Watch 'dis monster get dismembered in a new Extinction gameplay trailer

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The giant-slaying action-adventure Extinction was announced a couple of weeks ago by Killer Instinct developer Iron Galaxy with a cinematic video portraying one of the world's last Sentinels fending off an attack on a human outpost by a massive ogre and assorted other beasties. Today, publisher Maximum Games put up a new video showcasing some actual gameplay in "a small slice of one level."

The Sentinel Avil, Extinction's hero, is basically a fantasy Spiderman with a huge sword: He can double-jump, run horizontally and vertically along walls, "air dash" through the sky, bounce off of environmental objects, and use his whip like a grappling hook. A "slow time" mechanic that sounds similar to the one used in Frozenbyte's stealth game Shadwen facilitates movement planning, while combat is "real-time [and] skill-based," with various sorts of special moves and combos.

The real fun begins when the big guys show up. The ogres are "fully dismemberable," but wear armor that protects their vulnerable arms and legs, so that has to be deal with first. Charged-up "rune strikes" will destroy pieces of armor, but as the trailer demonstrates, some armor is better than others and will take more work to break. Hacked-off limbs will also regenerate in time, so even after after an ogre is downed you'll still need to move fairly quickly to strike the killing blow.

Executive producer Derek Neal warned that the video shows "a very early pre-alpha build" of the game, but even so I think it looks pretty good. Extinction is currently expected to come out in early 2018, and yes, even though this trailer only mentions the PS4, it has been confirmed for the PC as well. More information is up at extinction.com.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.