Drawing comparisons to Shadow of the Colossus and Attack on Titan, combat in Extinction is about 1v1 encounters against vastly bigger and more powerful enemies. In order to prevail, protagonist Avil needs to use his guile (not actual Guile, sorry Street Fighter fans) and numerous special abilities.

Taking on a puzzle box quality, every encounter against the 150-foot tall Ravenni is different. They wear different armour types that must be dismantled in different ways, and they might bring bloodthirsty Jackals with them into combat or try to wipe out a bunch of civilians which Avil must protect.

The Graooke Whip

Being a normal-sized human and having to face such gargantuan enemies, Avil needs to get vertical. He does so using his Grapple Whip, latching onto compatible surfaces and hauling himself upwards. In combat, the Grapple Whip’s particularly useful against Ravenii wearing gold armour, because it’s invulnerable to his other Rune abilities. Rather than trying to dismantle the armour Avil can instead latch onto a Ravenii’s various regions using the Grapple Whip and attack from on high.

Rune Energy Overflow

Having trained with a particularly knowledgable monk in the ways of Ravenii-bashing, Avil has picked up a few Rune-based attacks, and his Rune Energy Overflow offers the classic ‘overcharge’ type assault. Ravenii in iron armour sport locks on each armour piece which must be targeted and hit - usually several times - by a Rune Energy Overflow attack in order to be destroyed. As with all Extinction’s combat options, it’s about timing and precision, since there are only brief windows of opportunity during the Ravenni’s attack routines to get at the pesky locks.

Rune Slowdown

Operating as your common-or-garden Bullet Time mechanic, Rune Slowdown allows Avil a brief but incredibly useful dominion over the passage of time itself. Activating it will freeze everything around you, leaving Ravenii vulnerable to attack. It’s especially useful when fighting ogres wearing bone armour - their armour pieces are kept in place by flaming skulls, which are only extinguished by the force of the Ravenii’s own attack. So by pausing time using the Rune Slowdown Ability just after an adversary launches and misses an attack, Avil’s able to navigate up to that skull and damage it. Of course, being able to pause time is a pretty catch-all solution when you’re fighting ogres, so there’s never a bad time to use it.

Rune Gravity

Clearly a fan of the hit musical Wicked, Avil likes nothing better than flying high and defying gravity once this ability is enabled. Being lithe in the air is always going to yield benefits when you’re fighting giants, but the Rune Gravity ability really comes into its own when fighting enemies wearing spiked armour. Avil can’t land on any of their armour regions or he’ll take damage, so activating this power to get that bit more control over his airborne movements makes fighting this enemy type much easier.

Traversal Mechanics

The Vault Height and Lightfoot abilities give Avil more control over his movements, both laterally and vertically. Some ogres can’t be brought down to Avil’s level if they’re wearing the unbreakable bright steel armour on their lower half, and in such a situation it’s up to Avil to use the environment, and his traversal abilities, in order to battle his opponent 150 feet up in the air.