What Are Extraction Shooters Like? – Answered

Despite how it might seem on a surface level, the subgenres within the FPS genre are surprisingly fast. You have your classic story-based first-person shooters, hyper-competitive first-person shooters like Call of Duty, fast-paced BRs like Apex Legends, and so on. One subgenre often sees a ton of confusion though, which we’re here to clarify. Here’s what extraction shooters are, and how they are to play compared to the other FPS subgenres.

What is An Extraction Shooter?

An extraction shooter is a spinoff of the battle royale genre, taking a different approach to combat than your standard BR. In most battle royale games, you’re spawned in with dozens of other players as a circle closes in, resulting in several fights across a massive map. It’s also quite fast-paced, meaning fights happen quickly and whoever has the best quick thinking will win.

Extraction shooters go strongly against some of the cornerstones of the battle royale genre. In stark contrast, extraction shooters feature maybe a dozen players per game on a large map, setting them off to collect loot from their opponents or key looting locations. The flow of the game is also much slower, with tactics and strategy favored over pure mechanics. The biggest difference of all lies in the ability to escape the game with your loot, instead of a last-man-standing type deal.

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Some examples of popular extraction shooters include Escape from Tarkov, Hunt Showdown, and the more recent Marauders. All games feature some slight variations of the formula, with Hunt Showdown featuring bounties you must complete rather than items you’ll keep between runs. It’s a very new genre relatively, but it’s one that’s quickly seen a strong community grow around it.

If you’re on the fence about trying one, we suggest going down the route of Hunt Showdown. It’s still a very difficult game to learn, but compared to the other games we listed, it’s the easiest to learn. You can find out about some of the unique and interesting weapons in the game through our guide on a recent event.