Hello! Back with another round of musings.
Exoprimal has been my not-Diablo game the last few days and I have to say, I am impressed. It has my attention despite being a flagrant GAAS-model/wanting me to open my wallet so badly.
The game is a little thin at times and running around in your exosuit doesn't "feel" quite as amazing as flying in Anthem or piloting your titan in Titanfall, but the wide range of exosuits + customization definitely shores up some of that.
What I want to focus on however is the PvPvE format they've decided to go with. For those who don't know, Exoprimal is not just about beating up dinosaurs. You are actually racing as a team of 5 against another team of 5 doing the exact same missions. You progress through different challenges and each time you complete one, you see the silhouettes of the enemy team as they do their missions and the game notifies you if you are completing your objective faster or slower than they are. This constant update - both from the game's AI character Leviathan and from the silhouettes - creates a constant energy of go go go! that really enhances the game's tension. You can't just beat up dinosaurs, you need to work together to do it efficiently.
The game also randomly inserts story bits for everyone that will change up the level and challenges, keeping it incredibly fresh. One instance that really caught my attention (and drove me to make this post) happened to me last night. We were about 1/4th of the way through our encounters when suddenly some dialogue began and all of us were warped into one arena and a cutscene began. At the end, one gigantic dinosaur warped in and suddenly our enemies were our friends. We all had to work together as a 10-unit team to take this thing down. It was such an awesome way to be shaken out of "just doing missions." What's amazing is so far these major shakeups have happened once every 5-10 matches for me. While I'm sure I will soon encounter repeated events, I'm about 15hrs into the game and I haven't yet.
If they keep adding special missions/events/curveballs like this, especially tinkering with the PvPvE format, I don't see myself putting this game down for quite some time.
Can you do things that will get the other team killed, even if indirectly? Like get a particularly mean dinosaur to wander into their area.
Yes! You get a "dominator" once a match which allows a teammate to turn into a dinosaur that is then warped right by the enemy. In addition, the game has 2 modes: One where you're just racing each other to beat objectives (can still use dominators though so you get one crack at them) and one where in the final mission y'all are occupying the same map and can engage each other, which is a common tactic for the losing team in particular because it gives you the best chance at catching up.