Blasting Waves Of Dinos Was Damn Fun... But Will The Rest Of Exoprimal Be? - A Open Beta Test Review

Exoprimal just wrapped an open beta weekend and while we have a release date for the PvE/PvP dinosaur shooting title from Capcom of July 14th, what we don't exactly know right now is if Capcom has any plans for additional testing phases.

We played quite a bit of the game this past weekend as part of the open test and by "quite a bit" I mean we did the one mode actually open for testing MANY times. That's not meant as a slam in any way though. If you've been watching Exoprimal's reveals you know exactly what kind of game you're getting. Think Destiny 2's Gambit mode and you kind of have a decent idea.

Frankly, it's a game that even when the additional modes promised are available will still boil down to "do a similar thing over and over." That means that "similar thing" better be damn fun.

So was it?

In short, yes, but we have to put quite a few qualifiers on this one. The "open beta" weekend felt more like a stress/tech test than what you may think of when you hear "open beta." None of the story components you've seen in trailers were included. We were limited to one mode (Dinosaur Warfare) that featured a PvE race between 2 teams of 5 players with a PvP-esque final objective determining the winning team. While we earned progress on account and exosuit experience meters and in-game currency, none of it mattered as you couldn't access your winnings nor spend your currency on anything and none of it carries over into launch.

While you did have access to a wide array of "exosuits" (think frames from Warframe) and you could swap out your "rig" (the big weapon you can slap out your suit's back), we didn't have any ability to customize exosuits any more than that. Modules will be used in the game to kind of "spec out" your exosuit in ways you personally like, but you couldn't actually use them in the test, either.

In the end, yes, blasting through waves of dinosaurs through various maps in a highly arcade-feeling way was a ton of fun. While the PvE races differed each time you queued up, they still broke down to the basic idea "kill whatever we put in your way, big or small, and move to the next area faster than the other team."

Making it through all the waves takes you to a final challenge area where PvP became a factor. Again, this final objective was randomly generated and ranged from moving a payload to a finish line faster than the other team, to picking up futuristic dog tags.

During the PvE waves (and in some PvP final waves), there is a slight chance of spawning a dino you can control for a bit to wreak havoc on opposing players much in the same way that Destiny 2's Gambit mode let's players jump to the opposing team's area to kill opposing players for a limited time.

Making it through all the PvE waves first meant you had a head start in the final PvP wave, but because PvP was now a factor, it didn't always mean the fastest team automatically won that final wave. Exoprimal does give the team falling behind chances to catch up quite nicely. Swapping from one exosuit to another at ANY time (just just upon respawn) also allowed for quick team adjustments when needed.

Exosuits themselves have quite a bit of variety in three different categories: Tank, Assault, and Support. Even suits within the same category felt vastly different in playstyle. Hopping into one Assault suit may set you up for a "guns blazing" style, will another may be tailored towards the more melee focused among you.

Exoprimal's got a lot to prove though. Can I see me playing it at launch? Yes, hands down. Even for a "not really a PvP guy" like myself, I found the gameplay to be exciting, visually fun to watch, laughed at the changing dialogue of the insane AI Leviathan running things, and controls were fairly tight on both keyboard/mouse and controller while still allowing the arcade feel the game is trying to deliver.

But will that push through to launch? That's the concern. Adding new modes will be nice, but the game is set to debut with a $60 base price tag on Steam, PS4/5, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One. That's a pretty damn steep price tag for a game that is clearly built around season passes, cosmetics, and the inevitable cash shop. Xbox Game Pass subscribers will benefit the most here since the game will be on the service on day one.

With a $60 barrier of entry, Exoprimal is asking a lot to pick up the player base it 100% HAS to pick up (and keep) to even be a viable product. With no solo options at all, the game runs the risk of not even being a game at all if there aren't players to queue up with... no, running things with AI isn't an option, either.

I think I'd call my final decision on the game "cautiously optimistic" but that's also while recognizing that I won't be having to spend $60 on it since I sub to Game Pass... I'm not sure how many people who don't have Game Pass left beta saying "yeah I am buying this", though.

If you want to see more, check out our stream from the beta test!

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