Exoprimal is a game where future means past in a good way

When I saw Exoprimal for the first time during their first few gameplay videos and promotional materials, it didn’t look like it would be fun to play but because of Xbox Game Pass, I got to try it out and let me tell you, this game is one of the most fun experiences I've had from Capcom in recent memory

Gameplay feels the same but very different

The first thing you experience when you enter the game is the tutorial, which isn’t that long and basically teaches you everything you need to know about the game, very straightforward and fast

Once you are done with that, you are welcomed to a story cutscene, a simple cutscene that explains the story as to what’s happening in the game’s universe and also a short prologue that expands on the gameplay with AI allies.

Once you are done with the prologue, you are forced to do one match with random players, which is fine but that’s where you start to feel the fun and chaos of the game that Exoprimal has.

The game modes are quite basic but the chaos of the game makes it very fun but at the start, it feels like it’s a very easy game, that is until you continue in the story, it gets harder and harder.

The game modes are simple, including but not limited to, killing certain amount of dinosaurs of a particular type of dinosaurs, defending a location, escort mission and more

The best part of the game? Your team of 5 is competing directly with another team of 5 players, you are trying to complete objectives faster than the other team and at the end of the match, you are fighting them either in PvE, PvP or PvEvP (depending on what you selected for matchmaking)

Story is very well implemented

When it comes to the story, the story is really interesting but that’s not the best part, it’s the implementation of the story into a mainly multiplayer game that’s really impressive.

For Exoprimal, every story cutscenes are based on your level and where you are in-game. Cutscenes are played when you reach that level automatically after you finish the match and you are greeted to a new piece of story and the lore of the world of Exoprimal is very expensive

But that’s not all, whenever you are doing a story, there’s always boss fights but how do you do boss fights in a game that’s mainly multiplayer? Well, you do it in a way that’s unexpected and catch your players off guard

My first boss fight was the Neo-Tyrannousaurs Rex and it was during a PvE match and before the final part of the match, the boss fight cutscene started and caught me off guard, a tough boss fight but you aren’t doing it with your 5 man team, you are doing it with the other 5 as well, a 10 man team to fight one of the toughest boss fights in Exoprimal and this was just the first boss fight, you can imagine the other boss fights

Well written story, cutscenes and implementation of them all makes it a wonderful experience

Characters are very Capcom feeling

Every single character feels like they fit the Capcom feel, what I mean is the mannerism and how they interact with the world feels like they are similar to Monster Hunter World except for one character, her name is Viktoria aka Majesty.

Majesty’s clothes and hair color is similar to Regina from Dino Crisis, which is most likely a nod to the Dino Crisis franchise, which Capcom should totally make another game at some point.

In terms of characters that we have without spoiling anything, you have The Hammerheads, the patrol team that you are teamed with.

The Hammerheads include Lorenzo, the leader of the hammerheads, Alders, Viktoria, Sandy the Android and Ace (You)

There’s also an exofighter called Magnum, who is from a different dimension (multiverse if you will) that’s part of the story

One thing that I don’t really like about the characters is that, your character doesn't speak. That’s right, your character is a mute like in GTA Online and all other characters like The Hammerheads, will comment on you being the “silent type” and it’s not really that fun for me personally but that might not be an issue for you

Exosuits have one issue

While the exosuits have some cosmetic choices, abilities, upgrades and emotes, there’s one problem

3 Exosuits are locked behind levels, that’s usually not a problem but there’s one giant problem with the other option you can unlock the exosuits.

Well, Capcom had decided to add something for Deluxe Edition owners and surprisingly, for people who just want to buy, the Head Start Kit

If the 3 unlockable exosuits didn’t change the gameplay much, it wouldn’t be a problem but exosuits like Murasame, which is technically a tank but deals relatively a great deal of damage to dinosaurs and other players, it could be considered, in a way, as a Pay-To-Win format

While you do level quite quickly, I got to the level that allows me to unlock Murasame in 2 days playing for about 2-4 hours each day, it does feel weird to have a more powerful exosuits be able to be bought or added for Deluxe Edition owners

Conclusion

While having 3 locked exosuits being able to be bought from the store of your platform is very weird and feels very Pay-To-Win, everything else about the game feels very fun and challenging

Having your game scale based on story, level and upgrades feels like progression is smooth and fun

The characters feel very much like part of the world and part of your character’s life (at least your team) and the story progresses in a way that’s quite unique for a multiplayer game

Usually multiplayer games, like say Overwatch, tell the story through YouTube promotional videos or they add a one and done campaign that you might not even bother to play as they aren’t the real you bought the game or aren’t as interesting

To tell the story through the multiplayer aspect of the game, it’s very fun, exciting and unique

Exoprimal is a game that I would totally recommend and if you are a subscriber of Xbox Game Pass, just download, play the game and keep going. It gets better the more you play