Capcom has been on a historic upswing recently. From the smash hit of Monster Hunter: World to remaking entries of the Resident Evil series. As well as taking the series in a fantastic new direction with Resident Evil 7, and Village. It has been amazing to watch Capcom make hit after hit. But outside of their reliable IP, they have decided to take on a new venture with ExoPrimal. An upcoming third-person action game centered around slaughtering hordes of dinosaurs.
When it was first shown, there was a middling response from the general gaming community. Especially after their recent Capcom showcase where they unveiled the live service elements for ExoPrimal. A lot of scrutiny was placed on the upcoming title since there has been a downward trend in the live service market. It was not until they released their recent open beta that positive word of mouth has been going around the title. We at Lords of Gaming participated in the open beta. As such, here are our impressions of Exoprimal, detailing how we felt about our time playing it.
Mahmood Ghaffar, EIC of Lords of Gaming’s Experience with the Exoprimal Open Beta
Booting up the Exoprimal open beta brought back memories of Lost Planet. Though a lot of players immediately drew references to Bioware’s ill-fated Anthem, I couldn’t help but think of Capcom’s last alien snow space shooter when I played the public beta. Perhaps it was the art style, but I felt a strange sense of deja-vu. The beta opens up with a ridiculous cutscene of a news report detailing how hordes of dinosaurs are wreaking havoc around the world. It felt like a scene you would normally find in a b-movie. But despite the game’s ridiculous premise, it created a purpose of why a team of exofighters donning different exosuits is needed to save the world.
After creating a very quickly thrown-together character in what seemed to be a robust character creation, I was quickly thrown into training. At first, I felt the controls were a bit off. Aiming sensitivity was was too high for my taste, and I toned it down to my liking. Continuing along the training/tutorial section, I was impressed to learn that all 9 exosuits were available in the public beta and could be switched to on the fly. Though it required some finger dexterity and a submenu to pull it off.
Game Mode Breakdown
There are different roles involved such as assault, tank, and support, which is reminiscent of Overwatch 2 mechanics. Each role had 3 different exosuits that all play differently from each other. There are numbers that pop up when your hits/shots land on dino baddies. Of course, that probably means that we can expect gear, load-outs, and builds when the game releases in July. The last part of the public beta allowed players from different platforms to team up in a match-making mode known as Dino Survival. The mode is reminiscent of Destiny 2’s gambit mode, which is a PvEvP mode where are two teams competing against one another. The first couple of rounds involves your team ripping up some dinosaurs, and you each accumulate a score.
The last round of Dino Survival, which I have to admit was confusing, pits your team against dinosaur ads and against your opposing team. You can kill enemy players to cause them to respawn with lengthy timers. And the first team to reach a score limit wins the match. The last round is undoubtedly going to be a crescendo that defines the Exoprimal experience, but I felt that my first foray into Dino Survival felt rushed and underexplained.
In the end, I just shot up a lot of dinosaurs that travel through portals and it was an enjoyable time. The controls felt decent after I adjusted them to my liking. Skills were varied enough to warrant experimentation between the different exosuits. Though the game needs to make sure they have a proper onboarding experience so players, like me, don’t get overwhelmed.
Live Service Concerns
But what I’m curious about is how the live service aspect of the game will work. Capcom did confirm the game will have a battle pass (dubbed the survival pass), so it’ll be interesting to see how the game holds up, especially since it’s going to launch day one on Xbox Game Pass. This will undoubtedly spike up the game’s player base, but will the game do enough to retain the players? Will Exoprimal have the usual tropes of GaaS titles such as daily and weekly challenges? I’m assuming there will be seasons that tie into its survival pass. But will the content be interesting enough to retain players? Only time will tell.
All in all, I’m happy to see Capcom’s resurgence is going through the motions. It is interesting that the publisher is pursuing new franchises again after doing a stellar job reinvigorating its established IPs. Let’s see if Exoprimal is enough to motivate Capcom to resurrect another dinosaur game from its archives.
Ross Gillespie, Author of Lords of Gaming’s Thoughts on ExoPrimal
Exoprimal feels like a ten-year-old’s idea of the perfect videogame, thus making it, in theory, the perfect videogame. There’s something so potent about the game that reminds me of the arcade-like qualities of Capcom’s output during both the 90s and mid-2000s when they concerned themselves less with a reliance on pre-established IPs and instead threw stuff at the wall to see what would stick. As a result, Exoprimal, despite incorporating some elements from modern-day peers, feels like a meticulously crafted time capsule from generations before. Fitting then that the game revolves around thousands of time-displaced dinosaurs rampaging through the streets.
Throughout my time with the beta, I played as five of the nine classes, and I have to say I’m very impressed with the general feel of each of them. The standouts for me were the katana-wielding Murasame, which possess a delightfully chunky block-counter system that saw me cleaving through hordes of raptors, and the Nimbus support class, which slides and weaves around like a mech-fused Jet Set Radio character, absolutely bubbling with personality. Perhaps what impressed me most of all, however, was the excellent performance. I don’t have a particularly beefy rig, but I pulled a mostly consistent 60fps throughout, even when I was knee-deep in waves of dinosaurs. It feels like something of a technical miracle.
Joseph Repko, Assistant Editor’s Thoughts on ExoPrimal
Exoprimal genuinely surprised me personally. The combat is so fluid and fast-paced despite the exosuits feeling sluggish when they sprint. But it is worth noting that no two exosuits feel the same. Such as the aforementioned support exosuit Nimbus, having a pair of pistols to shoot dinosaurs and heal allies. As well as Skywave, another support exosuit that can float around and send down AoE blasts to shoot dinosaurs and heal allies.
Capcom has something pretty unique on its hands. As a live service, the PvEvP game mode they have is executed very well. But I hope there are strictly co-op-focused game modes as well. Since not every player is going to like the stress of having to deal with an enemy team.
But are you excited about Exoprimal? Did you participate in the open beta? Let us know in the comments below!
