As part of RazerCon 2022, Apogee Entertainment showed a revamped look at Exocide, an early 2000s throwback FPS where you defend humanity from legions of genetically engineered giant insects.
Exocide's look immediately appeals to me. It's a souped-up "how you remember it" take on PC graphics from between 2000 and 2004—higher-res textures and more defined models than what came before, but not quite to the "approaching photorealism" level of the Xbox 360 era.
It looks very similar to the upcoming Phantom Fury, as well as Apogee stablemate Turbo Overkill. Everything's punctuated with these sickly neon greens and yellows, which jibe perfectly with the game's focus on mutant bug extermination.
- I felt goodwill and hope for the future seeing Cybrlich and the Death Cult of Labor, an FPS that's 60% HUD and looks like an Adult Swim cartoon where you smoke 'deepweed' to restore your health and blow clouds that spell out 'doink' and 'loud'
- The next game from Cruelty Squad's creator, a 'policing and punishment simulator', has dropped a new trailer showing off its gruesome mech combat
Man's reach has exceeded his grasp yet again, and our genetically engineered soldier insects have turned on us. As a "Handler," you not only fight the bugs with the requisite boomer shooter arsenal of shotguns, machine guns, and rocket launchers, but also have two additional hands to help you out. They hold bonus weapons, or else help you handle super-sized giant guns, and live in the upper right and left corners of the screen.
It's not clear how exactly you'll control them, but I already love the concept. Your eyes are always drawn to the center or bottom of the screen in FPSes, and I like it when they find ways to upend that and present a weirder sort of first-person view. I'm thinking of mechanics like the shoulder cannon in Doom Eternal, the arc soul in Destiny, or the hanging lantern in Coven—they really help spice things up.
It doesn't seem like we'll have to wait long for Exocide either. There's no demo, but it's currently marked as entering into early access by the end of this year on Steam.
