Exoborne First Impressions: High stakes for the end of the world

The world of video games is more than divided. Classic single-player experiences seek to tell immersive stories. The online multiplayer experience, becoming increasingly popular in the market, seeks to take us to unique experiences. SharkMob, a studio based in London, England, and Malmö, Sweden, is attempting to merge these worlds with an open-world tactical extraction shooter called Exoborne. “High stakes, high rewards” is the game’s soul, and in some ways, what the studio hopes to achieve with this upcoming release. We traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada for a gameplay experience to learn in detail what this studio has in store for us.

Weather, suits and high stakes, that is Exoborne

After its announcement at The Game Awards 2023, Exoborne has been in total silence, waiting for more details to be revealed. Since then, the first details have been revealed, from its story to open-world PvP elements with PvE elements based on gear gathering and mining.

What is Exoborne about? The title takes us a few years into the future, where the forces of nature have been unleashed by a climate catastrophe, leading to a global collapse. The Rebirth Corporation sets itself up as the only hope, building the STRATOS Towers to stop this impact on the world, and creating a group of soldiers who use Exo-Rigs, a kind of exoskeleton that gives its users special abilities. But Rebirth betrays humanity, turning STRATOS into weapons and those with Exo-Rigs into puppets. Only those strong enough can free themselves from the Exo-Rig implants and become Reborns, part of the resistance of a world trying to rebuild itself from the rubble and strange climate.

At the beginning of the hands-on, I had the opportunity to play the game’s tutorial, which allows you to play completely solo. Once you have created your character and selected the unique Exo-Rig model, you are thrown into the action in Colton County, a fictional location in the southern United States where the story of the Resistance begins. Although the first missions are basically to learn the skills of the character and his exo-suit, from shooting to using a parachute and grappling hook, everything is extremely simple. Once you have passed these initial tests, you will jump into the adventure for the first time, either alone or in a team of three.

Each visit to Colton County is limited to 20 minutes. Although you can stay a little longer, you will be hunted by Rebirth, who will have already detected your presence. Exoborne will give you certain missions to complete, some of which won’t be so obvious, and others that will require a bit of luck to find certain items. However, the game isn’t about completing missions, it’s about what you experience on each jump. As I mentioned before, the weather is an important part of the game. Disasters have changed the world and the weather is constantly changing, creating some special effects. From thunderstorms that won’t leave you alone, to sunny weather, to rain, to hurricanes of fire (yes, fire) that are right on your heels. Along with the risk, you have the opportunity to use this weather to your advantage. The hurricane season will allow you to take advantage of the air currents to fly with your parachute and take advantage of the verticality of the map, for example.

Team exploration is an essential part of the game, with every jump being a new experience to discover. Without a doubt, it is one of those games where playing with friends is a completely different experience than playing alone or with strangers. Communication is an important part, whether it is to determine where to go, if it is time to call for the extraction vehicle, or if we are under enemy fire, or worse, being chased by a whirlwind of fire, as was the case with my team at one point.

On the other hand, we have the Exo-Rigs, although you start with a very basic suit, the game will allow you to access 3 others, Kestrel, which is equipped to be agile and allow you to fly longer and be the scout of your team. Viper, which is designed for combat, and Kodiak, which will allow you a closer combat and be a small tank. Each one has both active and passive abilities that are customized for each player. We also have our loadout of weapons, items, and equipment. In the first missions we will be limited, so you will not be able to take much back to the base to sell.

But part of the game is the balance of risk and reward. While there are areas that are “easy”, there will not be much to find, while other areas on the map that are better protected, we can find better loot if you survive. It is a balance that will also depend a lot on the type of player you are, whether you are able to sneak silently or want to attack everything you see on the road. There are also computer-controlled enemies ranging from soldiers to robotic tanks to other teams of enemies that can be much more deadly than you expect. Of course, if we fall in combat, our companions can revive us and try to escape to the extraction point.

High stakes, high rewards

To quote Anton Chigurh in 'No Country for Old Men', “What’s the most you ever lost on a coin toss?” While playing Exoborne, I lost my best weapon with all of its augmentations, one of my best exo rigs, and possibly the items needed to complete a mission. I also lost the bullets I was carrying and the kits to repair my shield. However, this was not the end of the world and I still had items to return. Something that is recommended to us is that you can always go back to the first maps and go through the safest areas to grind items to be able to recover or find something better along the way. After all, a big part of the experience is the load we carry, and while it can be easy to lose it, it is not so easy to get it back.

The future of Exoborne

Exoborne is scheduled to be released sometime in 2025 for Xbox Series X|S , PlayStation 5 and PC. In our hands-on, we also saw that Exoborne has a Battle Pass, which contains many elements for customizing our character (and which, fortunately, we never lose). Although the game is intended to be a premium title, the developers have not yet set a price. Although the title is still in beta and receiving feedback from its community, it will soon have an open test period that will take place from February 12 to 17 on Steam.

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