You might have a hard time looking for new extraction shooters in 2025. This particular genre is a niche that never really took off outside of a few notable titles. However, it offers a far more hardcore experience compared to your average shooter game. If you’re looking to fill up your wishlist, don’t worry as we have the most promising extraction shooters this year to look out for.
Extraction shooters happen to be my favorite genre. As a big fan of Hunt: Showdown, it gives me some adrenaline in my veins that other shooter games can’t really seem to do. The intensity of winning it all or losing big is part of what makes the genre so appealing. If you’re anything like me, then the games on this list are something you want to look out for this 2025.
The Forever Winter
The Forever Winter stands out as uniquely creative amongst other extraction shooters. Personally, I wouldn’t count being unique for the sake of it as something noteworthy but there’s something truly special when the developers clearly have a creative vision and know where they want the game to end up.
Where most other extraction shooters make you feel like some form of outlier on the battlefield, you’re simply not “that guy” here. You play as a humble scavenger who belongs to none of the big factions fighting for control in a war-torn dystopia.
What’s interesting is the design concept of Forever Winter. AI-controlled enemies patrol the map until they meet each other and enter combat. These AI aren’t patrolling in search of you but each other. The armies that surround the battlefield are fighting for dominance, and you’re not part of that fight. Instead, your main job is to scavenge for resources and hope that you’re not killed somewhere in between these fights.
The Forever Winter is technically in Early Access if you want to play it but it isn’t recommended that you purchase the game at the time of this writing unless you’re willing to try out what’s basically a very early alpha build. I’m hoping that 2025 will flesh out this extraction shooter.
Beautiful Light
On the surface, Beautiful Light looks like Tarkov but with SCP but its gameplay loop is actually more akin to the likes of Hunt Showdown, which is a game I play with near obsession. You play as one of the six squads of three operators tasked with retrieving an artifact in a hostile environment. Extract, or die and lose all your gear.
You’re not only going up against regular players with equipment like yours but also player-controlled anomalies who roam the map and will hunt you down. Only one team can take the artifact, and due to the risks involved, you don’t want to stay around long enough to be the prey. Sometimes, it’s just not worth it.
Beautiful Light is one of those extraction shooters that seems punishingly cruel. Each decision can lead to you losing everything you brought with you and you may have to make the tough call between saving yourself or a friend.
Sand
If you want something unique, Sand should be on your wishlist right now. Despite its rather unoriginal name, Sand does offer a very unique steampunk concept. You wander around the hostile desert in a giant mechanical spider-like machine looking for valuables and competing against other players for them.
What makes Sand stand out is that you don’t just use guns to take out the competition. Instead, you use the cannons on your Trampler which is your main base of operations to combat enemies, but yes, you can use old-fashioned guns if you get too close to other players. Tramplers can be customized freely and you can even upgrade them to carry more loot, take more punishment, and deal out more damage.
The entire premise reminds me a bit of a more PvP-focused Sea of Thieves. You need to work with your crew in order to pilot your Trampler and explore the harsh, unforgiving desert. Get as much loot as you can, steal from other players, and get out alive. Sand is one of the more creative extraction shooters to look out for this 2025.
Exoborne
Compared to the others on this list, Exoborne is honestly the most familiar in concept. It’s a third-person extraction shooter set in the apocalyptic US where you play as people wearing powerful exo-rigs that grant them superhuman feats on the battlefield. Explore Colton County which is filled with valuable loot but it’s a hostile environment that has territorial warring factions.
What makes Exoborne stand out is its ever dynamic weather system which is integral to the gameplay. You’re forced to adapt your playstyle depending on the current weather. For example, the rain dampens noise making it easier to sneak up on enemy players. Fog can provide heavy cover which limits the ability of long-ranged fighters. And there are tornados that you can take advantage of to carry you around the map via gliding.
Your exo-rig is what makes you powerful in this game. You can customize it to fit your playstyle. There are different types of exo-rigs and each gives you unique abilities depending on your preference. Take advantage of your exo-rigs to gain an edge in combat but always pick your fights carefully.
Hunger
Now Hunger is a game that instantly reminds me of Hunt Showdown. It’s a horror PvPvE extraction shooter set in Napoleonic Europe in what’s called the World After The End. There are guns in the game but they’re primitive so make your shots count because reloading during a fight can be a death sentence. When you can’t rely on ranged combat, you’ll have to take to a brutal melee against monstrous beings…or against your fellow man.
At the time of this writing, Hunger doesn’t really have any gameplay clips so much about the game still remains a mystery. We do get a cinematic trailer and some pictures of what the gameplay could possibly be. I’m crossing my fingers that Hunger will be a good extraction shooter worthy of investing more than 400 hours of my life into but it remains to be seen.
What makes Hunger interesting is its take on the extraction shooter blending in RPG elements. You can combine a specific set of passives, tactical, and ultimate abilities from skill trees that contain more than 100 talents. Whether you prefer playing as a sneaky rogue quietly roaming the battlefield for good loot or specializing in heavy combat is up to you.
