NOTE: This interview was conducted prior to the game’s 1.0 launch.

"When Helldivers 2 launched, we were excited to see a resurgence of interest in cooperative shooters and a growing appreciation for team-based, sci-fi action. This validated our belief that there is a strong appetite for games of this genre. 2024 definitely has been a treat for bug hunters."

Given the age of the Starship Troopers property, why did you feel the desire to tap into it for this game? 

Gareth Woods (Head of Marketing): Starship Troopers has a lasting appeal, especially among fans of sci-fi. Layer on top of this franchise themes like cooperation, teamwork and humanity’s fight against overwhelming odds, a sprinkle of 90es nostalgia (not to mention a bit of suspicious government activity) and you have the recipe for a compelling universe that resonates deeply with players today. Our goal was to bring the classic film’s universe to life in a way that feels fresh and exciting both for long-time fans and newcomers alike, to create the “authentic Troopers experience”.

The release of the game ended up being timely, with the release of Helldivers 2 earlier this year causing a resurgence in Starship Troopers’ popularity. As developers working on an actual Starship Troopers game, what was the impact on the team when Helldivers 2 launched?

Woods: When Helldivers 2 launched, we were excited to see a resurgence of interest in cooperative shooters and a growing appreciation for team-based, sci-fi action. This validated our belief that there is a strong appetite for games of this genre. 2024 definitely has been a treat for bug hunters. The positive response to Helldivers 2 energized our team, and we saw it as a great opportunity to differentiate Starship Troopers: Extermination further, with its unique features like 16-player co-op gameplay, base-building, and our innovative Carnage system.

How has the early access period been for you? What were your key takeaways in terms of feedback from the community?

Woods: The Early Access period has been incredibly valuable. We’ve gathered crucial feedback from the community about balancing, progression, and various other elements of the game that needed fine-tuning. Players loved the scale of the battles and the sense of camaraderie. I think EA has earned a bad reputation from some developers who may use it as a “cash grab” and never actually use it for the benefit it can be. We’ve certainly done our best to listen to player feedback and do our best to implement it wherever possible. One key takeaway from players is the need to expand on the variety offered, be it missions, bugs or guns and this is something we look forward to doing in the future.

"We look forward to growing the solo play mode in the future as we continue the story of General Rico and the Special Operations Group in future updates that will be completely free DLC to those who own Starship Troopers: Extermination."

What can players expect from the single player campaign in terms of its scale, especially given the involvement of Casper Van Dien?

Woods: The single-player mode is initially more of a solo-play tutorial, designed to give players a softer landing before the chaotic action of the multiplayer “main” game. It was great to be able to work with Casper who truly embodies the role of General Johnny Rico. We look forward to growing the solo play mode in the future as we continue the story of General Rico and the Special Operations Group in future updates that will be completely free DLC to those who own Starship Troopers: Extermination.

What are your post-launch plans for Starship Troopers: Extermination in terms of both single player and multiplayer content?

Woods: We have exciting plans for both single and multiplayer. As mentioned single-player will see us continue the story of General Rico and SOG (and maybe some other iconic characters in the Starship Troopers universe). For multiplayer we have an extensive roadmap that we have shared with the community already which will see us introduce a ton of quality-of-life updates, social features as well as new toys and to play with and Arachnids to squash.

Are there any plans to make the game PS5 Pro enhanced? 

Peter Maurice (Project Lead): Not immediately, as the development hardware has not been made available to our Studio at this time.

"We target 60 FPS on 1080p and 30 FPS on 4K across all platforms."

What resolution and frame rate will the game target on the PS5, Xbox Series X/S and on the PS5 Pro (if supported)?

Maurice: As of right now, we target 60 FPS on 1080p and 30 FPS on 4K across all platforms.

Of course, then Helldivers 2 launched earlier this year. It made no bones about its inspiration, twisting it to deliver clever satire while offering high-octane battlefields with objective variety, exceptional production values, fun weapons, and an addictive gameplay loop.

"Right away, the lack of soul or pretty much anything charming about the franchise is evident."

