Behaviour Interactive Announces Alien Extermination Action Game Exterminauts
The game marks the first full collaboration between Behaviour Interactive and Tencent, which operates Level Infinite, with discussions beginning around 2021 and the project officially starting in 2022.
Key Facts
- Exterminauts was announced at gamescom Opening Night Live 2026 on August 26, 2026.
- Exterminauts is a three-player co-op PvE third-person shooter developed by Behaviour Interactive and published by Level Infinite.
- Exterminauts is scheduled for release in 2027 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
- The game is set on the planet TIAN, where a resource called Polymorphic Plasma is mined by multiple corporations.
- Missions are called Work Orders, and players clock in and out using Punch In and Punch Out mechanics.
Reporting from 2 sources: 4Gamer.net, Game Spark.
Behaviour Interactive, the studio behind Dead by Daylight, announced its new action game Exterminauts during the gamescom Opening Night Live 2026 broadcast on August 26, 2026. Published by Level Infinite, the title is a three-player co-op PvE third-person shooter in which players take on the role of professional workers who are sent to the planet TIAN to exterminate alien pests and repair facilities. The game is in development for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, with a release planned for 2027. A presentation and hands-on session at gamescom 2026 revealed that missions are called "Work Orders," players clock in and out via "Punch In" and "Punch Out," and jobs range from 15 minutes to 20-30 minutes. After finishing a job, a roughly two-minute defense segment begins where players compete for the highest score to earn a salary bonus. The developers cited Men in Black, Ghostbusters, Armageddon, and Alien as influences.
- Work orders on TIAN include restoring a fuel facility, restarting a stopped power plant, retaking an invaded fuel storage, and repairing a missile defense tower, each requiring multiple steps in sequence.
- Optional side objectives can ease facility restoration, clear field obstacles, and increase the final paycheck.
- Four corporations operate on TIAN: PlasmaCore handles extraction and refining, ChemX develops technology and weapons, Bullet Crown supplies military arms and explosives, and Blackburn Systems hires Exterminauts and pays their salaries.
- The "OVERDRIVE" tool, a large power clamp worn at the waist, draws on Polymorphic Plasma energy stored in a backpack battery to overcharge weapons or deliver electric shocks, hack terminals, and activate doors and ziplines.
- Characters wear orange workwear with high-visibility lines, tool belts, hammers, and helmets with breathing apparatus; a red ring around the helmet persists across equipment changes, and colors and parts are customizable.
- Combat roles are built from shoulder patch "Emblems" combined with weapons, gadgets, mods, and passive abilities rather than fixed classes.
- Friendly fire is enabled, so heavy weapons can down teammates.
- In the hands-on demo, one player operated terminals and welded while the other two held off aliens, and a boss fight involved an alien that spawned clones.
- Level Infinite's official announcement calls the game the most ambitious original IP in Behaviour Interactive's history, following roughly five years of development.
- A second gameplay video aired during the Future Games Show: gamescom 2026 broadcast on August 27, 2026, in which a Behaviour developer detailed the request, equipment, and deployment loop, putting playtime at 20 to 40 minutes.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 2 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.