The production studio of tactical first-person shooter Squad and publishers of Beyond The Wire have released the official trailer for Starship Troopers: Extermination.
Offworld Industries has released the official trailer for Starship Troopers: Extermination, inspired by the 1997 cult classic movie Starship Troopers. The last first-person shooter, Starship Troopers, was released in 2005, and Starship Troopers: The Miniatures Game and Starship Troopers: The Roleplaying Game were also released in the same year.
Starship Troopers was first published as a novel, but all game adaptations have been film-based, including Extermination. While the original novel received mixed reviews from critics, it won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1960. Some critics criticized the glorification of war and the military, as well as possible fascist subtexts. However, the 1997 film used these themes as a parody of fascism and authoritarian rule. 2005’s Starship Troopers received generally negative reviews, but the more recent strategy game Starship Troopers: Terran Command has maintained a “very positive” rating on Steam since its release, indicating that there is still interest in the series.
Starship Troopers: Extermination official trailer
Offworld Industries announced Starship Troopers: Extermination in 2022 with a short teaser trailer. This trailer matched propaganda military clips from the 1997 movie. Now, Offworld Industries has shown more to their fans with the same exaggerated propaganda theme. The trailer highlights some of the in-game playable classes, such as an assault troop, heavy infantry, and a medic. The trailer also hints that the game can be quite challenging, with the phrase “the invasion will feel unstoppable” and encourages players to work together to build resources.
The trailer ends by stating that the game will launch on Steam in 2023, but no exact date has been specified. Offworld Industries had success in the tactical FPS Squad. However, the choices made by Offworld Industries regarding Squad more recently caused criticism, and players stated that the game fell victim to microtransactions. Fans cited Tencent as the culprit.
Tencent continues to increase its stakes in the gaming industry, like a major investment in Ubisoft. Many fans fear that these acquisitions are an ambitious attempt at a monopoly and that the conglomerate will move towards a more money-centric development scheme than its focus on developing solid games. However, many studios in which Tencent has large stakes or wholly acquired, such as From Software, continue to produce high-quality games with little intervention. It will negatively portray big corporations and authoritarian governments like Starship Troopers: Extermination, Wanted: Dead; this would be in sharp contrast to what many players think about Tencent.
Starship Troopers: Extermination is currently in development and will enter Early Access on PC in 2023.