Comparisons between Helldivers 2 and Starship Troopers: Extermination are perhaps inevitable. While their gameplay is different, I believe the latter has some significant problems and would struggle to shine even if the former didn’t launch earlier this year. There’s some potential, but it’s buried under a load of metaphorical and literal bugs, bad design decisions, repetitive action, and continued performance issues.

Starship Troopers: Extermination doesn’t have a “story” per se. The Galactic Front is perhaps the closest equivalent to any direction, with the discovery of some planet filled with bugs, which the United Citizen Federation wants to cleanse (shocking. However, it’s more of a long-running community goal that awards cosmetics. How it will affect the long-term plot is unknown, but it currently boils down to participating in matchmade missions non-stop to earn Victory Points. Unfortunately, this is also handled poorly due to the Company feature, but we’ll get to that.

Right away, the lack of soul or pretty much anything charming about the franchise is evident. Sure, you have those faux news broadcasts before missions and decals that unenthusiastically proclaim that the “only good bug is a dead bug,” but that’s it. There’s very little chatter between Troopers during missions. The Arachnids at least come across as threatening enough, so there’s that.

From the outset, you can select a randomly generated mission to matchmake for or opt for Quick Play, which will take you anywhere. You want to focus on the former upon reaching higher ranks, which offer higher-difficulty missions that net more XP. They could have more challenging modifiers like increased Tiger Bugs, Grenadier Ambushes, or explosive melee attacks, but successful completion means significant gains in progress.

"The mindlessness can feel somewhat appealing, even if it removes whatever dynamism the other mission types would present. The underwhelming number of building options also doesn’t help the later waves feel more exciting."

Why not separate the difficulties and award increased XP based on the same? Probably to funnel players into certain objective types. A typical Extermination run involves landing on the planet, capturing some territory or setting up a mining rig, and then building up your base to defend against the Arachnid hordes until your Arc generator gathers intel. As time passes and objectives are complete, you’ll face larger waves of enemies. The final phase is often an unrelenting assault, and whether you’re successful or not, it culminates in an extraction.

Combat is first-person, but there are some elements of real-time strategy mixed in. After setting up a base, you need to mine and transport Ore canisters to it to build walls, turrets, ammo crates, etc. Sometimes, you must harness fuel canisters to power the Arc and begin its grand analysis. Unfortunately, said mining rigs are often hundreds of meters away, necessitating constant back and forth.

Unless you’re rocking with a group doing their best Navy Seals impressions, it can turn into a chaotic mess of slaughtering Arachnids, hauling resources, repairing defenses, reloading turrets and weapons, and questioning whether all this is really worth the Citizenship.

Some more straightforward missions provide a base from the outset and send waves of enemies with increased attack modifiers. It functions more like traditional Horde mode, as you earn resources after every wave to spend on improving your base. The mindlessness can feel somewhat appealing, even if it removes whatever dynamism the other mission types would present. The underwhelming number of building options also doesn’t help the later waves feel more exciting.

"As such, the gameplay does have its moments, especially when visibility is obscured by alien gunk and screen shakes as corpses pile up and explosions go off."

The gunplay is serviceable, though the number of times I wished my character would reload while continuing to ADS is too high. Unlike, say, Helldivers 2, you have multiple classes, each with unique perks, weapons, and unlocks, which I like. There’s enough distinction between the Guardian, who specializes in staggering Arachnids with machine-gun fire and setting up a fortified position, and the Ranger, who can boost around and detect emerging bugs with their sensor.

Unfortunately, they all start rather underwhelming, and you must grind XP to unlock their essentials, like a perk that halves melee damage from enemies for the Guardian. It wouldn’t be an issue if each class didn’t have to be leveled separately, further feeding into the repetition and monotony of replaying missions that offer increased XP. I’m fine with weapon XP, but why not divide every class into different skill trees where earning XP nets Skill Points? These can then unlock the required perks, and maybe even allow some mixing and matching to spice up the variety.

It’s obvious why Starship Troopers: Extermination goes for the current class setup. It wants to reinforce the squad mentality, with players presumably filling different roles. While not the worst approach to balance, it doesn’t help the tedious leveling (and if your allies don’t have the tools for busting heavily armored Arachnids, it’s GG).

