There was a point in the ’90s where we were spoiled for choice on dinosaur videogames. You had the Jurassic Park movie tie-ins, Dino Crisis, Primal Rage, and of course, Turok. These have now disappeared from the most part, much to our chagrin, but the latter is finally making a comeback in Turok: Origins, though looking a bit different than before.
During The Game Awards 2024, we got to see the first trailer for Turok: Origins, a new game based on the classic FPS franchise. This iteration is slightly different, in that it’s third-person rather than first, and it appears to more of a co-op game, with several warriors shown to be partaking in the requisite dinosaur hunting.
But apart from that, it’s just as bombastic as ever. The trailer has the three dino-hunters blasting their way through reptiles of all sorts in the jungle. A temple is seen towards the start, so odds are that’s your destination, probably in another race against time to stop a villain like the Campaigner from getting another dimension-threatening weapon.
Plasma rifles, shotguns, superpowers; the core ideas behind Turok are simple but effective, and it’s a welcome surprise to see the property come back with such a spring in its step. Each of the playable characters uses an exo-suit that can be upgraded through skills picked up from creatures you defeat, creating the possibility for all sorts of bizarre builds.
The last time we saw a fresh installment was an attempted reboot in 2008 that was a bit more self-serious and grounded and suffered for it. In between then and now, the original trilogy from the ’90s was remastered by Nightdive Studios, the outfit behind popular remasters such as The Thing, System Shock and Quake 2. They came out in 2015 to a strong reception, and now we finally something capitalizing on that success.
Saber Interactive, the developer of the excellent Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Marine 2, is behind Turok Origins, making this a truly enticing project indeed. Sadly, there’s no release window yet, but watch this space.
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