Exoprimal – Review

A game that boasts ‘Dino Forecasts’, which warn people about thousands of dinosaurs about to come down from portals in the sky, Exoprimalturns out to be even stranger than what its premise shows. Essentially, this hero shooter involves two teams competing against each other in war games involving dino-hunting. Sometimes they even cooperate. The overall experience is very unique and can be a lot of fun, as long as you can find a squad that is well-balanced.

The story

Even though it is a multiplayer-only game, Exoprimal actually has a progression and story like that of a single-player game. It has a silly sci-fi setup, which only adds to its appeal. You are trapped on a mysterious island with your squad mates where dinosaurs were leaked due to a catastrophe. Your squad-mates collect data to figure out what happened, but Leviathan, a malevolent AI, whisks you away to compete in a Dinosaur vs Exosuit war game endlessly for gathering combat data.

This is where another team comes in and you have to complete a number of limited yet fun objectives. These include killing a certain number of dinosto defeating an extra-big dino that tries to run and you have to hunt it down. There is a kind of unique charm in having to slay hundreds, or even thousands, of dinosaurs for achieving one objective.

Different considerations

The good thing about Exoprimal is that instead of slugging it out, the majority of every match is about indirectly racing against the other team. You do not just focus on map knowledge, twitch reflexes and precise accuracy; it is more about focusing on efficiency. You have to make sure you use special techniques that can inflict the most damage to your enemies, stay on top of cooldowns and also support your teammates.

A ‘dominator’ is also added to a team at some points in a match by Leviathan. This means one player is given the ability of transforming into a giant triceratops or carnotaurusfor wreaking havoc on the opposing team for a limited time period. It might not make sense, but it does add additional layers of strategy.

The changes

The reason Exoprimal does not become forgettable is because something interesting happens after you have played a few matches. The story taking place in the background takes the spotlight and new elements are introduced for showing what is happening in the world outside of the games. These become permanent additions in every match you participate in. Therefore, the 10^th hour of playing Exoprimalis quite different from the first five and the 20^th hour is different from the 10^th, which means there are a lot of surprises.

These new introductions include new types of dinosaurs you have to fight that are significantly more dangerous and new final rounds and objectives to achieve. The most unique one is when the 5 vs 5 war game is cancelled by Leviathan and the teams have to cooperate in a boss fight or raid.