Exterminauts is the new game from Behaviour Interactive, but the title couldn't be further from the studio's most popular title, Dead by Daylight. Instead, Exterminauts puts you and two friends together as "blue collar workers" who are tasked to punch in, clear up, and get out.

During my hands-on time with the game at Gamescom, I was immediately drawn to the brighter visuals and more chaotic gameplay than other similar games, such as Helldivers. Friendly fire means you're not only at the mercy of the strange alien creatures that are constantly attempting to thwart your task progress as they thirst for the Polymorphic Plasma on the planet, but you're also attempting to dodge incoming fire from your own teammates.

Ziplines can only be used by one teammate at a time, so if more than one person attempts to leap on to one, they'll fall to an untimely--but pretty funny--death. Weapons can be overcharged to deal greater damage with special effects or elemental shots, but they can also cause your entire trio to fly backwards comically as someone accidentally electrifies the body of water you're all standing in.

While the premise is simple--get in, complete tasks, get out--it's also very engaging. We completed a longer contract with several objectives in around 25 minutes, and that shorter burst of gameplay means I can imagine the variation of different contracts is pretty satisfying.

While we didn't get to play with any, the team showed us a variety of mods and variants that you'll be able to seek out during a run in order to perfect your build. This feels like a surefire way to incentivize players and get that "just one more run" feeling in full flow.

Exterminauts isn't anything revolutionary, but it doesn't have to be. Its bright, lighthearted combat, chaotic possibilities, and co-op fun are all crafted in an impressive way, and I can see myself uninstalling Helldivers in its favor when it releases in 2027 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.

The Dungeons & Dragons franchise has continued to evolve over the decades, and in the upcoming Warlock from Invoke Studios, players will get the opportunity to explore a darker corner of that popular tabletop fantasy IP. Following its gameplay reveal during Gamescom Opening Night Live, GameSpot had the chance to sit down and chat with Invoke's general manager Dominic Guay and VP Jeff Hattem about the game.

Set beyond the Mists of Darkon, players will make a pact with the warlock Taasha to wield sinister magic, and Invoke Studio says that it was given a surprising amount of freedom to craft the game. "We're building on the franchise, we're expanding it," Guay and Hattem said to GameSpot. "We're going to the Domains of Dread, which is one of the darker fantasy corners of Dungeons & Dragons. And the monster manual is filled with a whole bunch of monsters to choose from, and we're expanding on that as well. The magical spells as well, we're taking what's built into D&D and expanding. We're creating some new stuff as well for players and reimagining some older spells from previous editions."

Compared to the last big D&D game, Baldur's Gate 3, Warlock gives players more direct control over the protagonist, Kaatri, as it's a third-person single-player adventure. That means no rolls of the dice--just a straight-up dive into action as players wield both magic and melee weapons against the nastier denizens of Darkon.

"D&D is a game that players can express a lot of creativity in, and for me, at least personally, I wanted to make a system that would allow them to express that creativity with magic. The Warlock class has magic at the core of what they can do, and we wanted to really represent that with the game," Guay and Hattem explained. "Being expressive and creative with magic is really fun when you can manipulate the elements, the world, and find an advantage over monsters because of the systems that you can impact."

As for the tone of Warlock? After debuting the gameplay with a trailer that included some Tool music in the background, Invoke says that players can expect a lot more dark fantasy on their journey--as well as some lighter moments, to break things up.

"It is definitely a dark fantasy game, but it's got moments of levity and brightness and color as well," Guay and Hattem said. "We're going into Darkon, which is a huge world, an open world to explore, and it's got a varied biome of elements to explore. There's a whole wide cast of characters that have different personalities and contrasts. Just look at Tasha, she's like very chaotic and exuberant, and then you go into Darkon, there are more dark fantasy characters. So, I think there's a lot, and there's a wide range of tones, I would say, for players. It's not just one note."

Warlock is also aiming to be both an entry point into the world of D&D and appealing to veterans of the series. Invoke explained that Khatri is well-positioned to be a point-of-view character for players to become familiar with DnD, while veterans will easily spot Easter eggs and references throughout the game.

"I think like if you want a fully realized adventure that you can play in the setting of DnD, and see some of the spells that you really like, some of the monsters that you're familiar with, realized into an action-adventure, this is the game for you," Guay and Hattem concluded.

Set to release in 2027, the game features the voices of Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica) as Kaatri and Maggie Robertson, who previously played Orin the Red in Baldur's Gate 3.

If you've spent the last 11 years holding off on purchasing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's DLC, then boy does CD Projekt Red have a surprise for you. In addition to a new (and potentially free) Remastered version of the game full of quality of life improvements, both of the GOTY contender's hefty expansions are now totally free.