Extinction: Review Roundup

Extinction has some giant aspirations, but ultimately the action/adventure game for PC, PS4, and Xbox One has fallen short among critics. You play a warrior who sprints up walls, soars through the air, and channels sacred energy to use in your fight against terrifying (and devastatingly powerful) giants to save civilization. The premise may sound awesome, but many felt the gameplay simply didn’t deliver and the story fell flat.

So is Extinction worth a bit of your time nonetheless? It depends on who you ask. Check out some gameplay in the video above and the full review outlook at Metacritic, then read on to see what critics are saying.

  • Game: Extinction
  • Developer / Publisher: Iron Galaxy / Maximum Games
  • Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC
  • Release date: Out now
  • Price: US $60 / £46 / AU $99.95

GameSpot — 4/10

“Extinction shoots itself in the foot time and time again. It’s so frustrating to see its good ideas buried under repetitive missions, a forgettable story, and embarrassing production values for its AAA price. Play one hour of it and you’ve basically done a bit of everything it has to offer; then it’s rinse and repeat for as long as you can bear to stick with it. It’s a frail and monotonous game destined for the bargain bin.” — Peter Brown [Full review]

IGN — 6.6/10

“Extinction is a sword-slinging, monster-decapitating action game that does a decent job of getting the blood pumping and reflexes twitching. The eye-catching, anime-inspired art will even give you some nice scenery to do it all in. It just never rises to be much more than that, and all the while it’s inviting comparisons to other games that do. Extinction lands in that awkward position where, yeah, it’s usually fun – but you’re not really missing anything incredible by giving it a pass.” — TJ Hafer [Full review]

PC Gamer — 58/100

“Extinction is a polished game, from the slick UI to the snappy, responsive controls. Avil can double-jump, glide, and clamber up walls, which makes him feel satisfyingly nimble. And the game maintains a reliably solid frame-rate, even when those hulking ogres shamble into view and start smashing buildings. But there isn’t enough here to justify that £55/$60 price point. The ogres get harder to kill, new enemy types are introduced, and the maps change, slightly, but genuine surprises are few and far between.” — Andy Kelly [Full review]

Destructoid — 6/10

“Extinction is a good blueprint for a more interesting game. I came in excited to slice up some giants, but after the fifth rote exercise I was kind of over it. There are some flashes of brilliance every now and then but the over-reliance on the core energy meter idea keeps it imprisoned in the depths of repetitive arcade territory.” — Chris Carter [Full review]

PlayStation Universe — 4/10

“Extinction is a poor game with great ideas. A lot of the problems it suffers from just shouldn’t be problems in this day and age. Combat looks cool but functions terribly, and the game’s biggest selling point of taking down giant Orcs is ruined by the horrible climbing mechanics and terrible camera. It’s a shame, as I really looked forward to enjoying Extinction until I actually played it. Now I wish I could forget it.” — Garri Bagdasarov [Full review]

Slant Magazine — 2/5

Extinction never opens up the way it’s clearly supposed to, instead falling into a repetition that makes the game feel every bit as stale as its story concept.” — Steven Scaife [Full review]

Push Square — 6/10

“Extinction had the potential to be something special, but a few too many flaws and frustrations hold it back from true greatness. Despite that, we still think this adventure of epic proportions is very much worth a purchase if the grand scale even slightly grabs your interest.” — Liam Croft [Full review]

EGM Now — 6/10

“Extinction shows a lot of promise, and it sometimes delivers, like when it comes to the engaging, acrobatic combat or the sheer scale of the Ravenii. Unfortunately, the repetitive mission types and gameplay and a clichéd fantasy tale make it feel like a shell of a game. Far from feeling like a full retail release, Extinction feels like one good idea run into the ground until you’re checking your watch, waiting for it to end.” — Michael Goroff [Full review]