Suiting Up to Battle Dinos in Exoprimal

Team-based hero shooters have to do a lot of work to get out from under Overwatch's massive shadow. CAPCOM is looking forward to establishing a contender with their upcoming Exoprimal, with a bonus: it's not just about fancy heroes; it's about dinosaurs too! CAPCOM was generous enough to invite us to participate in Exoprimal's beta test this past week on the PlayStation 5.

Exoprimal takes place in a future where temporal distortions cause dinosaurs to appear in the modern day. The organization Aibius in turn created the AI Leviathan to help design new Exosuits: powered armor designed to help stem the tide against the invading dinosaurs. Of course, Leviathan has its own plans to take advantage of the forever war in pursuit of more and more combat data. Players assume the role of recruits to Aibius, tasked with engaging in war games against dinosaurs and other Exosuits, while Leviathan sits back and observes. It's a good framing device for the story, giving a good reason for all parties to be present and justifying the possibility of duplicate Exosuits on a given mission. It also adds a bit of intrigue and maybe even the presence of a single-player mode.

In the beta version we played, we could design our pilot for our Exosuit. Understandably, options were limited: we could select from a bevy of pre-made faces, scars, hairstyles, facial tattoos, and color schemes for our plugsuits. Presumably, the full game will have a more expansive selection of customization options. In the meantime, the models are impressive, with CAPCOM putting the RE Engine to good use: in the few cutscenes where we can see our character, their motions and expressions were very realistic and well-captured from the mo-cap performers. Unfortunately, the meat of the test gave us few opportunities to admire our characters, as so much of it involves our character being within the Exosuit. These Exosuits replace the “heroes” in this shooter, each having their distinct voice and even personality divorced from your character. These suits come in the typical “Assault-Tank-Support” typing that many of these hero-based games depend on. Exosuit design can be a little hit-or-miss; however: the suits themselves can be fairly busy in their design, with their general silhouette being the most memorable thing about them. Witchdoctor, a support suit with a hunched design and a kooky accent, and Skywave, an aerial support suit that seems to be based on pterodactyls, are pretty inspired. Other more-functional suits like the offensive Deadeye or the stalwart defender Krieger are less memorable. However, I question why the suits don't take more inspiration from the dinosaurs they're fighting against.

Suits can be customized further with Rigs and special weapons that offer unique effects. There's a cannon for extra damage, a catapult for reaching higher areas in maps, or a module for a quick burst of healing. There is also the option to craft objects in matches for a tactical edge, like a temporary wall for blocking attacks or a floating platform.

In our playtime, we were able to play two matches. One match was with other players, while the other was populated with bots. Each match gave two teams of five players several timed objectives. These can vary from killing off a wave of dinosaurs to escorting an NPC to a certain number of objectives. The waves of dinosaurs varied from swarms of velociraptors to massive rampaging ankylosaurs. These waves were also spiced up with the occasional Neosaurs: modified dinosaurs with weird properties, like a gas-filled velociraptor that explodes upon death. It's also possible to use a special powerup to dominate a dinosaur, riding it and controlling it into combat. When we tried using this awesome power, though, marauding raptors quickly overran us. Matches can also involve direct confrontations with the opposing team, like during Energy Card struggles, where both teams compete to collect the most energy cards on a map. These battles are heated and only get wilder when dinosaurs get thrown in, especially considering the good performance on your team's behalf can make the dinosaurs the opposing team encounters that much stronger. Matches are won based on who can complete the objectives first, with experience doled out to all participants.

While there are many other match types, we can confidently say that the missions available are fun so far. If anything, matches may go on too long; each match can have up to five objectives. Hopefully, future updates can give players matchmaking options with shorter matches.

In our playtime, missing players were regularly replaced with Bots. These are good in a pinch, but a whole team isn't very effective; hopefully, players won't have much reason to resort to them in the future. And if they do, hopefully, the bots have some sense to them.

So far, Exoprimal has a fantastic foundation to work with. The game looks amazing, the matches are hectic and fun (if a bit long-winded), and there seems to be a good story on the horizon. The only real issue is whether the theme will be enough to draw in fans. Sure, dinosaurs are awesome (even if it's disappointing that the therapods in this game don't feature feathers), but the choice to feature mech suits against dinosaurs feels oddly dissonant. If more of the Exosuits more closely resembled the dinosaurs they fight to lean into the Saturday-morning cartoon vibes, the game might draw more folks in. Regardless, fans can look forward to participating in Exoprimal's open beta from March 17th through March 20th. The open beta is cross-platform, incorporating the Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Steam, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.