HAEX First Test Is Live, but Can It Really Bring Something New?

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HAEX showed off its first gameplay demo during this morning's Summer Game Fest, while also confirming that sign-ups for its first closed test are now live on player.gg. Based on the reveal, it is an open-world action-adventure built around cooperative survival shooting, playable solo or with up to 4 players, and set in a subarctic wilderness corrupted by alien forces.

What stands out from this first reveal is that HAEX is not putting gunplay alone at the center. Instead, it puts survival pressure up front. Players are not only dealing with evolving alien threats, but also cold and hunger, which makes the game feel closer to a hybrid of survival exploration and coordinated combat than a straightforward mission-based shooter. That distinction matters because co-op survival shooters often struggle when survival systems and combat feel disconnected. At least from this first look, HAEX seems to tie its main conflicts together.

Compared with similar games, the more interesting part is not simply that it is "open world," but how it layers its resource loop. The developers say players can gather materials with smart cubes and customize gear through a deep weapon module system. In other words, the game is not just aiming for a loot-and-use structure; the idea is for exploration rewards to feed directly into your combat build. A lot of co-op survival shooters start loud and then drift into samey builds later on. If HAEX can deliver real depth there, that could be what gives it staying power.

The narrative setup also helps. The story begins after a team of scientists sent to investigate abnormal phenomena goes missing, leaving players to search through the fog for clues and uncover the truth. That gives exploration more momentum than a survival game built purely around resource grinding. As players push deeper, they can unlock alien abilities and reshape the world by planting alien seeds to open new paths. If that system works as intended, the result should feel more like environmental puzzle-solving embedded in co-op survival, rather than a game stretching its runtime with map markers alone.

The obvious concern at this stage is simple: neither the setting nor the structure is especially novel on paper. Subarctic wilderness, fog-bound anomalies, four-player co-op, alien creatures - none of those ideas are fresh by themselves. What will decide how far the game can go is what the gameplay footage cannot fully prove yet: moment-to-moment feel, online stability, and progression pacing. Games that support both solo play and 4-player teams often struggle most with balance. Too punishing alone, too easy in a group, and players tend to spot that gap fast in a first test.

So the best way to follow HAEX right now is not to rush into a verdict, but to watch the first closed test closely. If you like cooperative survival and do not mind resource management and environmental pressure, it makes sense to sign up on player.gg now. If what you want most is pure shooting satisfaction, waiting is the safer call until the test shows whether the weapon modules, alien abilities, and world-reshaping systems actually reinforce each other or compete for attention. On first impression, HAEX has no shortage of ideas. Whether it can hold its place in a crowded genre will depend on which side of the game this closed test manages to polish first.