Exoprimal preview – draws too much inspiration from Overwatch 2
Exoprimal is a new PvE/ PvP first-person shooter from Capcom, landing on July 14, 2023.
Mirror Gaming was invited to play a work-in-progress version of Exoprimal and despite the interesting premise, which was fast-paced and unique, I have issues with the character design.
Conceptually, the game incorporates two of my favourite things: dinosaurs and mech-style suits, which may sound bizarre, but do come together in an interesting way. Not only are you fighting dinosaurs in these cool suits, referred to as Exosuits in the game, but in a fun twist, you can harness the power of certain dinos – like a Triceratops – and morph into them which brings just the right amount of chaos to the game.
The main online mode consists of a 5v5 match that runs for around 20 minutes and is split up into two sections. The first section is made up of PvE missions that you need to complete with your team before your opponents receive a time bonus in return. After completing the missions you move into the second half; a PvP section, which can vary from a ‘moving the payload’ format to a ‘capture and hold the objective’ format.
One downside to the Exoprimal preview was the less-than-optimal online play; with only a small group of people playing, matchmaking heavily relied on very simple bots that made up the enemy team. I’m all for playing against AI – especially when first getting to grips with a game – but this made it difficult to judge Exoprimal’s gameplay fairly as there was very little in the form of competition or a challenge.
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However, one thing I was able to determine from the preview was how similar the different Exosuits you can play are to Overwatch 2's Heroes. The observation wasn’t just limited to a couple of them, but practically the entire Exoprimal roster.
I completely understand that games typically take inspiration from other successful titles; you can argue that some Overwatch Heroes pay homage to Team Fortress 2 characters, and similarly, League of Legends follows suit with Smite. But the resemblance in the case of Exoprimal is uncanny, to the point that it looks like more than a subtle nod.
My Exoprimal Exosuit of choice was Barrage; an assault class, that fires grenades, is loaded up with explosives and has a fair bit of mobility. The ‘ultimate’ ability has you suit up and jump straight into the action with a deathly AoE explosion.
Despite some design differences, locking into the Barrage Exosuit immediately brought to light some comparisons to a game of Overwatch 2, playing Junkrat; from the playstyle to abilities – even the sound effects – it felt all too familiar.
Another Exosuit – Deadeye – features an assault rifle, is great for mid to long-range combat and is the tutorial suit within Exoprimal. It’s a relatively simplistic suit which mimics Soldier 76, who (ironically enough) is the tutorial Hero in Overwatch 2.
Nimbus, a support class Exosuit, has extremely high mobility due to the fact that it rolls around on rollerskates (is this already sounding familiar?) and can switch between two different modes; damage or area of effect healing. As a Lucio main in Overwatch, I was able to pick this suit up relatively quickly given that it felt practically identical to him.
Some of the more forgivable Exosuits were those that combined two different characters rather than just mimicking one because at least they felt fresh to play. Roadblock felt like a nice mix of Reinhardt, with his massive stance and shield, and Brigitte, with her in-your-face playstyle.
The Exoprimal preview felt particularly disappointing given that Overwatch 2 is my go-to game so everything felt rehashed in terms of character design. Perhaps it might wow someone new to the genre or who hasn’t dabbled with Overwatch 2, but for me, nothing about Exoprimal’s characters’ designs or how they handled felt fresh. This is a shame, because, in terms of gameplay, Exoprimal feels fantastic – that’s not a small feat considering the unfortunate preview conditions.
At launch, Exoprimal will feature a total of 10 Exosuits and I really hope that as the roster expands, there’ll be room for more original spins on future characters. Exoprimal is a truly unique and incredibly interesting concept from Capcom and the sooner it shakes off the similarities to Overwatch 2, the better.
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