Exoprimal's Exosuits are a Vicious Bunch

With a second beta test for Capcom's dinosaur slaying adventure on the way, Exoprimal now offers access to all 10 mechanized suits. Called Exosuits, these robotic units are split into three "roles" that serve different purposes. Having tried each and every suit for myself in a press beta test, I can tell you the combat has even more promise than the last time I played Exoprimal. From a giant, minigun-wielding rig to a rollerskating healer, read on to hear more about my thoughts on the new suits.

An Eclectic Bunch

For those unaware of Exoprimal, this PVE/PVP hybrid tasks players with defeating hordes of ravenous dinosaurs in a futuristic setting. Raptors, triceratops, and more will charge and bite their way through you. Armed to the teeth with these Exosuits, you'll have to mow them down and complete various objectives across multiple maps. Players compete against another team going through the same objectives; eventually, you'll go face-to-face in a final objective that pits players against each other while contending with the dino threat.

One pain point many players of the first beta had was this forced PVP segment. I didn't mind it so much the first time around, but I'm starting to see why players find this to be unsavory. After mowing through hordes of enemies, I find myself not wanting to engage with enemy players. It's honestly cathartic to fight the dinosaurs with your overpowered arsenal, but the magic is lost when you have to deal with the opposing team. That said, it's a feature that's definitely here to stay. I only hope we see exclusively PVE, party-based content in the future to accompany the competitive portion of Exoprimal.

But of course, we're here to talk about the new Exosuits. After all, this was the most notable change from the first beta (other than some new maps and objectives). Assault, tank, and support: these are the three roles Exosuits serve. Much like an MMO, you have assault serving as damage dealers. Tanks soak up damage, and support heal and buff allies -- or debuff and disrupt enemies. After having an exceptional time playing as the Roadblock Exosuit in the first beta test, I was looking forward to trying out the hulking Krieger next. This is an Exosuit armed with a mini-gun, and while the individual bullets do minimal damage, the rate of fire is so intense, you'll find yourself tearing through hordes of dinosaurs in no time. With an area-of-effect shield ability and a mobile slide that makes you feel like a freakin' Gundam, the Krieger is likely to be a favorite among players.

Accompanying the Roadblock and Krieger is the Murasame, which is one of the more flashy Exosuits. It's like a futuristic samurai, so the Murasame looks as awesome as it is deadly. With a long sword, the melee-based Exosuit has a relatively long reach and features counter-based attacks to soak damage. There's also this one ability that has the Murasame jump in the air, and then you can do a downward slice. It feels so cool to do this to dinosaurs. While I didn't like it quite as much as the Krieger, I can see a lot of players enjoying these two over many other suits.

I do, however, tend to gravitate toward support roles in games, and the new Exosuits in Exoprimal are certainly impressive. I'd even say the new Skywave and Nimbus suits are more exciting to play than the tanks I mentioned. Skywave can, quite literally, fly and glide around to avoid danger. Using a staff to shoot healing projectiles at allies and damaging rounds at dinosaurs, flying around is a lot of fun even if the mobility is relatively low. While the Skywave is certainly a boon against dinosaurs since most enemies are restricted to the ground, I could see this class easily become fodder to enemy players in a skirmish. The most fun I had with any class, however, was with the Nimbus. Basically Exoprimal's version of Lucio from Overwatch, you're on rollerskates and switch between healing and damaging abilities. There's also one attack that can shoot a bunch of projectiles together and either heal in one massive wave or damage. Because I like playing Lucio in Overwatch, it's no wonder I gravitated toward the Nimbus.

I won't discredit Capcom for making every class unique, though the two new assault classes didn't impress as much. Vigilant is a sniper class, and it feels a bit silly to use when most conflicts are very in-your-face. You have dozens upon dozens of enemies rushing forward, so to shoot little shots as a sniper just didn't feel that effective. Scoping makes shots more precise, but without the scope your gun is in burst-fire mode. Though there's a few abilities like an ice projectile that freezes enemies in an area, Vigilant didn't pack the punch I expected. The same can be said for Barrage, which flings fire blobs at enemies and has a grenade, among other things. The short range of Barrage's projectiles didn't feel as satisfying as other classes.

Also differing from the last time I played Exoprimal was my platform choice. I enjoyed playing it on PC and it ran very well last beta test; this time, I decided to try out the PlayStation 5. It also ran without a hitch and graphically, it's a polished and pretty game. Containing hundreds of raptors on screen at once is no small feat, but it looks outrageously awesome and didn't stutter when I played. Shooters can be a little iffy on consoles, and as an avid boomer shooter fan I usually prefer PC. I tweaked the aiming sensitivity slightly on PS5 and found it to be favorable. I soon forgot I was playing on console and just became engrossed with Exoprimal without struggling with the controls.

All in all, there seems to be at least a few classes everyone will enjoy. The diversity among Exoprimal's Exosuits is impressive and I look forwarded to the progression system. There are hints of a progression system implemented in the beta but we haven't seen the full scale of it yet. We do know there's a battle pass, so I can see myself working away on that if the offerings are enticing enough. The fact that I find most Exosuits fun to play is a good sign, though, and with Exoprimal's full release in July, you bet I'm going to be there to play.

Exoprimal was previewed on PS5 with a code provided by the publisher, over the course of 6 hours of gameplay - all screenshots were taken during the process of review.