It’s been a few days since Capcom’s dinosaur annihilation extravaganza, Exoprimal, launched and my time with the game has been one of much joy and internal conflict. Tearing through hundreds of very angry prehistoric creatures - both small and large - alongside four exosuit-clad teammates is an absolute riot, although extended play sessions could leave you and your buddies in search of a palate cleanser.




First off, for those out there who have no idea what this game even is, (likely more than you’d expect) Exoprimal is an online competitive multiplayer experience where two teams comprised of five members each race through a map while completing various objectives and murdering hordes of warped-in dinosaurs standing in their way. Once every presented mission is complete, players are teleported to the location of the final round. If the last series of tasks lean toward a more PvP-oriented approach, players will get the opportunity to come face-to-face with each other in combat. If the dice rolls in favour of a PvE encounter, it’s pretty much business as usual, albeit with decidedly more urgency, panic, and zero enemy presence aside from the usage of the Dominator device.

Exoprimal’s core gameplay and combat is immensely satisfying and entertaining.

These tools allow a player from either team to summon and directly control a dinosaur, with the goal of inflicting as much damage to your foes as possible. The first team to complete their tasks wins, while the losers are torn to shreds by the remaining dinos in one of the best defeat animations I’ve ever seen. To suit your preferred gameplay style, once your first run through is done and dusted, you’re allowed to permanently toggle between always ending in either a PvE or PvP round. Or select “random” for a fifty-fifty shot at both. Regardless of your choice, Exoprimal’s core gameplay and combat is immensely satisfying and entertaining.



Tying these roughly ten-minute-long matches together is the overarching storyline of Exorpimal, told primarily through a combination of collected data logs and cutscenes unlocked after a set number of games are completed. Set in 2043, three years after dinosaurs started falling out of portals around the world, and the resulting establishment of the exofighters for defensive purposes, our protagonist and his crew crash into the mysterious Bikitoa Island.

Home to a sinister artificial intelligence known as Leviathan and cut off from the outside world, our hero must brave the forcibly-imposed “wargames” for the purpose of allowing the AI to absorb as much combat data as possible – allegedly going towards the creation of the ultimate exosuit. Where the plot goes from there, I won’t spoil. I will say, though, that despite sounding interesting on paper, the story’s pacing, generic characters, and often annoyingly melodramatic dialogue never really pulled me in. Good on Capcom for at least including an underlying narrative, providing context and meaning behind the madness unfolding with each subsequent dinosaur killing spree.



Diving headfirst into the writhing reptilian sea awaiting you in each wargame would be suicide without the proper equipment. Take your pick from ten diverse and visually distinct exosuits, each carrying their own unique abilities (including a powerful Overdrive skill), strengths, and weaknesses. Whether you enjoy picking Pteranodons out of the sky from a distance or wading knee-deep into Raptor country, sword swinging wildly, there’s a suit for almost every taste – neatly categorised into either Assault (dps), Tank, or Support roles.

Absorbing as much information on each suit’s playstyle and functionality is key if you want to take advantage of Exoprimal’s mid-match suit switching mechanic.

Learning the best way to handle each model is half the fun of Exoprimal, and the game’s included training grounds does a good job of providing plenty of opportunities for practice before engaging in full-on action in the field. Absorbing as much information on each suit’s playstyle and functionality is key if you want to take advantage of Exoprimal’s mid-match suit switching mechanic.



For added utility, rigs can be attached to your suit. These can be thought of as secondary weapons or tools that operate on a cooldown, like all suit abilities: the shoulder-mounted cannon provides another shot of damage in a pinch, while the catapult adds an extra boost to your jump. Much like the exosuits, not all will be immediately usable. Raw firepower aside, another enhancement option available to you comes in the form of attachable and upgradable modules. These augment abilities inherent to each suit, like decreasing the time it takes before your health regenerates or increasing damage for every consecutive shot landed on a dinosaur. \

For purely aesthetic purposes, the usual slew of stamps and emotes, as well as suit and weapon cosmetics are available for purchase. The in-game BikCoin currency earned from completing matches, levelling, or opening Exoprimal’s loot box equivalent, War Chests, can be used for purchase. Some options will necessitate a dip into your very real bank account, naturally.



