Extinction stomped onto our screens over the summer, promising to apply the intricacy of a fighting game to aerial battles with 150-foot ogres that are out to destroy the world. The early footage looked vaguely promising, and this week developer Iron Galaxy (of Killer Instinct) put out another video detailing the kind of tactics your character, Avil, will use to bring his giant foes tumbling down.
Most of the time you'll want to destroy the armour on the ogres' arms and legs in order to lop off the limb below, making them easier to fight. That'll be easy when they're wearing low-level armour, but different tiers will have different properties, and so your approach will depend almost entirely on the type of armour the ogres, called Ravenni, are wearing, as shown in the trailer above.
Iron armour, for example, can't be destroyed until you smash the locks that are binding it to the ogre's body. You have to manually aim a powerful 'rune strike' at these locks, which could be difficult when the ogre is flailing its arms around to try and crush you.
Bone armour is protected by magical flaming skulls, and the only thing that can put the fires out are the shockwaves from the Ravenni's attacks. So you'll have to bait out a strike and nip out of the way, and then counter-attack before the flames erupt again.
Bright steel is the toughest armour in the game, and flat out can't be destroyed. The developers say you'll have to find other ways to achieve your objective (I'm thinking maybe a cinematic environmental kill?) or try to climb on the ogre's back while they have all their limbs intact, at the risk of getting swatted out of the air and dying instantly.
The video also details some of the upgrades you'll have access to, and these seem like they're designed to help you take on specific foes. One will let you bounce 25% higher off treetops, which is handy for fighting enemies with bright steel armour, who will always be standing tall (because you can't chop their legs off). Another upgrade will guarantee that you one hit the locks on the iron armour, while upgrading your movement will help you better navigate the perils of fighting an ogre with spiked armour.
The fights look impressive, but I'm not fully sold on it yet. In principle, I like it, but the trailer makes the movement look a little floaty, and the fact that monster's limbs vanish into thin air after you cut them off is a little jarring (my guess is that to do otherwise would limit performance). Let's see how it turns out when it slams onto PC early next year.
If you fancy finding out more, Steven interviewed the Iron Galaxy team about the game over the summer.
