Developer/publisher Capcom
Format PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series
Origin Japan
Release 2023
Lose a match in Exoprimal and the game’s AI host Leviathan will bid you a cheerful ‘goodbye!’ as a pack of raptors converges on you, ready to tear you limb from limb. You wonder if it’s not some kind of metacommentary on the chances of survival of any multiplayer game – not least when the first news story we see after our hands-on is about Ubisoft potentially cancelling Roller Champions, just five months after launch (the company has since denied the report, while accepting the game’s shortcomings). And the reward for success? Per Leviathan’s post-match missive, you’re afforded “the right to continued existence.” Lucky us.
Quality alone doesn’t necessarily have a bearing on whether a multiplayer game failsbut while it’s hard to say at this stage whether will avoid a similar fate (or the ignominy of its publisher acknowledging its parlous position), it’s certainly off to a promising start. Its combination of PvE and PvP is bolstered by a hint of unpredictability in the form of its hyper-intelligent GM, whose stated goal is to put powerful exosuits through live combat tests, refining their capacity to withstand dinosaur attacks while determining whether you’re fit to wear them.