The Marauders battle pass won't be "anti-lore" if the Escape From Tarkov-style multiplayer game gets that form of monetisation at all. The team acknowledges that battle passes "are the only thing that really work nowadays" but seemingly isn't going down the same route as Fortnite or Halo Infinite.
Marauders is a new PvPvE space game that was crowdfunded back in 2020. It is now set to release in Steam Early Access sometime this year. PCGamesN spoke with developer Small Impact Games and its lead designer Cameron Small told us what players can expect in terms of monetisation - and how the team doesn't want a bunch of XP gates that'll put off players.
"Battle passes are the only thing that really work nowadays to keep concurrents going," Cameron tells us while acknowledging this is likely a controversial opinion. "However, I'm not happy with its connotations of 'anti-lore' as battle passes can fit into a story. We're not a story-based game but we have that Day-Z [feel], we want people to get lost and create their own."
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Marauders looks like a blend of Escape from Tarkov and The Expanse
If you've read our Marauders preview, you'll know Small Impact's upcoming extraction shooter has been heavily influenced by games like Escape From Tarkov, Rust, DayZ, Vigor, and Sea of Thieves. But it's not just games that have helped influence this space shooter - plenty of films and anime have too.
According to Cameron Small, the lead developer on Mauraders, Small Impact has leaned heavily on its cinematic influences, particularly those with dystopian, used future, and sci-fi elements. It'll come as no surprise that films like Star Wars have served as an influence, but what about neo-noir science fiction anime?
"It's a bit of a mess," Small jokes when we ask him about where the ideas for Marauders spawned from. "We grew up with James Cameron and all his movies, so we like that tone; that dystopian, low-tech sci-fi vibe. We also like used future stuff and Star Wars where they're all sci-fi vehicles but they look older than my car.
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Marauders is at the "precipice of a new genre"
Marauders is much more than Escape From Tarkov in space
The hardcore extraction looter genre has been dominated by one game and one game only recently and that's Escape From Tarkov. Developers have tried to muscle in to get a slice of the pie, only to fail somewhere along the way. However, Small Impact Games, the team behind Marauders, a game that will be getting its first public demo at WASD, believes we're about to see a whole wave of new extraction shooter games in the near future.
Speaking to The Loadout following an exclusive look at the game, Small Impact's Cameron Small and James Rowbotham believe we're "at the precipice of a new genre". While there are certainly games that cater to that looter shooter experience, none quite nail the experience like Escape From Tarkov - and it's something these two know has caught the attention of the development world.
"I think we're going to start seeing other competitive titles crop up soon," Small says. "I think we're hitting it at a good point, though. I'm not saying it's going to be like battle royale and this thing is going to explode and everyone's going to do it, but I know people are hungry for it.
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Marauders is much more than Escape From Tarkov in space
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When Small Impact first told me it was creating a space game inspired by hardcore looter shooters like Escape From Tarkov, I had my doubts. Developers have long tried to replicate the success of Battlestate Games' extraction shooter to no avail. DICE attempted it with Battlefield 2042's Hazard Zone mode, as did Improbable with Scavengers, but neither really fulfilled the brief. After playing Marauders, though, I'm convinced Team 17's new developer is onto a winner.
Marauders is much more than just Escape From Tarkov in space. You're not just dropped into a No Man's Sky dieselpunk adventure with a gun and told to crack on. Instead, you're put behind the controls of a spaceship - in my case, the grand old Rust Bucket - in an alternative history setting and given the keys to the galaxy.
This is made even more exciting by the fact there are essentially three layers to the game: space exploration, ship fighting, and raids. Everyone starts out in space, where you and your squad pilot your way through a procedurally generated world, looking out for other ships or points of interest in the process. From there you find yourself a target, and you dictate how you want your raid to go; you can go full space pirate and attack other ships or you can dock at the nearest station and head in on foot.
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Marauders is at the "precipice of a new genre"
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