As such, the gameplay does have its moments, especially when visibility is obscured by alien gunk and screen shakes as corpses pile up and explosions go off. I also like how some of the larger foes are actual threats. Even if it’s frustrating in the early going without the necessary survival tools, you have to worry about the positions of Grenadiers and leverage high ground against Warriors and other threats in melee range.

"While you can make a Company all by yourself, there’s no system for adding friends or even an in-game directory for finding other players."

However, the performance is simply abysmal. Despite going above and beyond the recommended requirements on PC, it nose dives when things get hot. While it necessitated dropping the quality significantly to approach anything resembling playable, the results were still underwhelming. Then there are all the other issues, from bugs simply teleporting out of nowhere to rubber-banding when they’re not standing around admiring the weather.

Capping all of this off is the Company system. To participate in the Galactic Front, you earn Victory Points from missions and Company Operations. The latter is initiated with Intel and can provide additional objectives and Medals for more VP, which contributes to advancing the Front. This goes much faster with more players in your Company since you can pool Intel.

While you can make a Company all by yourself, there’s no system for adding friends or even an in-game directory for finding other players. Instead, you need to count on the game randomly recommending players to join. Create your own Company, and the option to join other Companies completely disappears.

"It may have a different gameplay loop, but stick with Helldivers 2 if you want anything remotely resembling a compelling Starship Troopers experience."

It’s possible to matchmake with other players’ companies, but the wait times for my own Operations didn’t make it worth it. As a take on Clans, Companies are simply terrible, presenting a significant barrier to anyone who wants to grind away on the Galactic Front. Not that the rewards (three underwhelming cosmetics) are necessarily worth it right now.

After exiting early access, Starship Troopers: Extermination is indeed pitiful, just by sheer virtue of its slow progression, asinine Company system, performance issues, and jank. The positives are whelming at best, but perhaps the worst part is that it just fails to immerse you in the universe, much less like anything you do matters. It may have a different gameplay loop, but stick with Helldivers 2 if you want anything remotely resembling a compelling Starship Troopers experience.

This game was reviewed on PC.

In Q1 2025, it will add new abilities, Perks, Bug Holes, the Morita Under Barrel Attachment, and five new levels for class progression. After that, Q2 2025 will offer a new map, Bug type, and Chapter 2 of the S.O.G. Solo Play Tutorial. Beyond that, plans are unknown, so stay tuned for more details and updates (alongside potential surprises).

Based on the movie (which inspired other media, including Arrowhead Game Studios’ Helldivers), Starship Troopers: Extermination allows up to 16 players to team up on giant maps to fight hordes of Bugs. There are six classes to choose from, each with different weapons and base-building, as players can tackle hundreds of bugs at certain points.

The trailer also reveals that the game will be exiting its early access phase on PC on October 11, which is also when PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions of the game will be out.

Rather than focusing on the gameplay, the latest Starship Troopers: Extermination trailer instead chooses to focus on the trials and tribulations of being a Starship Trooper, with players having to take on gigantic hordes of bugs while also trying to complete various objectives.

Starship Troopers: Extermination pits players in a massive team of 16, where they will drop on a planet to complete a few objectives. Typically, these missions culminate in a massive defense-oriented objective, where players also have to build structures in order to survive against never-ending hordes of enemies, before extracting off the planet.

The studio has also announced that Casper Van Dien will be reprising his role as Johnny Rico for the single-player game mode that will be available in Starship Troopers: Extermination when it leaves Early Access.

The single-player experience will have players join an elite spec ops group in the Mobile Infantry. As part of this group, players will get orders from General Johnny Rico as they take on massive hordes of Arachnids alongside three NPC allies. The single-player mode will include 25 missions and a host of different PvE combat scenarios.

Starship Troopers: Extermination was first released as an Early Access title on PC back in May 2023. The game has since gotten several updates that brought with it new content like weapons and new objectives for players to take on. The primary game mode in Starship Troopers: Extermination pits 16 players together against hordes of Arachnids as they try to complete different objectives.