I’ve been waiting for a new Turok game for a very long time. I never read the comics that the games are based on, but I loved the N64 version and played most of the sequels up until the reboot in 2008. And why wouldn’t I? Dinosaurs are fun and they’re so rarely used in video games, and the 1990s was a boom era for dinosaur media following Jurassic Park. So, it’s surprising that the franchise died off after a decade and it’s equally surprising to see it brought back in a big way after so many years.
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Turok: Origins is being developed and published by Saber Interactive. It’s a full-fledged reboot – yes, another one – that’s unconnected to the previous installments. However, much of the same DNA is present in this new installment which aims to draw in old and new players alike. Based on the two times I played the game at Summer Game Fest this year – once on PC with an Xbox controller and another time on the Nintendo Switch 2 (both docked and undocked) – I can say that Turok: Origins has successfully done what it set out to do, but it’s not perfect.
Given that Turok: Origins can be completed either single-player or cooperatively up to three players, I was able to test out both. In the PC/Xbox version, I played with two other teammates, each one of us deciding to choose different classes. There were three classes available to us in this demo – it was unclear if more would be available later on. There was the Bison (tank), Cougar (power), and Raven (ranged). Each one has unique abilities, weapons, and skill trees that can be upgraded throughout the game.
The point of each archetype is to encourage players to actively work together in order to complete the objective. For example, one player may have defensive abilities that can be used to shield others while they attack. But no matter who you choose to play with, you’re not stuck with that class forever. You can make a change. There’s enough difference between each class that I would recommend giving all of them a shot before you decide to stick with one.
Once we jumped into the mission, which seemed to run about 15-20 minutes, it was smooth sailing. Turok isn’t meant to be super difficult; it’s effectively Doom with dinosaurs and aliens. That much remains true with Turok: Origins. However, there are some key points that modernize the series: you have the ability to switch between first and third-person perspectives at any time, you can scan enemies (particularly bosses) for weak points, and you heal and pick up ammo by interacting with yellow and blue plants throughout the map.
The gameplay itself was tight. It’s nothing novel or extravagant, but it works perfectly for the direction of the game: twitch shooting, tanking dinosaurs, and giving players the freedom to go crazy. Fighting a T-rex boss was especially fun. However, there were times I felt that I could fail and die, but luckily there was enough health and ammunition throughout the combat zone for me to take out the dino.
Overall, there’s a lot to look forward to with Turok: Origins. It’s, so far, a satisfying reboot of the classic shooter series. Having said that, be wary of which platform you plan on buying this for, if you do buy it. If nothing changes from the versions I played, don’t get the Switch 2 version. Perhaps it’s too definitive to say that at this point and there could very well be performance updates to the game down the line, but this game at 30fps on that system just doesn’t work. It becomes difficult to maneuver and keep track of the dinosaurs, enemies, and objectives.
