Exoprimal is fun, frantic, absolutely off-the-wall bonkers and full of a confidence that's surprisingly not misplaced. I went into the game sold on the sci-fi PvE robots vs. dinosaur premise -- if just a little cheeky about it -- but I was surprised at how smoothly it handles its content.
It certainly reads and looks like the video game equivalent of shotgunning an energy drink, but after playing some it becomes quite clear that the game was definitely put together function-before-form. The core loop involves queueing up for matches, where you race against another team to defeat wave after wave of angry dinos before a head-to-head finale where initial advantage is determined by how well your team completed the opening phase. Completing matches progresses the story, which is revealed piecemeal via small vignettes, data logs, radio cuts, etc. and unlocks some new mission types, including some surprises in the form of 10-player cooperative raid bosses a la Monster Hunter, where chaos is really allowed to flourish. The action, gunplay, and skill sets all feel reasonably diverse even with only a handful of available exosuits at launch, and Capcom miraculously struck a balance between making players feel beastly during the dino battles and keeping PvP seeming fair.
It doesn't have a streamlined campaign quite in the way that, say, Lost Planet 2 does, opting for a completely off-the-rails story about the dangers of unchecked capitalism and AI (surprisingly relevant for what it is). Unfortunately, its initial purpose definitely feels like a clumsy impetus to get players queuin' up, which puts it in sort of a weird middle ground that admittedly may be a bit off-putting to people looking for a more curated experience -- some might not want to grind semi-competitive matches just to see story, some might not want to see story at all and feel bottlenecked by having a bunch of cutscenes and data to skip over. That said, I definitely see it as an intentional middle ground (even the repeated match queueing is "written into" the story under the guise of data collection!) rather than a game suffering from an identity crisis. A generous read, perhaps, but to be completely honest I can totally imagine Overwatch 2's now-cancelled campaign to have resembled this.
Having really loved Exoprimal, I do have some concern for its future; crossplay is limited to matchmaking only, so it's impossible to round up friends from across the game's numerous available platforms for matches (everyone's gotta be in the same ecosystem) and content updates have been entertaining but sparse. I'm really hoping that even as content starts to wind down (whenever that is) sales and the like will help breathe life into the game whenever possible. Definitely recommend it to anybody who's looking for some wacky, noncommittal fun in a shooter.
It certainly reads and looks like the video game equivalent of shotgunning an energy drink, but after playing some it becomes quite clear that the game was definitely put together function-before-form. The core loop involves queueing up for matches, where you race against another team to defeat wave after wave of angry dinos before a head-to-head finale where initial advantage is determined by how well your team completed the opening phase. Completing matches progresses the story, which is revealed piecemeal via small vignettes, data logs, radio cuts, etc. and unlocks some new mission types, including some surprises in the form of 10-player cooperative raid bosses a la Monster Hunter, where chaos is really allowed to flourish. The action, gunplay, and skill sets all feel reasonably diverse even with only a handful of available exosuits at launch, and Capcom miraculously struck a balance between making players feel beastly during the dino battles and keeping PvP seeming fair.
It doesn't have a streamlined campaign quite in the way that, say, Lost Planet 2 does, opting for a completely off-the-rails story about the dangers of unchecked capitalism and AI (surprisingly relevant for what it is). Unfortunately, its initial purpose definitely feels like a clumsy impetus to get players queuin' up, which puts it in sort of a weird middle ground that admittedly may be a bit off-putting to people looking for a more curated experience -- some might not want to grind semi-competitive matches just to see story, some might not want to see story at all and feel bottlenecked by having a bunch of cutscenes and data to skip over. That said, I definitely see it as an intentional middle ground (even the repeated match queueing is "written into" the story under the guise of data collection!) rather than a game suffering from an identity crisis. A generous read, perhaps, but to be completely honest I can totally imagine Overwatch 2's now-cancelled campaign to have resembled this.
Having really loved Exoprimal, I do have some concern for its future; crossplay is limited to matchmaking only, so it's impossible to round up friends from across the game's numerous available platforms for matches (everyone's gotta be in the same ecosystem) and content updates have been entertaining but sparse. I'm really hoping that even as content starts to wind down (whenever that is) sales and the like will help breathe life into the game whenever possible. Definitely recommend it to anybody who's looking for some wacky, noncommittal fun in a shooter.
supacadabra
6 months ago