Embark on dangerous scavenging expeditions, and dare to come back – solo or with a team. Or play as an alien monster that can only be killed with light, and make sure no mortal escapes alive.

Level Zero: Extraction is a multiplayer extraction horror, a unique take on survival experience which blends the heart-pounding tension of asymmetric horrors with the high-stakes showdowns of extraction shooters. Embark on a dangerous scavenging expedition where 3 teams of up to 3 mercenaries compete for loot, and dare to come back. Or take on the role of two deadly alien monsters and hunt for human prey.

Venture out solo or with a team, and extract as much valuable loot as you can: weapons, gadgets, research data, crafting resources, and more. Your expedition time and inventory space are limited. You will lose almost all of your loot if you die. There are other mercs competing for valuables and extraction points. And… Player-controlled aliens are lurking in the shadows, determined to hunt you all down.

TinyBuild and DogHowl Games have concluded the Closed Beta for the upcoming multiplayer extraction horror game Level Zero: Extraction, deeming it an encouraging success for the dev team.

First and foremost, we would like to express our gratitude to all of you who had the opportunity to play and participate in the Closed Beta Test of Level Zero: Extraction. And even if you didn’t have the chance to play, we still appreciate your interest, whether through liking, sharing, adding the game to your Steam wishlist, or simply visiting our community Discord. As a small studio working on its first project, we were genuinely overwhelmed by the number of players (more than 150,000 Closed Beta sign-ups!) who were eager to try out the game. We’re also incredibly excited to announce that Level Zero: Extraction has reached 200,000 total wishlists! It wouldn’t be possible without your support.

We want to remain as open to our players as possible. During this test, we received a lot of feedback on the game, its mechanics, and balance, as well as many suggestions on how you would like to see the game develop further. Currently, we're deeply analyzing all the data we obtained from the test, as well as numerous feedback threads. We will make changes based on that in the upcoming builds.

We're excited to test them in the upcoming playtests, including during the Open Beta this summer!

The four days of the Closed Beta were filled with emotions, featuring three phases of testing: two options for Alien balance and a more advanced Merc progression stage with weapons. The goal here was to gather as much data as possible and simulate various experiences for players within a short period. We've identified a few key learnings we would like to highlight and focus on as we move forward.

Some Positive Highlights

We have achieved an asymmetrical feel by offering two distinctly different gameplay experiences. Evidently, players naturally gravitate towards either the Mercs or the Aliens, each enjoying their unique gameplay and passionately supporting their chosen ‘faction’.

Based on the numerous videos posted by players and content creators, we are delighted to see that the game has evoked a spectrum of emotions! Players enjoyed funny, scary, and tense moments as they explored Level Zero: Extraction. We were also thrilled with the overall server stability, so much so that we decided even to prolong the test for one day, which you seemed to love! Considering the limited availability of server regions, even the most distant players could successfully join game sessions and play. We will expand server region availability and add language localization in the future!

New Player Experience

Our Closed Beta primarily focused on testing the core gameplay loop and basic progression, lacking streamlined first-time user experiences, short-term goals for players to focus on, or a comprehensive look at the late-game experience. While our tutorials covered most of the game mechanics, we acknowledge that there are better ways to introduce players to the game. For future iterations, we'll prioritize short-term progression within sessions, introducing more activities on maps, such as PvE threats (AI-based enemies) and more exciting loot to discover. Our approach will prioritize growing complexity gradually rather than overwhelming players with everything at once. We will also explore more opportunities to streamline the first sessions, aiming to ease new players into Level Zero: Extraction and its complex systems.

Performance

As we approached the Closed Beta, our primary focus was on testing all gameplay systems, considering the significant evolution of our game over the past year, which included adding more layers of gameplay than initially planned. Although we did a lot to ensure the best possible performance for our Closed Beta participants, we understand there’s still so much to do regarding performance and optimization. Further down the road, optimization will become one of our main priorities as we aim to make our game accessible to more people. We apologize to all players who have experienced framerate or latency issues during the test, and we really appreciate your feedback!

