While many Capcom fans have called for a new Dino Crisis game or remake, the company has instead focused its attention on a completely different kind of dinosaur game. New Capcom dinosaur game Exoprimal is a PvPvE 5v5 shooter that offers something truly unique in the crowded shooter space.
The Best War Games went hands-on with Exoprimal in the lead-up to the game's open beta debut, battling it out in online matches of its Dino Survival mode as a variety of different characters. Exoprimal is a hero shooter of sorts that offers a distinct roster of characters to choose from, separated into three distinct categories: Assault, Tank, and Support. Each character has their own strengths, weaknesses, and special attacks, and figuring out what works best for each situation is key to victory.
The bulk of Exoprimal Dino Survival matches is PvE gameplay, with teams of five working together to take down waves of dinosaurs that pop into the map through inter-dimensional portals. It never gets old seeing massive piles of velociraptors fall out of portals in the sky, even if actually fighting the dinosaurs is somewhat of an underwhelming experience. Exoprimal gives players absurdly powerful weaponry that lets them make very quick work of the unfortunate dinos that land in their path, which makes these encounters a little too easy.
Things get a bit more challenging when the larger dinosaurs are added to the mix. There are many times when players will find themselves face to face with massive triceratops and T-Rexes. These more powerful dinosaurs force players to be smarter about unloading their special attacks and help make things a bit more interesting. While players are fighting these beasts and mowing through the smaller dinosaurs, they have a few different objective types they need to complete, but it more or less always boils down to killing everything in sight.
When Exoprimal players reach the end of a Dino Survival match, the PvP element comes into play. At this point, the two teams of five are pitted against each other while simultaneously trying to complete the objective and win the match. The game's PvP is fun, and it seems like the game would be better off if it focused on PvP a bit more over the PvE stuff. Capcom may want to consider a mode that puts the PvP more front-and-center, as fighting the dinosaurs, while a visual spectacle, doesn't offer much in the way of a challenge, which these kinds of games need to really hook in their audience.
Exoprimal is an impressive visual spectacle in that it runs perfect even when the screen is flooded with countless raptors and all sorts of special attacks and visually-intense abilities are being activated at the same time. The exosuits in Exoprimal look incredible and are impressively animated, with players instantly going from shooting with their standard weapon to firing off a laser blast to activating their ultimate attack and having nearly 20 guns pop out of their suit at once.
One would imagine that Exoprimal's progression will primarily revolve around getting new skins or ways to customize these suits. The game has a currency called BikCoin that players can earn, but that aspect of the game hasn't really been the focus in the closed or open beta. It's hard to say if this will be enough to keep players engaged with the game for the long-term, especially in a market that is already oversaturated with multiplayer-focused live-service games like this.
Something seriously working in Exoprimal's favor is the fact that it's debuting on Xbox Game Pass as a day one game, but it's unclear if that will be enough for the game to get an audience. It may have been better for Exoprimal to launch as a free-to-play game, but even then it has to compete with juggernauts like Fortnite and Call of Duty: Warzone. Other multiplayer-only games have failed despite launching on Game Pass, and while the jury is still out on Exoprimal, right now it's hard to see how the game is going to gain and keep a large mainstream audience.
One nitpick that is hopefully fixed by launch is Exoprimal's menus. For some reason, Exoprimal uses a cursor on console instead of traditional menu navigation, which wouldn't be that bad if it weren't for how sensitive the cursor is. It can be legitimately difficult to make selections in the game without going into the settings and turning down the cursor sensitivity.
Even so, Exoprimal has serious potential. It has the parts to put together something special, with unique characters that are fun to control, impressive set pieces, and a unique concept backing it all up. However, based on what we've played so far, there are some tweaks to be made if the game is going to reach the same heights as the industry's biggest multiplayer games. Anyone interested in playing the game ahead of its release date this summer can check out the ongoing Exoprimal open beta for themselves.
Exoprimal launches July 14 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. The Best War Games was provided with an Xbox Series X code for this preview.