Exoprimal - Combining our future with our most distant past

Back in March, I got an early look at Exoprimal. I got to play a bit of the Dino Survival mode, test out all the playable mech suits, and shoot down hordes of raptors. I had a fair bit of fun with the game, but found that it felt as though it was missing something major that would help make the experience feel a bit more complete.

Now, a couple of months later, once again I've had a go with Exoprimal, and this time Capcom not only let us play around with the game's main mode, Dino Survival, but it also showed off a good portion of its story and progression. Now that we've had a better look at Exoprimal, it's best to dive back in for another preview of Capcom's mechs versus dinosaurs extravaganza.

Before we could dig back into the gameplay of Exorprimal, in this build of the game (which is very much still an early version) we were treated to a bit more exposition around when this game takes place, why there's loads of dinosaurs in the world and what we are going to do to stop it with our super cool mech suits. Without going into too much detail as you'll figure that out for yourself, Exoprimal's narrative centres around an AI known as Leviathan. On Bikitoa Island three years before the game takes place, Leviathan summoned an apocalyptic amount of dinosaurs on the island, and since then dinosaur excursions have been popping up all over.

Initially, we find ourselves in a ragtag team dealing with these random dinosaur attacks, but soon enough our ship crash lands and we, as the customisable silent protagonist Ace, find ourselves on a strange island. But not only that, soon enough we're transported back in time, to the Bikitoa Island incident three years ago, where we and other mech pilots are forced to kill dinos and compete in teams against one another in games designed by Leviathan.

This may sound like a lot to take in for the setup of Exoprimal, and in many ways, it is. However, if you see a game with dinosaurs versus mech suits and you're not up for a little taste of crazy, you're probably looking in the wrong direction. It's not a game where the narrative is expected to shine bright, but Exoprimal's main story is fun enough, with a cast of characters that won't necessarily stick in your mind for years but are entertaining in their own right. What's quite odd about Exoprimal's story is that it's tied directly to playing the multiplayer game mode. You unlock cutscenes and ways to defeat Leviathan through playing the game. It sounds like an interesting idea, and it does kind of make sense, but if you're going to make something like this work, you need to have an exceedingly entertaining gameplay cycle first and foremost.

However, as much as I would love to love this game, with its mechs and its dinosaurs and its overall craziness, I can't help but think it hasn't leaned fully into the wacky and the weird. In Dino Survival, where you have to shoot through hordes of dinosaurs, some bigger lizards, and then finally face down the enemy team, it feels as though Exoprimal isn't quite living up to its full potential. Now, it was hard to find human teammates and opponents when I was playing, which will affect the experience massively, but still I think quite a bit of a trick has been missed.

Shooting down hordes of dinosaurs lacks the punchiness you'd hope, as it often feels no matter which suit you're piloting that there's no weight behind your shots or melee attacks. This doesn't mean combat is entirely unsatisfying, but in the time I spent with Exoprimal I couldn't fully throw myself into the co-op, horde destroying PvE like I could with the stand-out games of this genre like Left 4 Dead and Vermintide 2. Even though a lot of these games do just throw the same enemies at you over and over, the idea is to make that experience not feel repetitive, whereas in Exoprimal I remained acutely aware that we were just running to our next stop to shoot more dinosaurs. Even changing out which ancient reptiles need shooting doesn't really make the gameplay more engaging, but where Exoprimal actually managed to draw me in the most was when it entered that final PvP burst of a multiplayer match.

As well as shooting through packs of raptors and the occasional big beastie, eventually in Dino Survival you'll be pitted against another group of 5 as Leviathan is testing out which team is better suited for survival. You'll be given one of a few different fun objectives, and will have to deal with actual enemies trying to take you out as well as more dinosaurs pouring in. Exoprimal here is at its most chaotic. It's like watching a car crash in a way, as not all the parts work perfectly, but it's enough of a mish-mash that it proves to be more than entertaining to watch and play in.

I've not seen everything there is to see with Exoprimal, but after two lots of tests it still feels that despite an intriguing premise and the promise of all the fun that mechs versus dinosaurs can bring, it's still missing a lot of what will make it more than a passable multiplayer experience.