Balance

Balancing a multiplayer game with asymmetrical PvP as well as PvE is a significant challenge, and we fully recognize that. During the Closed Beta, our balancing efforts were conducted within specific test environments and rules that we designed, allowing us to gain valuable insights into the challenges of balancing the game to ensure enjoyment for both new and experienced players. Moving forward, we plan to conduct more playtests focusing exclusively on late-game balance and more complex systems, including meta-progression. Join our official Discord server and stay tuned as we announce future private testing sessions.

Ultimately, we're creating this game for you to enjoy for a long time, and we greatly appreciate all the feedback on aliens-vs-mercs gameplay. We agree that both factions should have a fair chance of winning based on the tools, mechanics, and skills at their disposal.

Next Steps

First and foremost, we're dedicated to addressing all technical and significant Quality-of-Life issues identified during the Closed Beta, ensuring a smoother and more enjoyable experience for all players. Additionally, we're hard at work on a new map, offering a new and immersive environment to explore. Lastly, we're working on adding new content along with expanded Alien progression, providing even more depth and excitement. As mentioned above, we will conduct private test sessions with select players as we work our way through the development.

Take a look at our Living Roadmap below—it reflects our current plans, and we will update it with new revisions throughout development

Level Zero: Extraction launches into Steam Early Access in 2024.

Level Zero: Extraction features unique gunplay, melee, movement and health systems developed from the ground up to deliver an immersive survival experience. Devastate enemies with a vast arsenal of melee weapons like hammers, bats and machetes, or engage in tense shootouts using pistols, SMGs, shotguns, assault rifles, nail guns, flamethrowers, mines, grenades, and more.

Use the loot you’ve extracted to increase reputation with several traders and acquire better gear as well as unique items. Or you can collect resources to create new tools at the recycling/crafting station. Each of your firearms can be upgraded and customized with sights, stocks, grips and other attachments. Play as a human and as a monster to level up and unlock new perks to develop your own playstyle. Craft randomized modifications that can be implanted into your merc, or grow your monster to then sell its DNA for in-game currency and reset progress.

Survive no matter what. Cooperate, be a lone wolf, or betray other players. Use a vast variety of gadgets like motion sensors, light traps, or remote controls to your advantage, and craft useful tools on the go. Keep quiet and be aware of your heartbeat level which could be sensed by monsters. If you die, you can still help your team by controlling a small scout drone that can ping enemies, use light switches, and stun monsters.

Light is the only thing that can kill the aliens, making every illumination source both the ultimate weapon and safe haven against them. As a mercenary, strategically use flares, glowsticks, flashlights, and lume traps across the map to stave off monsters.

When playing as a monster, use powerful alien abilities and team up with another player-controlled beast. Stay in the shadows, scan through walls, deploy living traps, crawl through vents, and emit a high-frequency scream to temporarily shut down all light sources in the area. Make sure no mortal gets out alive. Level up your beast and then sell it to scientists to reset the progression and obtain in-game currency.

Key Features:

• Asymmetric multiplayer extraction horror is a new take on the genre to create a totally unique experience
• Play as human mercenaries fighting over valuable loot – or as deadly alien monsters in high-stakes PvPvE battles
• Immersive first-person combat with realistic gunplay and melee mechanics, as well as health, animation, and movement systems
• Vast arsenal of weapons and gadgets to help humans survive: rifles, shotguns, flamethrowers, nail guns, pistols, grenades, mines, motion sensors, traps, remote controls, flares, hammers, machetes, and more
• Hunt humans with out-of-this-world alien abilities, including acid spit, live traps, vent crawling, EMP screams, heartbeat scans, and more
• Deep progression system with dozens of new perks, items, and weapon attachments to unlock
• Aliens can only be killed with light – this distinct gameplay mechanic allows humans to strategically use light sources across the map to stave off monsters

Level Zero: Extraction is coming to PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC (Steam).