Exoborne Play Test

Game: Exoborne

Device: PC

Date: October 18th - 24th, 2024

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Exoborne is a tactical open-world extraction shooter set in an apocalyptic U.S. setting where you scavenge many items to improve you build.

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Going into this playtest I didn't have much expectations as It wasn't my usual cup of tea but I was more than happy to try out a new game in a different genre.

Mechanics

Weapons

In Exoborne, there is the usual set of weapons that exist in the game, it all just depends if you come across them or not. You have a secondary and primary slot that can be filled by any type of gun. I think its cool that unlike some other games based on U.S military it doesn't restrict to handhelds in secondary of big guns in primary. In addition to the weapon slots, it you also have a combat knife that is attached to your exoskeleton suit that does a large amount of melee damage upon hit, though most of the time that I used it, it was difficult due to it effected my vision and good amount and the aim was very difficult.

Parachutes

These were really cool in the game because of the weather system that was implemented into the game. When you are a certain length above the ground, you have the choice to activate your parachute that lets you not only glide down but you can use the winds from the weather system to go faster or go higher. There are also tornados in the game that was really fun if you got close because it gave a big source of speed when in the air. If I do come back to this game, I think this is one of the features I would be most excited for.

Grappling hook

In this game, they had a grappling hook added to the game that you can use to shoot yourself up to higher places or get to areas faster by pulling yourself toward them. I think this was one of mechanics that made the game fun for me as it let me try to get to higher places that I would usually not be able to get to.

Map

The map in the game I felt was fairly easy to sea as it gave a fairly good visual of what the map meant. My biggest issue with the map was there was nothing like a key to show what each icon meant. This caused me to have to investigate each place to understand what it was which while it supports the idea of an open world game, I believe I should still have this information. Outside of that issue I didn't have much of a problem with navigating and other functions.

Scavenging and Mastery

The game explains that the more you play and extract items, the further your mastery goes up and the more items you would collect including these special items called Artifacts. The part of the game that was not really explained was that when you go down to try and get items then extract, you lose everything that you die with. Including all the items you arrived with and didn't collect when playing on the map. This was the part of the game that gave me a bad experience. Due to this lack of information after dying a few times I tried to put on gear to make my build be able to stand a chance against others but was simply destroyed upon trying to extract which let to me eventually just going out with nothing at all and hoping that I can scavenge scraps to make my build slightly better. Despite them also wiping after every big update, those with prior experience would then be at the previous map with all the knowledge that they needed which then made me feel even more locked out of the game. In the end I think others may get enjoyment from this type of gameplay but I don't think I'll ever return to this game.

Small Bugs and Interesting Experiences

Tutorial Area

In the second part of the tutorial area, when you get to the arena, their is a door that stops you from entering the next area, but if you use the grappling hook to hook yourself to one of the objects in the top of the dome it launches you into the air in which you can activate your parachute to glide to the extraction point bypassing a good amount of the tutorial.

Stuck in small Places

When scavenging the map I would find there were a few places that its easy to get into, but not to get out of. One of these locations I was able to crouch into but then despite using teh grappling hook or some other form of boosting, I was unable to escape and had to restart the game. Losing everything.

No Collision

There were very few I found, But occasionally I would come across a static mesh in which I could simply walk into. It wasn't big enough that it hurt the gameplay though.

Final Conclusion

I think that this game was an interesting concept and some may find this came interesting. As one of my first playtests that I did I don't think I had the best experience but it is just something to learn from that not all games I playtest are going to be a hit but trying new games never hurts and allows me to see what other types of games are out there that people enjoy.