Exoprimal’s dino shooting feels at home on Xbox Game Pass, but does it have staying power?

Exoprimal is out today! While we haven’t had a chance to play enough of it yet to warrant a full review, considering it’s a live shooter that requires a decent time investment before a polite review can be written, we’ve given it enough time. for a cheeky preview. Our first verdict? This is a wonderful game for Game Pass.

First: what is Exoprimal? The game puts you in the shoes of an exosuit pilot as he is sent back in time by a rogue AI called Leviathan in combat war games. You see, Leviathan’s job is to make exosuits better and better, and they’ve decided that throwing you and other players into endless fights against the dinosaurs (and each other) is the best way to do it.

If that sounds a bit crazy, it is! But the game actually does a decent job of establishing the premise honestly enough and a vibrant cast of likeable characters to keep you on board. This isn’t a super serious heartbreaking story of love and loss, but it’s a fun way to take you to a tropical island full of dinosaurs without rolling your eyes. A feat he had feared was impossible.

But let’s dive into the game. Exoprimal is packed with exosuits, ten at the time of writing, each with their own distinct abilities and roles on a team. They cater to the Assault, Tank, or Support classes, and it’s up to you to choose the right outfit for your squad when you’re sent into the fray.

As you can probably imagine, the overall fun factor of Exoprimal largely depends on how much fun these suits are to play with. I’m happy to report that after playing with most of the available outfits, they’re all exciting enough to keep me interested in the quests. The Krieger is a personal favourite, able to devastate hordes of birds of prey quickly with its giant machine gun, but I was happy to see that even the support suits (a role that always risks feeling passive if approached poorly) pushed me into the fold. action.

But if there is something that sticks with me, it is how spectacular Exoprimal is. It’s a bright and colorful frenzy of tense battles and frenzied showdowns. There’s a real visceral joy in seeing a swarm of birds of prey racing down a street towards you, climbing over cars and each other in a mad dash. Seeing a T-Rex go through a car and rip one of your teammates apart is really exciting. Exoprimal generates “Oh shit” moments often, a valuable trait for any action-oriented multiplayer game.

As far as first impressions go, this all sounds good, right? So why is it a pleasure for Xbox Game Pass subscribers specifically? Well, Exoprimal as a complete set will set you back $59.99 or your regional equivalent. It’s a full price game, as it should be! It’s a game with some real quality and heart. It’s a live service shooter, though, and as we’ve seen of late, these games either swim far or sink fast.

I’m still not sure how long Exoprimal will stick around. It’s fun, weird, and different from the hundred other cooperative shooters out there, so I hope it appeals to an audience of gamers. However, there is a real chance that it won’t. That’s why Game Pass is crucial here: if you’re interested in the game, you can try it out right now for $12.99. Don’t you want to buy it complete? It’s a fun weekend with some friends. A big fan? You can drop full price and dive headfirst into the land of dinosaurs.

Right now, this launch window may well be the peak of Exoprimal. We do not know yet. While my full thoughts on the game haven’t calcified in my head yet, I think there’s some honest fun to be had with the game. If you’re even remotely tempted to give it a try, for the price of a month of Game Pass, it’s well worth it.

We’ll have a full Exo Primal review next week, but if this preview convinced you to give it a try, you can grab it on Game Pass right now. Or buy the full game if you’re interested enough! It is available on Xbox, PC, and PlayStation with full crossplay between all platforms. Nice.