The latest PlayStation State of Play was brief, but it was packed with announcements. Square Enix unveiled a variety of new titles, while other developers like Housemarque provided updates on their own games, but out of everything that appeared at the State of Play,Exoprimalwas possibly one of the most remarkable. Revealed at the very start of the State of Play,Exoprimalis a new action game fromCapcomin which players don mech suits to battle huge tides of dinosaurs that are rampaging through the game’s near-future world after falling from mysterious portals in the sky.
Longtime Capcom fanswatching theExoprimalreveal trailermay have drawn a comparison to another Capcom IP:Dino Crisis.During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Capcom’s survival horror and action-adventure seriesDino Crisispitted players against dinosaurs pulled into the modern-day through time travel. Although the franchise has laid dormant for many years,Dino Crisishas managed to retain a following, and many have hoped that Capcom will return to the IP someday.Exoprimalis clearly a new IP, but it has some commonalities withDino Crisisthat ought to get fans of Capcom’s previous franchise interested in the new game.
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Comparing Exoprimal to Dino Crisis
The most obvious connection betweenExoprimalandDino Crisisis, of course, the use of dinosaurs as basic enemies. InExoprimal,players will fight off massive hordes of raptors and seemingly engage in boss battles with particularly large prehistoric creatures.TheDino Crisisserieshasn’t always been quite so action-oriented, butExoprimalstill has some similarities withDino Crisis 3, which left the franchise’s survival horror roots behind in favor of persistent futuristic combat. The premise behindExoprimalcould be similar toDino Crisistoo; Capcom hasn’t gone into detail about the new IP’s portals yet, which could very well take inspiration fromDino Crisis' time travel and Third Energy.
Beyond dinosaurs, however,Dino Crisisfans ought to keep an eye onExoprimal’s cast.Dino Crisisoften involves a specialized team of soldiers fighting against the oncoming dinosaurs, andExoprimallooks like it has a similar band of heroes. There’s even an athletic red-haired woman among them who looks an awful lot likeRegina, the beloved protagonistof the originalDino CrisisandDino Crisis 2.While the broaderDino Crisischaracter roster won’t make an appearance inExoprimal,it seems likely thatExoprimalwill feature a lot of characters who play similar roles to Regina’s costars, simply by virtue of a similar game premise.
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The Heir to Dino Crisis
Capcom has stated in no uncertain terms thatExoprimalisn’t connected to theDino Crisisuniverse. In spite of their mutual dinosaur menaces, these two IPs are separate. Sadly, that meansDino Crisiswill probably remain dormantfor the foreseeable future. After all, Capcom has little reason to start working on an entirely different dinosaur-centric franchise whileExoprimalis on the way. For now,Dino Crisislovers will just have to giveExoprimala chance when it releases in 2023.
Exoprimalcertainly looks likea unique addition to the PlayStation library, as well as a solid new take on theDino Crisisconcept.Dino Crisis 3’s futuristic setting may have involved more advanced technology than the original game, butExoprimalgoes even farther thanks to its mech suits, which look like they all come with unique abilities that’ll help keep the dinosaurs at bay.
Hopefully, Capcom leans into the mech suit concept and finds other ways to incorporate the setting’s advanced technology intoExoprimal’s gameplay. By building up further sci-fi elements around the game’s dinosaur onslaught, Capcom could makeExoprimala very interesting new incarnation ofDino Crisis,even if it’s not a true member of theDino Crisisfamily.
Exoprimalreleases in 2023 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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