Exoprimal | Review

Initial Release Date: July 14, 2023

Mode: Multiplayer Coop

Genres: Fighting Third-Person

Developer: Capcom

Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows

Publishers: Capcom, Capcom U.S.A., Inc.

Engine: RE Engine

Introduction

I must preface this review by being up front with whoever is reading this. I spent only one full day playing through Exoprimal. I leveled up a few exosuit classes. I also unlocked plenty of the story based cutscenes but haven’t finished the story. And I won’t!

Exoprimal for me at least was a clear case of quick burnout. The first four of so hours I was having a blast until the gameplay loop and grind kicked in. After the latter. I said “fuck this” and started playing Cyberpunk 2077 again. Please don’t misconstrue my opinion. Exoprimal isn’t a horrible game or a good game for that matter. It’s really about my tastes and how bored I felt playing it.

Presentation

Exoprimal’s presentation is good for the most part. The gameplay was fun until it wasn’t. The visuals were decent. The classic cheesy Capcom dialogue featuring cookie cutter futuristic mech pilots got old and pedantic.

After one day’s time of playing Exoprimal it was clear this multiplayer only third person shooter should’ve (or will be?) a free to play game. The reason I say that it should be a free to play game is because of it’s GAAS structure.

You HAVE to matchmake. there are no solo aspects in this game. Story progression cutscenes are tied to winning multiplayer matches or leveling up it seems. Exoprimal just screams Free-To-Play and GAAS to me. On the technical aspect Exoprimal ran at sixty frames per second on my Xbox Series X. I used Gamepass to play it. Just sayin.

Story

The story regarding Exoprimal is about a super AI called Leviathan which is destroying humanity by opening up portals that are farting out dinosaurs of all types. Dude. The story of Exoprimal is fucking stupid. Not sorry. The writing is bad for all of the Hammerheads too.

It’s weird, usually I like cheesy dialogue in these type of games but Exoprimal doesn’t work for me. Like I alluded to above. The story is tied to playing matchmaking online. You can’t play the story on your own.

Gameplay

Exoprimal is a multiplayer third person shooter featuring exosuits and dinosaur slaying. Exosuits are classed up into Assault, Support and Tank. The Exosuits are designed well in appearance and feature different mechanics. Like for example, you can pick a gun exosuit or a melee exosuit right off the bat in Assault Class.

Each Exosuit felt different with their different abilities and weapons. Gameplay was really fun for the first few hours but. I leveled up a few Exosuits. I went with “Witchdoctor” who is a support healer exosuit. I bought Witchdoctor upgrades that you can buy via bipcoin (lol) slot and level up like faster health regen or extended attack weapon range.

After leveling up some exosuits and comtinuing playing the loop almost instantly got boring and pedantic. Maps weren’t all that unique in appearance and or design. There are three different match types which are different. Exoprimal is missing a solo experience in my opinion. The overall matchmaking multiplayer only aspect turned me off. I loved playing Destiny solo for years. Just saying.

Visuals/Graphics

The cutscene facial models looked really good. Exoprimal ran at a solid sixty which it really needed. Visually the game doesn’t stand out much due to it being made for last generation consoles. I do respect RE Engine as a whole however. Do you remember Lost Planet 1 and 2. Exoprimal looks like that except better.

Sound/Music

Music and voiced dialogue weren’t memorable. The writing was doodoo on top of it. The dinosaurs, gunfire or special abilities didn’t stand out at all. The announcer needed to shut up. Leviathan was annoying to listen to.

Final Verdict

Great fun for the first few hours then the real gameplay loop started and I hated it. Exoprimal had a premise of killing dinosaurs in multiplayer arenas but failed in fun factor.

Capcom has to fix Exoprimal’s gameplay loop. It got old too fast. I also would’ve loved’ a single player solo story campaign that’s not locked behind matchmaking multiplayer but oh well. Capcom? You’re better than Exoprimal.