Exoprimal can be roughly described as the result of asking a nine-year-old to describe “the coolest thing possible”. How so? Because you are a mech suit pilot who has been yoinked through time by a rogue AI in order to blow up ludicrous numbers of dinosaurs.
Now, there is more to the story than that headline description. There is an interesting plot, which focuses on your crew gathering enough knowledge and data to escape the mysterious island you have crashed on to and to discover the Leviathan AI’s intentions. There is an often-humorous set of supporting characters with distinct personalities and motivations. There is a well-balanced set of available exosuits with some fun abilities. There are in-match upgrade systems and comeback systems that can let you seize a last-minute victory. But if you do just want to switch your brain off and vaporise thousands of dinosaurs, or if you want to briefly be a dinosaur, Exoprimal has still got you covered.
Exoprimal is a PvPvE game where two rival teams of mech suit pilots (known in-game as exofighters) race against each other to complete sets of PvE objectives before either directly competing in a PVP fight or teaming up to take down a larger boss. Starting from the basic Dinosaur Cull objective, which simply requires slaughtering a few hundred dinosaurs, the range of objectives includes Overwatch-style payload-pushing, protecting a valuable NPC, capturing control points, and smashing sets of beacons with a giant hammer. Matches generally contain 3-4 objectives plus the final round, which is a fair length that doesn’t usually feel too rushed or too padded.
During PvE objectives, players can disrupt the rival team in one of two ways. Firstly, they can use a Dominator powerup: this summons a controllable dinosaur which is then transported into the enemy arena (similar to invading the other team’s map in Destiny 2‘s Gambit mode). In dino form, you can either attack the enemy players or contest their objective to slow their progress. Alternately, if you are falling far behind the other team, Leviathan may offer you a last-ditch Upgrade. If you are offered an upgrade, your team must find and kill special “trigger” enemies. Killing them quickly enough to appease Leviathan upgrades the other team’s game, making their enemies stronger and giving your team a chance to catch up.
Continue reading