I’ve always been a huge fan of co-op games–fighting with your friends to overcome challenges is probably one of my favorite things to do in video games. While my group and I wait for Darktide–the upcoming co-op Left 4 Dead-like from Fatshark–we figured we could get our co-op fix in another way. Enter Marauders.
Set in an alternate 1990s where World War 1 never ended, Marauders is a looter shooter in a “diesel punk” setting of over industrialization in the face of perpetual war. In this dystopian future, you have to take to the stars to survive, looting and raiding while fending off other teams of marauders. So go solo, or grab up to three other friends to take to the void with the intention to raid, loot, and pillage.
Marauders is all about looting. First, you start off in space in your designated space ship–which is a literal rust bucket to start. You can scavenge resources to upgrade your ship, or take another team’s ship through a boarding action. As long as you get to the exit with their ship, you get to keep it: life is hard in the grim dieselpunk future of Marauders.
When you’re not fighting in space, you can expect to have some intense ground combat, either against AI or even other teams of marauders–if you come across each other. Find new gear to make your future fights easier, and use acquired XP to get better items to have a better chance of escaping with your loot. Because if you die, you lose all of that shiny equipment you’ve accumulated.
Since Marauders is launching in Early Access, that means it will still be in active development when it hits Steam. According to the game’s Steam store page, it will be in Early Access for the next 12-14 months–though that’s a tentative timeline. Right now, players can fly spaceships, and “go boot-on-the-ground with tense FPS firefights, and pillage the deep void of space for valuable loot and resources they’ll need to survive” Also, according to the Early Access info box, expect full progress wipes as development progresses. If you don’t want to lose progress, you might want to wait until Marauders is a little further along.
I’m looking forward to Marauders hitting 1.0. It’s an interesting concept with a cool setting and some serious potential. So go it alone or join with up to three other friends to battle it out in a gritty, dark alternate 90’s.
Marauders is a multiplayer looter shooter that is releasing on Steam Early Access today.
A Steam key was provided to us for the purposes of this preview.