I went hands-on with upcoming co-op third-person shooter Turok: Origins at Gamescom 2025 . Whereas I’m not a mega fan of the dino-slaying sequence, I’ve loved a lot of its earliest entries, together with the Nintendo 64 trilogy and even the divisive multiplayer spin-off Turok: Rage Wars.
Apart from a now-delisted 2019 spin-off sport, the sequence has been largely dormant since 2008’s Turok for seventh-generation consoles. It now returns in Turok: Origins, courtesy of developer and writer Saber Interactive, with an as-of-yet unannounced launch date.
Reducing to the essential particulars, Turok: Origins is a co-op-focused shooter for as much as three gamers. You choose a class-specific character – every with their very own weapon and talent loadouts – and cargo right into a map the place you have to full a linear sequence of targets earlier than dealing with off towards a climactic boss encounter.
My expertise with the sport is, up to now, largely constructive. Blasting prehistoric creatures and a hostile soldier-like alien race is tons of enjoyable; weapons and quick-kill animations really feel extraordinarily slick, and I really feel the selection of third-person perspective is a brilliant one.
I do have some issues, although, primarily with environmental design. Maps do really feel reasonably drab and samey from an aesthetic standpoint, and so they have been additionally extremely darkish, making it tough to identify enemies hiding in shadows or overgrown flora.
Even in my quick session, Origins was starting to really feel slightly repetitive, so I’m at the moment not sure of the sport’s replay worth. But when Saber Interactive nails this, it may effectively be one of many finest co-op video games of current years.
Hit ‘em with the mind destroyer
Let’s concentrate on the nice for now, although. Fight does really feel actually good in Turok: Origins. Participant characters are outfitted with all kinds of weapon varieties, together with shotguns, rifles, bows, and iconic sequence staples just like the Cerebral Bore – a terrifyingly merciless instrument that fairly actually sucks the mind out of an enemy’s cranium.
Once I requested inventive director Jesús Iglesias if the Bore can be as overpowered because it was in prior entries, he didn’t hesitate with a resoundingly excited “sure!” Normally, a developer would possibly need to guarantee a level of steadiness for highly effective weaponry equivalent to this, however I extra respect the truth that Saber appears to have as a lot reverence for this legendary software of destruction as Turok sequence followers do.
The excellent news is that Saber Interactive clearly has a whole lot of love for the supply materials. Dinosaur selection is spectacular, with every sort providing its personal problem. Some favor to cost you at melee distance, whereas others will dangle again and attempt to get a peak benefit, raining down gobs of acid.
What I’ll notice, then, is that spatial consciousness is essential to success. Origins’ maps (from what I’ve performed up to now, at the least) are designed with at the least two vertical layers. A coordinated staff of three undoubtedly has the very best probability of success right here, as you’ll probably must name out precedence threats and divvy up the staff’s consideration primarily based on particular person characters’ talent units.
One class, for instance, felt excellent for melee fight. Their abilities allowed them to buff their very own harm. One other appeared higher centered on crowd management, capable of spawn boundaries to limit enemy actions. In isolation, it’s all fairly easy stuff, however in a co-op setting, the synergies these abilities supplied undoubtedly enhanced the enjoyable issue.
Welcome to the jungle
General mission development was pretty easy, as we progressed from a dense jungle to a hidden temple, earlier than dealing with off towards a colossal cyborg stegosaurus (sure, actually) in a big round area. Aims ranged from merely activating a set of nodes to killing a sure variety of enemies.
The fundamental nature of those targets appears fantastic for the early sport, however what had me extra involved was the extent design itself. Environments (particularly exteriors) are fairly, but in addition considerably maze-like and repetitive in nature. I additionally couldn’t assist however notice that it was simple to lose sight of enemies amongst the thick foliage, leaving myself open to a number of shock assaults. Although truthfully, this might effectively be intentional on the developer’s half.
What’s much more annoying than that was that the environments felt overly darkish. It may effectively have been the screens we have been enjoying on, after all, however an general lack of sunshine sources definitely didn’t assist when it got here to recognizing enemies or targets.
Fortunately, issues picked up once more after we went towards the aforementioned stegosaurus boss. The towering creature had loads of armor and wasn’t afraid to actually throw its weight round.
My staff needed to actually grapple with the mechanics of the struggle, loosening its armor to reveal weak factors for larger sums of injury. On that entrance, saving highly effective abilities for after we wanted them most was essential. If a teammate goes down, you’ll be able to revive them, however that might be tough in such an intense battle.
To assist issues alongside, ammo is a common useful resource throughout all weapons, refillable by ingesting yellow vegetation strewn throughout the battlefield. Nonetheless, this too (together with the blue-hued therapeutic vegetation) is a restricted useful resource in itself. So we nonetheless needed to be cautious to not play too quick and free with our assets and our lives.
Thus far, Turok: Origins looks like it’ll be an gratifying expertise for 3 associates. I’m not too positive it’ll maintain up fairly as effectively in solo play (which is supported), and I hope that ranges and targets get extra formidable as the sport progresses. However I undoubtedly can be eager to play extra when it will definitely launches on PlayStation 5, Xbox Collection X|S, and PC.
