One of the proper names that Sony’s recent State of Play left us had to do with exoprimal, for better or worse. And it cannot be said that this new Capcom IP has unleashed passions throughout the world, as there are opinions of all kinds… especially after the rumors of another Dino Crisis.
Because Exoprimal is not Dino Crisis, or almost. Actually, they have more in common than it seems and we are not saying this only because of the presence of dinosaurs. Without going further, is involved in the project Hiroyuki Kobayashiresponsible for part of the design of the first game and producer of the sequel and that Dino Crisis 3 exclusive to Xbox, among countless projects for Capcom. In fact, that aberration of the first Xbox is the great guilty of resemblance to Exoprimal.
Anthem + Lost Planet + Dino Crisis = Exoprimal
Actually, the Osaka company drinks from more sources, intentionally or not, if we analyze in depth the first two videos shown from exoprimal. First of all, because of the exosuit classes and their online component like in Anthem; and on the other hand, by the way halo to Lost Planet (also from Capcom) apart from the most obvious reason for Dino Crisis for the dinosaurs.
In any case, what concerns us right now is the reason for this “natural evolution” of the survival-horror started by Regina in the distant 1999. To do this we must remember that Capcom released four installments of Dino Crisis completely different. And it is that if the first adventure was more similar to the style of the survival-horror of the first Resident Evil (influenced by older Jurassic Park and Alien in the case of Dino Crisis), the sequel openly opted for the most unleashed action as an evolution of the Resident Evil 3 Mercenaries. And both Dino Crisis were very goodEach has his own style.
However, Capcom did not mind changing the formula despite maintaining the presence of dinosaurs. Now, we must emphasize an important fact: the first two adventures were set between 2009 and 2010 while Dino Crisis 3 took us to the year 2548. And what year is it? exoprimal? Although it may seem more futuristic, it is set in the year 2040.
Dino Crisis always had a futuristic touch, in any case. His technology capable of resurrecting dinosaurs always was, logically. But the game itself with Regina as the protagonist already had some advanced design facilities that implied that we were before something never seen, regardless of the presence of dinosaurs. It is true that this sensation was exploited to the beast with the trip to the future of the aforementioned Dino Crisis 3 and in full outer space, inside the imposing Ozymandias ship, very close to Jupiter; but if we remember, Dino Crisis 2 had some futuristic weapons.
The fact that exoprimal combining “prehistoric threats with technologies of the near future”, as Capcom itself describes, inevitably makes us think of the dinosaur classic, especially if we see that it is situated chronologically between Dino Crisis 2 and 3, despite the fact that the Osaka company has not said that they share a universe with this new IP. Although if we stick to the end teaserwith a mysterious character entering the scene, it seems likely that there will be some connection… Otherwise, what was the point of hiding it?
It seems that it is more of a Dino Crisis spin-off with online component. After all, this saga never had a fixed pattern, experimenting with different genres with each installment. Do not forget that there was a “Gun Survivor” under the name of dino stalker. This is a Dino Shooting Crisis on Rails, along the lines of Time Crisis or the less popular Jurassic Park Arcade from Raw Thrills. And that was not the first, as there were similar shooting sections in the sequel.
A little retrospective done to put us in the background, if we have said that Exoprimal has more than Dino Crisis 4 what can be seen with the naked eye is because of the way it borrows elements from Dino Crisis 3, the most obvious being the way in which dinosaurs arose. Because in the ill-fated Xbox exclusive the dinos appeared out of nowhereteleporting anywhere, while in this new Capcom IP they also emerge from anywhere, but in this case through a series of wormholes.
It’s more, Exoprimal brings back a discarded idea from Dino Crisis 3 that we talked about a long time ago, that of being located in a time not long ago with dinosaurs razing citiesjust what this new Capcom production does, which is why we don’t rule out the possibility that it may have certain connections…
The big difference is that In Exoprimal we have exo armoralthough we cannot forget either that in Dino Crisis 3 we had a special suit with a jetpack and an arsenal that seemed “magical” because of the different types of shots, like explosive colored balls that chased the enemy.
That apparently this new IP has lost representative elements of the saga, such as that facet of survival-horrorRegina’s typical bleeding, which was leaving stains on the floor and that we had to stop with hemostatic treatment, in addition to the usual house-brand puzzles or two different routes for the plot depending on the character we helped (inherited idea from Resident Evil 2 based on Leon or Claire), does not mean that deep down it doesn’t look like an evolution of Dino Crisis if we stick to the direction that the saga was taking towards action.
It gives the feeling of being a mere formality to bear another name, partly due to a more risky (and apparently more generalist) proposal within the universe Dino Crisis. Because on a personal level I am convinced that that mysterious character at the end of the first trailer is someone known from that saga.
Be that as it may, there is time to speculate and talk more in depth, since Exoprimal will not go on sale until 2023 on Steam, PlayStation and Xbox.