With the rise of the extraction shooter genre following the success of games like ARC Raiders, more and more entries in the genre are popping up on Steam every day. While Steam is flush with extraction shooters that are currently in development for the platform, one upcoming game looks to stand out from the crowd with its unique aesthetic and gameplay features. For extraction shooter fans that like the blocky art style of Minecraft and the gritty noir aesthetic of Cyberpunk 2077, Gridlands might be worth keeping an eye on.
Extraction shooters have become the hot new genre on Steam thanks to releases like Escape from Tarkov and ARC Raiders launching on the platform last year. Bungie’s Marathon was added to the Steam extraction shooter library earlier in 2026, but there are even more extraction shooters coming to the platform in the near future. Gridlands is one of these upcoming games, and it offers something a little different for players looking for something other than the typical extraction shooter fare.
Gridlands is currently slated for a 2027 release.
New Extraction Shooter on Steam is the Next ARC Raiders, with a Unique Mechanic
Extraction shooters have been blowing up on Steam lately, but one upcoming game has the potential to be the next ARC Raiders, but with a twist.
Gridlands Features at a Glance
- SCAVENGE valuable tech, fight relentless machines, and push deeper for better loot.
- DEPLOY your crafted drone, scan hostile ground, and find your route.
- BREACH abandoned zones, track movement from above, and push deeper.
- SCOUT the zone. Follow the signal. Extract before the GRID cuts you off.
GRIDLANDS is a PvE extraction shooter set in a fallen world where sentient machines hunt what remains of humanity. Scavenge, survive, and extract through hostile industrial dead zones where every run could be your last.
Gridlands Blends Cyberpunk 2077’s Aesthetics with Minecraft’s Art Style
Right away, Gridlands makes its gritty neo-noir world apparent with the darkness of night illuminated by the lights of hostile machines. The blend of military aesthetics and neon lights makes Gridlands feel like it would fit right into Cyberpunk 2077‘s Night City conflict between Arasaka and Militech. However, underneath this Cyberpunk vibe is a voxel art style that is more akin to Minecraft than CD Projekt RED’s title.
Scratch & Peek
Identify the cover art while scratching off as little foil as
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Identify the cover art while scratching off as little foil as possible.
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The World of Gridlands
After a series of cataclysmic events, including climate collapse, supply chain failure, and resource wars, the GRID was created as a means to preserve what remained of the world. However, the GRID determined that the greatest risk to the world’s survival was human behavior. As a result, the GRID sent its machines to destroy what remains of humanity, and players awaken as a runner in a bunker outside the GRID’s watchful eye as they are forced to survive this post-apocalyptic cyberpunk world.
In Gridlands, the GRID controls everything and players are tasked with entering the GRID and recovering any and all valuables they can before the GRID cuts them off. Within the GRID are relentless machines that hunt what remains of humanity after the fall of the world. The industrial zones of the GRID hold the resources necessary to survive, meaning it’s crucial that players brave the mechanical horrors lurking there to scavenge whatever they can.
The Gameplay of Gridlands
Similar to other extraction shooters like ARC Raiders or Marathon, Gridlands‘ main gameplay loop revolves around deploying into the map, scavenging materials, and extracting before the hostile machines can kill them, since death means losing out on all loot. Gridlands give players the tools to carefully plan their extraction route, such as a drone to scout the ideal locations to find salvage where the machines can’t find them.
Extraction becomes more difficult the longer players stay in the GRID, forcing them to decide between pushing deeper for better loot or surviving with what they have. Anything that players extract with can be used to upgrade weapons back in the bunker, similar to Speranza in ARC Raiders. Keeping the bunker running and gear in top form is the key to future success within the GRID.
How Gridlands Differs from Other Extraction Shooters like ARC Raiders
A major point of contention with bigger extraction shooters is the line between the PvP and PvE experiences within the game. ARC Raiders has faced calls for a dedicated PvE mode since launch, and Marathon is looking to experiment with the mode in the future. Gridlands weighs in on this debate before its even released, billing itself as a dedicated PvE co-op extraction shooter experience, that may be the ideal alternative for players tired of PvP encounters in ARC Raiders or Marathon.
Gridlands also adopts an art style that not many other extraction shooters have attempted. The blocky, Minecraft-style voxel art of Gridlands gives it a unique look that helps it stand out from other entries in the genre, similar to how BattleBit Remastered offered a low-poly alternative to large-scale military FPS games like Battlefield. The charm of Gridlands‘ art style also makes it more accessible to players, requiring less demanding PC setups to run it, as opposed to resource-intensive games like ARC Raiders or Marathon.
Despite not launching until sometime in 2027, Gridlands is already planning play tests for the current build of the game. While the first wave of alpha keys are already being sent out, players interested in testing Gridlands‘ alpha can join the game’s Discord for updates on more opportunities to try out the game and provide the devs with feedback on their experience. Extraction shooter fans who enjoy dark, cyberpunk themes alongside low-poly voxel graphics should keep Gridlands on their radar, especially if they are interested in a PvE-only extraction shooter experience.
