At the end of November 2023, Russian publisher and developer Astrum Entertainment announced a new free multiplayer shooter Xtract. The team makes no secret of the fact that their new game is very similar Minced meat. This happened due to the split of a single project into two independent ones: Russian gamers receive Xtract, and Western gamers receive the aforementioned Hawked from MY.GAMES, which has reoriented itself to the Western market.
The basic mechanics at the beginning of the project will be the same (in Russia the game will be released on VK Play), but a year after launch, the developers promise that the paths of the two games will gradually diverge. Added content and new features will no longer overlap from the second year of the project’s existence.
Setting and key mechanisms
Xtract is a free-to-play adventure PvPvE shooter set in an almost alternate future. They even promise a development plot that will impact the gaming experience.
Do you like PvPvE shooters?
The main place for online battles is the tropical island of X with ruins and temples of ancient civilizations, with riddles and treasures. The same riddles are presented in the form of interactive puzzles that players must solve periodically. From the simplest: you need to shoot the button tiles (here they are called glyphs) in a certain order to open the gate and move further to the artifact.
Players become mercenaries and treasure hunters. The organization “GRAIL” specializes in its extraction and marketing, which, according to legend, attracted adventurers from all over the world to the search.
When we created Xtract, we wanted to have an adventure. We wanted to keep the spirit of expeditions. Not a game about searching areas. A real expedition for treasures. We wanted players to focus on collecting loot instead of surviving.
The main task in the game is not to kill all the players and mobs, but to get the main treasure. You can search for him alone or as part of a group of three players.
After landing on the island, you first need to find glyphs (5 pieces) – objects that resemble runes. They will show the way to the main treasure and give improvements. Therefore, the goal is to find them before others, including party members.
The hottest battle will take place precisely for the most important treasure of the island. If you don’t want to take any risks, you can take what you’ve already stolen and return to base.
At the GRAAL base, the Breakwater ship, you can improve artifacts, sell loot, receive new tasks and contracts from NPCs, and also discuss plans for the next outings with other treasure hunters.
You can combine artifacts and “equipment” and add appropriate amplifiers to customize the ideal set of equipment for yourself.
The game will not have the so-called ‘punishing mechanics’ typical of extraction shooters. You can’t lose here. If the player obtained some loot and brought it to the base, the game already counts this as a successful bet, even if it was not possible to get to the main artifact. However, the winner will be the team that obtains the main treasure and delivers it to the base of the GRAIL organization.
And what else?
There will be PvE events including caravan looting. The authors use the long-standing meme in their marketing campaign for good reason: the huge caravan lizards look really impressive. And all the gaming media wrote about it – all advantages.
Among the gangs are all kinds of lizards: anthropomorphic, dinosaur-like, huge big guys the size of houses, and so on. At the same time, they look quite cartoonish, just like the game itself. The visual style of the project is bright and cheerful.
The authors claim that they focused on building, that is, there are no ready-made heroes in the game. The character should be created based on your own playing style. While there aren’t many options in the editor yet, it’s still a long way from Baldur’s Gate 3.
If you were afraid of campers hiding in the bushes, or the punishing mechanics of the game itself from treacherous developers, Xtract has none of that. But there is a spirit of adventure.
You must beware of traps; they are everywhere here, especially near treasuries.
The player also has a grappling hook that allows him to cling to ledges, pull himself up much higher and slide down the stretched cables, as well as a surfboard that appears out of nowhere once his feet hit the water. Along the way you should also pay attention to boxes with weapons, because the hero lands on the island with almost empty pockets.
We really wanted to make an extraction shooter for a larger, casual audience. Which won’t punish beginners, and will be fun to play. We didn’t want hardcore. I think we succeeded.
So, is it Xtract or Hawked?
In summary, the entire gameplay is based on two simple tasks: we get loot and drag it to the base. And we repeat this ad infinitum. If you like quick sessions to unwind after a hard day, Xtract is worth a look. Moreover, they do not charge you for the sample. If it doesn’t fit, you can break it off and you won’t have to give a refund. But we haven’t been able to evaluate the monetization system yet; this will become clearer after release. By the way, that’s already today, November 30 – look for the game on the VK Play platform.
Source: VG Times
Christina Moncayo is a contributing writer for “Social Bites”. Her focus is on the gaming industry and she provides in-depth coverage of the latest news and trends in the world of gaming.