Best Extraction Shooters For Newcomers

Key Takeaways

• Extraction shooters focus on looting over defeating enemies, attracting major companies like Bungie.
• Most extraction shooters are PvP, but some offer PvE for cooperative experiences.
• Unique extraction shooters like “Zero Sievert” and “Quasimorph” offer different gameplay styles.

The extraction shooter genre is a relatively new one in the gaming industry, describing a variation on the shooter games that fans have come to know and love. The major difference is all about the goal of the player, which isn’t to defeat enemies as much as it is to get into an area, find as much loot and goods as possible, and get out of the area. Companies like Bungie are bringing back IPs like Marathon to further expand the extraction shooter market.

Only popularized into its own genre over the last five years or so, the extraction shooter is now being latched onto by many companies for major new releases in an attempt to corner the market before it becomes saturated, but only a few really great games are already available for players to try their hand with.

Updated August 20, 2024, by Mehrdad Khayyat: Just like Battle Royale, extraction shooter is also a relatively new sub-genre in gaming, and most players began to get familiar with it when Escape From Tarkov first came out, but now, there are many extraction shooters available with different themes.

While PvP extraction shooters still remain the most popular, some developers have gone after co-op extraction shooters that deliver immersive experiences built around cooperation without the tension or toxicity of competitive games.

A Horrifying PvP Experience That Matches Survivors Against Aliens

• Developer: Doghowl Games
• Platforms: PC
• Release Date: August 13, 2024 (Early Access)

Level Zero: Extraction takes the idea of Dead By Daylight and translates it into the extraction shooter genre, where a series of players hold guns in hand to survive an alien-plagued map, while another player takes the role of an alien monster, trying to hunt down survivors before they can extract.

This PvPvE is a brutal experience, where there is more than one mercenary group that could run into each other and show no mercy, but the ultimate enemy is the alien and environment hazards that can wipe out an entire squad.

12 Arena Breakout: Infinite

Arena Breakout: Infinite is one of the closest experiences to Escape From Tarkov we have ever received, but it is free-to-play and it comes with simplified gameplay, which makes the transition to a hardcore game like Tarkov much easier.

The simplified elements in Arena Breakout: Infinite include an online map that shows the player’s location and allows for pinging targets for the entire team. The weapon customization system also works quite easily in this game, as players no longer need to level up to unlock important attachments. However, better weapons are still locked behind higher levels.

11 Gray Zone Warfare

Excellent Gunplay With Intense PvPvE Action Set In A Massive Map

Gray Zone Warfare is more of an objective-based extraction shooter, where players drop onto the map to complete quests rather than just loot or kill other players. This game mostly focuses on PvE, as players must deal with a local group of hostiles, but they will sometimes run into other players as well, which does trigger PvP combat.

Gray Zone Warfare offers a massive, unified map instead of multiple smaller sections. So, players have a large sandbox area to go creative with. The gunplay in Gray Zone Warfare is quite satisfying as players can feel the difference between each weapon. The game also comes with gorgeous visuals, though bugs are inevitable as it is still in Early Access.

10 The Forever Winter

The first thing that catches the attention of The Forever Winter players is the immersive atmospheric setting of the game that truly depicts a post-apocalyptic world dominated by ruthless war machines.

As a PvE game, players can start a solo experience or team up with friends to find loot and survive in a battle-torn world, where hostile robots are lurking at every corner. The players will need a tactical approach to survive as long as possible while looting enough resources and using them wisely against die-hard enemies. Coordination and management of the situation matters the most in this game.

9 Incursion Red River

For those fed up with cheaters or toxic players, Incursion Red River is an incredible extraction shooter to play solo or with friends while only opposing AI-controlled enemies. The game brings everything one can expect from an extraction shooter, including hardcore and realistic gunplay.

Incursion Red River is still in Early Access and the developers are trying to evolve the game over time by adding new maps, new contracts, bosses, extreme weather conditions, and improving the AI behavior to make it feel more realistic when engaging in gunfights.

8 Zero Sievert

Top-Down Wasteland Action

Taking a different approach, quite literally, to the extraction shooter, Zero Sievert puts players into a top-down perspective world where there is almost nothing left. Resources are scarce, making a good excuse for players having to fight each other as well as any other creatures they find, to survive.

Another game being continually developed in early access release, Zero Sievert is already a fantastic release that blends a fun, intense world with the extraction shooter elements that are becoming key to the genre. Players have fallen in love with this different style of extraction shooter, finding it just as intense as other entries while appreciating the different perspective, which is rare for the genre.

7 Witchfire

Get Rid Of Doomed Creatures To Finally Reach Salvation

Witchfire is an RPG shooter at heart, more like Destiny 2, but it uses a gameplay loop that is more similar to an extraction shooter, which is why it fits pretty well into this list. The game is still in the Early Access phase, but it comes with enough content to keep players entertained.

