Helldivers 2’s First Great Competitor Is Officially Coming From The Dead By Daylight Devs

The massive success of Helldivers 2 in 2024 proved that players have a massive appetite for chaotic, satirical cooperative shooters. Over two years after its debut, the game continues to pull in tens of thousands of daily players, bolstered by major content updates like Devoid of Liberty. Given this enduring popularity, it was only a matter of time before other development teams attempted to put their own spin on this highly successful gameplay loop.

Enter Exterminauts, an upcoming title from Behaviour Interactive, the studio behind Dead by Daylight. Revealed in a behind-closed-doors presentation at Gamescom 2026, the game is positioned as a direct competitor to Helldivers 2. While it shares many core mechanics with its predecessor, Exterminauts swaps out the patriotic military satire of Super Earth for a corporate, hyper-capitalist setting where players act as expendable contractors.

In Exterminauts, players are employed by massive conglomerates known as mega corps. Rather than serving as elite soldiers defending a homeland, these characters are described as a mix of exterminators, repair technicians, and first-responders. Their primary objective is to descend onto a hostile planet named Tian to harvest a valuable resource called polymorphic plasma, which has driven the local wildlife into a violent frenzy.

Rather than halting operations due to the aggressive fauna, the mega corps simply relocated their main facilities off-world and began deploying expendable workers to manage the threat. A hands-on preview of the game demonstrated how players must navigate from one objective to the next while fighting off waves of bizarre and grotesque alien creatures. The combat relies on a mix of traditional firearms and unique, high-tech abilities.

Among the tools available to players are specialized grenades that function like miniature black holes, pulling nearby enemies into a central point. Additionally, every contractor is equipped with an overdrive weapon powered by polymorphic plasma. While these weapons can be supercharged to unleash devastating energy blasts, players must manage the risk carefully, as overcharging the weapon will cause it to detonate directly in their hands.

The developers at Behaviour Interactive describe the core gameplay experience as "controlled chaos," a term that highlights the balance between overwhelming enemy encounters and tactical planning. Despite the obvious similarities to Helldivers 2, early impressions suggest the game is a highly polished, distinct experience rather than a cheap imitation. Exterminauts is currently slated for release on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X, though an official launch date has not yet been announced.