ExoCorps is a new PVP battler with incredible verticality thanks to your ExoSuit and versatility thanks to your Multirifle.
The game, developed and published by San Francisco based Gingerbread, just went into Early Access this weekend on Steam.
I had the opportunity to give it a whirl over the weekend, so is it any good?
Yes, but with caveats.
Firstly here's what the game is all about.
An international initiative is testing new military technology for use across the globe and into the solar system. Players use powerful exo-suits equipped with full-flight jetpacks and tactical subsystems to engage each other across large landscapes equivalent to several square kilometers.
In addition to full-flight jetpacks, ExoCorps features several unique design features.
In ExoCorps everything centres around the balance of power. In the absence of classes, your power management is key to the type of game you want to play.
Everything you do draws power from your Exosuit, shields/health, weapon and jetpack. When that power is gone, so are you.
So you must decide how best to use your resources, if you were to go, balls out with the rifle you would, in effect, become a glass cannon, with one well placed shot all that would be needed to take you out.
Power usage is also key to other players finding you. The arena is pretty big, but the more power your suit is consuming makes you more detectable from range. Again, keeping this in mind shapes your approach to the game and in turn your playstyle. Will you run quietly? Stealthily stalking your quarry, only powering up your weapon at the last moment for a kill?
Or like I did, bounce around using my jetpack, indiscriminately firing off rounds like a lunatic.
Likewise the choice of ammo or countermeasures available from your multirifle add another layer of tactical approach and versatility to each game.
ExoCorps is really well optimised and ran really smoothly for me, the environment is well represented and looks great , if a little "samey". The backgrounds are beautiful, full of chrome skies and godrays!
ExoCorps does support playing via gamepad, but I soon learned the hard way that to be any where close to competitive you need to be using mouse and keyboard.
The game has everything, well almost...
The unique gameplay, beautiful visuals and slick controls really all amount to nothing in a PVP game without players. I found it difficult to get a game online over the weekend. In fact SteamSpy noted that the game had peak concurrent players yesterday of only 10. I really hope that this changes as more people discover this gem, as it really is a genuinely fun and well made FPS arena shooter.
It's only just been released and it's still Early Access so there is still plenty of time for this to be turned around and it would be very unfair to judge a title on its EA launch player base. Especially when it launched the same weekend as "Steambreaker" Baldur's Gate 3 (which had 65k+ concurrent users yesterday if you were wondering)
However, the success of this game will undoubtedly hinge on its ability to retain an active player base. So their marketing team need to jump all over that as soon as possible.
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