarship Troopers: Extermination‘s building system is not as in-depth as Ark Survival Evolved or 7 Days to Die, those games are much slower-paced than Starship Troopers: Extermination.
The developers have achieved a perfect balance of simplicity and utility, a delicate balance that more developers should aspire to.
Considering how much is happening on-screen at any given time, it is a testament to the developers’ skill and passion that Starship Troopers: Extermination looks and performs as well as it does.
While occasionally the FPS drops slightly, and certain textures could be crisper, overall, on console and especially on PC, Starship Troopers: Extermination looks and feels like a 9th-generation title, which is all I could ask for.
In addition, Starship Troopers: Extermination launches allow players to choose between performance and quality and prioritize what is most important to them.
I am a fan of performance modes for games like Starship Troopers: Extermination. The game still looks great, and any minor visual degradation is worth the performance boost.
Starship Troopers: Extermination is a first-person shooter video game developed and published by Offworld Industries, it was released on 11 October 2024 and retails for $49.99.
Starship Troopers: Extermination is available on the following platforms: PC, Playstation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
As of December 2024, around 35000 people play Starship Troopers: Extermination on a fairly regular basis.
Starship Troopers: Extermination is fairly active, meaning that matchmaking is stable for much of the day in populated regions and viable in less populated regions, even though wait times are considerably longer.
Starship Troopers: Extermination supports:
Starship Troopers: Extermination offers the following matchmaking options:
The Starship Troopers: Extermination in-game store sells:
The following peripherals are officially supported:
Starship Troopers: Extermination is rated PEGI 16+ and contains:
Starship Troopers: Extermination is a fantastic game that finished its early access journey with style. While not every issue I had with it during early access has been addressed, it is still a better product than in May 2023.
Therefore, I am raising the review score from 8/10 to 9/10.
However, despite being very impressed with the game and its developers, I cannot give it a perfect score until robust cross-progression support is implemented and the developers prove that their monetization that can support ongoing development to make playing Starship Troopers: Extermination is worth my time long term.
