Sometimes, a game needs an original premise before I’ll write it up, and sometimes, it just needs a flying car, or a slick revolver with chambers outlined in mouthwatering red neon. Say hello to ExeKiller, which I am filing under “not new, but news to me”. I know, “ExeKiller” sounds like a computer virus, though I think the people who make viruses tend to favour less obviously nefarious names, like “Microsoft Werd”. Hang on, that’s what I’m writing this article with! Quickly, before I lose this PC to ransomware: ExeKiller is actually a “semi-open” world cyber-Western FPS with retro futurist visuals. It casts you as a bounty hunter plying the dunes and gas stations of a post-apocalyptic Earth, and it looks like a mix of Cyberpunk 2077 and Drive. Here’s some pre-alpha footage.
In ExeKiller you play Denzel Fenix, who works for a sinister corporation headquartered in ruined New York. You can tell this is a grimdark setting, because they’ve spelt Phoenix wrong. I’m unconvinced of the grimdarkness of “Denzel”, though. It gives me more of a Saturday afternoon sitcom vibe.
The plot sees you learning about both “powerful factions” and your own origins. The quests themselves all sound very Deus Exuberant, with dialogue decisions plugging into different story endings. You’ll make such capital-c Choices as 1) do I return this big pile of money to its rightful owners, or spend it on a fancier shotgun, and 2) do I moider this no-good badnik, or do I show mercy so I can go to Cyborg Heaven later.
As for the world, this isn’t one of your big city simulations. Expect a desert’s worth of “smaller locations with long distances between them and environmental hazards such as unexpected enemies or dangerous weather”. The map unlocks gradually, from main quest to main quest, and you get a swish hovercar with a screamingly Seventies dashboard to gad about in. According to the Steam page, quests can be completed either by shooting everybody, sneaking past them, hacking things, or via the fine art of conversation. There is no XP or levelling, just a choice of mods, augments and new weapons tech.
On paper, I wouldn’t call ExeKiller tremendously interesting, but I do like the sound of an open world game woven around smaller locations. Perhaps it’ll play like Fallout with much less cruft and distraction? A Fallout artfully thinned back to its overworld, with a few choice outcrops of dungeon.
In any case, I’m happy to give it a pass initially because, again: neon red bullet chambers and a flying car. Now if you’ll excuse me, some kind of countdown display has appeared on my desktop and a bunch of rando Xitter accounts have started posting my nudes. ExeKiller is the work of Paradark Studio, published by Null Games, and it’s out sometime next year.