Exoprimal Review in Progress

ign.com:

For a game with “Dino Forecasts” that warn of thousands of dinosaurs raining out of portals in the sky, what’s surprising about Exoprimal is that it’s somehow even stranger than that premise would suggest. It’s a competitive hero shooter – that’s also occasionally cooperative – which pits two teams of five players against each other in dino-hunting war games, where they compete indirectly – but also occasionally directly – in separate parallel universes to see who can complete a grab bag of objectives faster. It takes a lot of familiar elements from team-based multiplayer games like Overwatch and Team Fortress 2, and combines them with wave-based survival elements to create an experience that feels wholly unique, and a lot of fun if you’re able to find a well-balanced squad.

After about 10 hours, my initial impressions of Exoprimal are mostly positive. The twist of competing to become more efficient at slaying literally thousands of dinosaurs is a fresh and fun take on the competitive hero shooter genre, the 10 exosuits all fill satisfying roles and have fun abilities with some great synergies, and there have been some nice surprises in the way the campaign’s story has bled into the multiplayer space.

If it wasn’t already abundantly clear, Exoprimal is a multiplayer-only game. There is no single-player campaign, even though there is an interestingly woven albeit somewhat convoluted plot that contextualizes each multiplayer match. Essentially, you and your crew are stuck on the mysterious Bikitoa Island – an island that has been shrouded in mystery since dinosaurs first rained down from the heavens upon it three years ago – and are forced to participate in data-gathering war games for the sake of a malevolent AI named