Exoprimal might be the oddest AAA game in quite some time. Not only is the premise of robots fighting dinosaurs a bit out there, but the actual structure of Exoprimal is utterly baffling. Even in the pre-release marketing, Capcom never explained some of the best parts of the game, instead asking players to spend several hours grinding through boring content before getting to the good stuff. What’s even wilder is that the good stuff is some of the most compelling content I’ve seen in 2023.
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Let’s start with the basics. Exoprimal is a PvPvE shooter that has you jumping into different robot exosuits and then teleporting back in time to fight dinosaurs. Every match starts with a race between two teams of five to see who can kill the AI dinosaurs faster. After sprinting through five or six checkpoints, you’ll get teleported to the second stage where you’ll either do another race (PvE) or fight against the other team in some type of PvP match. Similar to a game like Overwatch or Team Fortress 2, each exosuit has its own loadout, giving you different ways to fight the dinos and your opponents. They’re broken down into Assault, Tank, and Support classes, with at least three different suits per class.
The basic combat is pretty solid. I love the impact of some of the moves, especially when playing Assault characters like Deadeye and Barrage. While Deadey feels like playing a standard shooting class, Barrage uses grenades to make a deadly impact. There’s also quite a bit of differentiation between each suit, even within the same class. For instance, Witchdoctor and Nimbus are both Supports but play completely differently, with Witchdoctor being able to AoE heal in contrast to Nimbus’ more targeted healing. This makes it easier for you to find your own niche within the class. Personally, I gravitate toward Support, but I was able to find at least one exosuit per class that I vibed with. That’s important because you can change classes on the fly, giving you the option to switch things up if your team is struggling.
While the moment-to-moment action is fun whether you’re murdering hundreds of dinos or fighting against human opponents, the lack of mission or map variety early on is going to cause many players to put Exoprimal down early. And I wouldn’t blame you. For the first five hours or so, I was pretty down on Exoprimal because you’re just doing the exact same thing over and over without any real excitement. It’s a little better when you’re playing PvP, but regardless of your mode of choice, it quickly becomes a drag.
However, something happens after you’ve played about 15 matches that was never mentioned in the pre-release marketing. This is a very slight spoiler and I’m hesitant to mention it because the moment it happens really is awesome if you don’t know about it going in. That said, it’s almost impossible to talk about Exoprimal without getting into this, so feel free to skip ahead a few paragraphs if you want to go in blind.
See, after you complete a sizable chunk of missions, Exoprimal starts to give you more variety in a really cool way. Up until that point, you’ll have only done normal PvP or PvE matches, but at some point, you’re going to unlock raids. These put the two teams of five together on the same squad and tasks you with fighting off even more difficult versions of the dinosaurs you’ve seen to this point. Over the course of the game, Exoprimal adds platforming challenges, more new dinos, and even more wild things that you should really experience for yourself.ย
It’s hard to say if these moments would hit as hard if we’d known about them going in, but it’s safe to say that the surprise is part of what makes them so cool. In some ways, that means Capcom made the right decision to keep them out of pre-release footage, but also I’m not sure how many players are actually going to get to them. What’s available before the raids are unlocked is just so boring that it’s easy to see most players dropping the game, especially if they got it for free on Xbox Game Pass.
That said, the raids in Exoprimal remind me so much of doing my first dungeons in World of Warcraft back in 2005. Playing on your own is fun, but jumping into a group and taking on something truly challenging is a blast. I was legitimately hollering at my TV in excitement when my group took down several of the bosses. It’s just a shame that so many won’t see it and that you can’t even queue up for them after you’ve first played them.
Exoprimal is phenomenal in its best moments but is constantly shooting itself in the foot with weird decisions. For example, you’ll slowly unlock more maps and in-game challenges, but those would’ve helped earlier on when the variety wasn’t there. If I could queue up for raids whenever I wanted to, I would have had a much better time getting to the end of the story, but it’s just not an option.ย
To put it plainly, Exoprimal feels like a game that needed more time in the oven. There are just too many odd design decisions to make it a hit, even if it’s one of the most fun games that’s released in 2023 in its best moments. Fortunately, the fact that it’s on Xbox Game Pass makes it an easy recommend. Not only can you play it for “free” on that service, but because it’s cross-play PS5 players don’t have to worry about the playerbase being too small. While I wouldn’t blame you for falling off of Exoprimal after the first few hours, it’s worth sticking with to see if it hits you as hard as it did for me. And, for what it’s worth, I’m very excited to try out Savage Gauntlets when they launch this week, which is about all you can ask for from a live service game like this.
Rating: 3/5
A review code for Exoprimal was provided by the publisher, and the game was reviewed on the PS5
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