The third-person co-op shooter "Xenex Squad" gradually reveals its potential during a roughly five-hour playtest. Highlights include three-player cooperative missions, unique secondary weapons, and diverse swarms of insectoid enemies, but the game has yet to break free from the conventions of its genre.
Players can form squads of up to three members to maintain and protect planetary facilities for MegaCorp while clearing out local insectoid threats. Missions aren't limited to combat; the playtest included maintenance tasks such as using welding torches to seal equipment breaches and having two players take turns powering mechanical devices. Side jobs, elite enemies, and drivable abandoned mechs may also appear around the map.
The game offers eight difficulty levels. As difficulty increases, enemy strength, maintenance tasks, and environmental hazards like extreme weather intensify, requiring players to hold their ground against insect swarms during extraction phases. In terms of gear, standard assault rifles and submachine guns feel somewhat limited in creativity and handling, while secondary weapons like corrosive slime launchers and giant circular saws that embed into enemies for continuous damage offer more distinctive experiences.
"Xenex Squad" also features a class-like sponsorship system, equipment upgrades, passive trinkets, and a season pass unlockable through gameplay or payment. Playtesters appreciated the chaotic combat and the fun of exploring new missions and biomes, but felt that its openness, atmosphere, and satirical humor currently fall short of titles like "Deep Rock Galactic," "Warhammer 40,000: Darktide," and "Helldivers 2." The game still needs to establish a more distinct competitive edge.