Now that you’ve got yourself suited up and you’re looking fancy as hell, it’s time to go dino hunting. There’s a surprising amount of enemy variety out there, with some special volatile variants and other surprises (no spoilers) being slowly drip-fed to you as you progress. It’s worth emphasising here just how many dinosaurs can be present on screen at once, with minimal performance or framerate drops. Soaking up most of the screentime, Raptors are easy to take down but make up for their crepe-paper frames in sheer numbers.

When the opposing team’s Dominator-controlled dinosaur starts stomping its way to where your group is just barely clinging on to survival, no amount of screaming or running away can save you.

If you’re not careful or lose sight of your fellow comrades, it’s highly likely you’ll find yourself being overwhelmed by attacks from every angle, before eventually greeting that dreaded respawn countdown. Some enemies have weak points that should be prioritised, such as the head of the intimidating Carnotaurus, or aggressively charge into you, like the Triceratops. Team placement and environmental awareness are extremely important for the most part. More often than not, though, you’ll find yourself in situations that offer no escape routes. When the opposing team’s Dominator-controlled dinosaur starts stomping its way to where your group is just barely clinging on to survival, no amount of screaming or running away can save you.



Before reaching the final stretch of any given match, and as you’re moving from objective to objective, Leviathan will keep you abreast of how your team’s pace currently compares to your rivals. Feeling that rush of adrenaline as you’re informed of your substantial lead, knowing full well that all it would take to kick you out of first place is a series of minor screw-ups – possibly by your own hands – strokes that competitive spirit that lies somewhere within us all and pushes you to play to the best of your abilities. Holographic projections of all five enemy team members are also visible at varying points in every match, so you can keep an eye on their activities when you’re not up to your eyeballs in dino limbs.

Exoprimal runs pretty well on PS5, and I never once experienced any major technical hiccups – unless you count untranslated Japanese trophy titles as a hiccup. As for controls, aside from recommending lowering deadzone and aim sensitivity settings if playing on console, I feel it's important to mention that aim assist seems completely non-existent for dinosaurs. While unfortunate, it makes perfect sense when considering how many of the beasts you’ll be up against. With aim assist enabled, you’d likely find your crosshair in a constant state of bouncing between targets, which is never a good time. Aim assist does seem to work as intended for enemy players, thankfully.



For those hoping to reliably play with their buddies on other devices, I have some bad news. At the time of writing, cross-system party forming does not exist. When matchmaking, you’ll still be grouped up with users on other systems – you simply can’t queue with friends that aren’t on the same ecosystem as you. Yes, this means Steam users can only form parties and queue together with other friends on Steam - the same logic applies for PlayStation and Xbox users as well (I barely saw any fellow PlayStation players, concerningly). Capcom has stated that they’re working on possibly implementing this feature in the future, likely sometime after the upcoming new high-difficulty game mode update dropping on July 28th, referred to as Savage Gauntlet, which boasts a weekly rotation of rules and a deviation from the standard Dino Survival mode formula.

There are only so many ways one can say or represent “killing swarms of dinosaurs” or “take out the big lizard threatening the teams” before your eyes start to glaze over, and your mind wanders to other titles in your game library.

Exoprimal’s biggest issue lies in how quickly its sense of wonder can start to dwindle. Sure, the game throws curveballs and additional objective types at you every now and then (once again, no spoilers here), but there are only so many ways one can say or represent “killing swarms of dinosaurs” or “take out the big lizard threatening the teams” before your eyes start to glaze over, and your mind wanders to other titles in your game library. This is exacerbated by how long it takes for the gameplay to show its true colours and open up, and I feel shorter play sessions may become the norm for most. It’s therefore difficult to recommend at full price. Game Pass subscribers should absolutely give it a try and gauge their own interest. For everyone else, my advice is to hold on until either more content is added, or a significant sale comes your way.



Exoprimal is an excellent competitive multiplayer experience with a bright future ahead of it, in my opinion, and my first pick as far as dino slaying games are concerned – it’s just a pity that the drawn-out delivery of gameplay, a limited map pool, and high rate of repetition (especially early on) dampens the overall experience. The suits are great, though.



*PS5 Review code provided by Capcom

Reviewed by Ryan Pretorius