Capcom spent the last decade redefining itself as an underrated publisher and developer. The influence is palpable. We literally have a Pokemon game that mimics the gameplay loop of Monster Hunter. For 2023, Capcom’s releases of Resident Evil 4 Remake and Street Fighter 6 set the stage for success. The studio’s latest release, the multiplayer hero shooter Exoprimal, is less of a win but paves the way for the robot-dinosaur-filled game to grow.

The main mode in Exoprimal is not unlike the experience you’ll find in many hero shooters. “Dino Survival” pits two teams against each other as they fight off dinosaurs with various abilities that test the five-person team’s ability to keep their cool. The action is fast, objectives vary, and at the end of a match, one team is named victorious by Leviathan. Players utilize exosuits that can be changed out in-match at will, to tackle various tasks. The setup is sound, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired.

Firstly, as challenges change from match to match, the ability to change your suit at will is a fine feature. The problem is that careful coordination for your team is required to ensure you don’t blink and find yourself with 4 of your 5 teammates in Tank suits and major flaws left in your overall strategy. You can say that about most hero shooters though since team coordination is key to victory. That said, the ability to switch suits, predicated by the interchangeable challenges teams might face, leaves way too much room for matches to be doomed from the start if teams don’t strategize properly.

Like many hero shooters, there is a story built around the multiplayer action of Exoprimal. The great news is that it absolutely rules. In the year 2040, portals emerge on Earth and massive hordes of genetically modified dinosaurs ravage the planet. The response from humanity is to build exosuits that soldiers wear to take on otherworldly invaders. Leviathan (an extremely intelligent AI) is also built to manage how these soldiers can best be utilized. If this was the setup for a novel, I’d be running to my nearest bookstore immediately.

Sadly, there isn’t a ton of room to center the story and world of Exoprimal. Capcom puts great care into design and enemy variation of its dinosaur combatants. Otherwise, matches feature very little of the lore the game introduces in its tutorials. The single-player experience gives you ample time to get to know the world of the game and hone your skills, but this game is at its core a live-service experience. As such, it lays out a foundation on which to build its offerings over the course of months and years.

The gameplay and how it feels to take on dinosaur hordes is not an issue for me. The chaos of seeing a violent gang of raptors run at you thirsty for blood is a treat. My issue, and what I imagine many would say is concerning, is that 5-6 hours of gameplay shows you everything there is to do at launch within the Exoprimal ecosystem. It’s up to each individual player to decide if that gameplay loop is convincing enough to warrant putting additional time into it. I’m just not feeling that it is.

There are multiplayer shooters I would rather play for the fun factor let alone the flaws Exoprimal embedded in its mechanics for suit-switching and teamwork. As a Game Pass option for Xbox and PC players, trying out the game is a harmless gamble to take. That said, a $60 USD price point isn’t returning a value to players that I would argue could leave me to suggest a purchase of this game. Even if more is to come down the road in terms of map updates, fine-tuned gameplay, and more, it’s not a stellar enough infrastructure for me to see myself pouring time into this long-term.

The promise of what is to come with a live-service game is exciting in a way. Early adopters are rewarded for seeing a good premise and bedrock of a video game evolve into something truly great. That is entirely possible here for Exoprimal, but Dino Crisis nostalgia and prehistoric enemies aren’t enough to make this a sure thing heading into the months ahead. There is good here in the confines of a relatively standard hero shooter, but with 2023 shaping up to be a historic year of new releases, I can’t see myself spending much more time gunning down triceratops.

An Xbox Series X|S Review copy of Exoprimal was provided by Capcom for this review.

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Exoprimal

$59.99 USD

6.5

Score

6.5/10

Pros

• High intensity PvPvE action
• Intriguing callback to the Dino Crisis cult gameplay
• Room for growth over the next year
• Story is surprisingly rich with world-building and mystery

Cons

• Real-time suit switches kill team synergy
• Better options for hero shooters on the market
• Simply not launched at a level worth the full cost