Exoprimal is well worth a look

A couple of weeks ago, I posted some news on the post-launch content for Exoprimal. I stated that I didn’t know that many people had an interest in it or would be bothered.

Well….I was proven wrong and as I write are more succinct review over at ninjarefinery.com in the next few days, I thought I should come back here. Tail between my legs, on a soap box, to say…..I was wrong. Exoprimal is mint.

Exoprimal

Let’s look at what makes it good.

Exoprimal, at its core is about very few things. Dinosaurs (hundreds and hundreds of them), exosuits and chaos. Waves of dinosaurs sent to be mowed down by you and your team.

We’ll come to the hows and whys shortly. But let it sink in. Exoprimal is about shooting, exploding and punching dinosaurs. It’s arguably one of the most “video game” video games we’ve seen in quite some time!

Think of Capcom back in the Xbox 360 days, those halcyon days when Playstation 2 titles were wide-ranging. Nothing was out-of-bounds. Fun games were derived from silly ideas. Not all blockbusters, but experimentation was allowed.

Exoprimal feels like it’s a return to those days. Perhaps Capcom are confident after a few years of incredible success? Ready to roll the dice on some silliness? Who knows? But it’s really doing it for me.

With developers and publishers worried about the bottom line, sticking to trends and safe pre-existing franchises. Exoprimal is a breath of fresh air. That alone should be enough for you to give it a go.

Dinosaurs and Exosuits

Okay, so the main game is a story-based PvEvP experience. Think of the original Titanfall story mode. Each game is multiplayer, cooperative and competitive. The narrative continues for you as an individual, but other players could be at different stages in the story.

You go in, do your bit and then at the end of a match, your story progress increases. It isn’t perfect, in fact, it feels messy. But it works, and Exoprimal gives you the narrative drive to keep playing what is essentially a multiplayer game.

The core concept is as follows: AI goes wild, masters travel between dimensions and you keep getting pulled from your dimension to compete in wargames. Wargames are dinosaur and opponent killing and each one is an opportunity for the AI to collect data and eventually up the stakes.

There’s more to it than that, and I’ll be honest I’m not playing it for the story. Exoprimal is all action, and the action is just a good time.

You’re an Exo-suit pilot trying to fight back and restore order across dimensions and time. Trippy!

Sell it to me

Okay, so you understand the narrative to an extent and the core premise of the game, but you’re not sold?

Right then. Exoprimal feels like a merge of Overwatch and Anthem but with hoards of dinosaurs thrown into the mix.

Each exo-suit fulfils a role. Tank, assault or support. Then they each have their own skills and abilities. Aerial healing, big Reihardt-style shield, bubble shield, bombs, machine guns, miniguns, AoE heals etc. Lots of Overwatch-style characters that are just different types of suits.

A good team is a combination of all roles. Ideally one healer, 2-3 assaults and a tank or two (teams are made up of 5 people).

Each suit also charges up an ultimate ability. Maybe a spinning hurricane punch, a quick-charging set of abilities so you can do more damage on attack. Perhaps you want to stop time temporarily within a small area so your team can attack a frozen target? Exoprimal has it all and more.

It’s listed at £60 on consoles and Steam. But…..it’s on Game Pass! So on PC and Xbox, you can play it at no additional cost if you already have a subscription.

Give it a go

Look, I’m a Capcom fan. Monster Hunter has given me many many hours of joy over the past few years. It’s smashing it with Street Fighter VI, Resident Evil remakes etc. Exoprimal is Capcom striking out of their comfort zone and I genuinely believe in an era of mage franchises and corporate safety, that’s worth something.

Little cost if you’re a Game Pass subscriber and a game that’s just chaotic fun with mechs and dinosaurs. It’s an easy recommendation and a game I’ll be playing on and off for a while.

I’ll be honest, I think it should maybe be £20 at retail. It’s a multiplayer-only game and actually would suit a free-to-play model with cosmetics etc. Maybe that’s what it’ll become?

Exoprimal runs solidly, looks like it might have come from the 360 generation in terms of design, but who cares? Fun is fun, and Exoprimal is fun.

Maybe in 6 months, the player base has diminished. I don’t know what legs it has long-term. So if you’re Primal-curious, now is the time to let your freak flag fly and dive in while it’s busy.

Come fight me in a different dimension!

For more opinion pieces like this, click right here.