In Witchfire, the player is tasked with tackling a dungeon-style world with every attempt to kill the doomed creatures, hunt for resources, and then return home to use the resources for upgrading weapons and abilities. The choice belongs to the player to delve deeper or retreat, but a single death will result in losing all the progress made.

The game delivers exhilarating gunplay with a modding system similar to that of Destiny 2, that allows for being creative with builds to find more success in every journey. Witchfire is an offline, single-player extraction shooter, which is a rare thing nowdays.

6 Quasimorph

Turn-Based & Completely Different

Both newcomer and veteran players to the style of an extraction shooter will enjoy Quasimorph, as it delivers something completely different from other games in the genre. Not only does it come with turn-based combat and a heavy focus on story, but it is also part extraction shooter and part RPG.

The game is still in early access but has a great fan base helping iron out any initial difficulties. Quasimorph is proving that extraction shooters can be much more than initially thought. Taking a bold swing away from the FPS style and the speedy gameplay, Quasimorph gives players something entirely different, proving extraction shooters can be for every type of gamer.

5 Escape From Tarkov

Corporate Russian War

One of the originators of the extraction shooter genre, and the biggest of the games in the genre to date, Escape From Tarkov takes place in a fictional region where two private military companies are at war. Players are dropped into one of the varyingly difficult maps and are tasked with getting extracted, either at their primary point on the other side of the map or at one of the optional points in the middle of the map, all of which come with extra requirements, prompting players to improve their aim, so they can get into the mix of things in the middle of the map.

Along the way, players contest with other player characters and NPCs in their attempts to gather as much loot as possible. Players can bring loot into a raid, but if they die, then they lose everything they’ve gathered during the raid as well as everything they brought into it, making the game a risky business. With up to fourteen players on a map and a maximum time of 45 minutes for each raid, Escape From Tarkov is the perfect set-up with elements from MMOs to make for a highly successful game. This makes Escape From Tarkov perfect for newcomers, especially ones with experience in MMOs, as many aspects of the game will feel familiar.

4 Marauders

Space Pirate Looter

Marauders takes a very different approach to its setting than Escape From Tarkov, choosing an alternate reality where the First World War never ended, and is still raging on into the 1990s. This means that by that stage, Earth has become a barren wasteland and thus every resource feels a lot more valuable than it would normally be considered. The marauders that players take on the roles of are the ones seeking out derelict ships in space, trying to gather whatever resources they can before getting off the ruined ships.

Known as an extraction shooter or, by some, as a “looter shooter,” Marauders has two styles of play, allowing players to shoot about the cosmos in their ship looking for another derelict to go after. Once on a derelict, players are tasked with getting in, taking as much loot as they can, and getting out by an extraction point before they get taken out themselves. The style of Marauders feels unique, and it is a massively fun extraction shooter for players who haven’t tried the genre out yet.

3 Deep Rock: Galactic

Space Dwarf Action

The idea of fantastical worlds has been taking more recent extraction shooters by storm. Deep Rock: Galactic is another game that couldn’t resist the idea of a far-out setting like the planet of Hoxxes 4. Similarly to The Cycle: Frontier, Deep Rock: Galactic tasks players with entering caves on the planet to mine resources, tackling swarms of aliens all the while, making it a tricky business to get started with some prior knowledge.

With a class-based system and a bigger focus on PvE, Deep Rock: Galactic is a particularly great place in the extraction shooter genre for newcomers to start. For many players, it can be easier to learn a new style of a game without as much focus on PvP. The procedurally generated cave systems vary in style, which will help prepare players for the kind of varied maps they will be dropped into in other games within the genre.

2 Hunt: Showdown 1896

Deadly Bounty Hunting

One of the other earlier extraction shooter games, Hunt: Showdown 1896 is a great example of how players can get into the genre for the first time. Players take on the role of a hunter who is always trying to kill some sort of mythical creature, but they must compete with other hunters (other players) to achieve the bounty and get out of the zone, making it easier when teamed up, though many players try the game out solo.

Hunt: Showdown 1896 has a beautifully designed style of gameplay, making the most out of the PvEvP idea, with five different types of monsters appearing. However, before players can find them, they must narrow down the potential locations of the monster’s hideout by finding clues around the world. Meanwhile, they will potentially have to fight other players and weaker enemy creatures as well. Hunt: Showdown is a great jumping-on point for newcomers to the genre because the gameplay loop, while always enjoyable, is quick to pick up.

1 Vigor

Free-To-Play In Post-Apocalyptic Norway

A unique extraction shooter, which is currently free-to-play, Vigor sees players dropped in a hostile environment, forced to build shelters to protect themselves from the harshness of the elements. Their shelters will need constant upgrades, which leads to confrontations with other players.

While fighting other players isn’t always a necessity, it occasionally has to be done. Players will find it much easier to survive the harsh world and get to POIs (points of interest) if they are willing to get their hands dirty. With different modes, including encounters, shootouts, and elimination, there is something in Vigor for every type of shooter player.