My nostalgia for Turok begins and ends with 1997’s Turok: Dinosaur Hunter for Nintendo 64. Few things were cooler to 10-year-old me than shooting dinosaurs – or really dinosaurs in general – but I never engaged with the franchise beyond this title. Chalk it up to a lack of interest after hitting middle school, but I still raised a curious eyebrow when a new game resurfaced in an attempt to revive the franchise’s video game relevance. That has yet to happen since the N64 era, but Turok: Origins may be the best shot the series has had in decades.
Developer Saber Interactive has reimagined Turok as an Unreal Engine 5 shooter that can be played alone or in co-op with up to two other players. I played the game in the latter form during Summer Game Fest, partnering with two other media members. The game is a prequel set many years before the 1997 game, starring futuristic warriors from the ancient Order of the Turok battling the Xenia, a race of alien reptilians vying for dominance across the universe. This means completing missions across several planets, many of which are inhabited by dangerous wildlife, including the series’ staple threat, dinosaurs.
Across a roughly 12-hour story campaign, players blast through alien wildlife as one of three classes: Cougar, Bison, or Raven. Cougar is the weapons specialist ideal for offense-minded players; Bison is the vanguard offering defensive options; Raven favors ranged attacks. Despite their differences, all three classes pack plenty of firepower.
During the two missions I played, I tried out the Cougar and Bison. Teams can feature multiple players using the same class, so if you want a flock of Ravens, you can do that. According to game designer Carlos de Maria Castillo, Turok: Origins has been balanced to accommodate all class combinations and synergies. Castillo also touts that each class is highly customizable in terms of weapon loadouts, so even two players sharing the same class can feel distinct from each other.
If you’d rather play solo, Turok: Origins offers a fully offline single-player experience; you won’t be given bots to make up for a lack of teammates. Co-op play features drop-in/drop-out, and the game adjusts to teammates with different states of progression. Players keep everything they earn while playing co-op, such as currency and upgrade resources, to take back into their game. “You don’t feel like you’re wasting your time when playing [with] two other people that are maybe more advanced in the story,” says Castillo.
Turok: Origins can be played in first- or third-person; switching between perspectives is a button press away. I played each mission from both viewpoints, and I had a good time regardless, so the choice comes down to preference.
That leads into my larger compliment: Turok: Origins is very fun to play. Sporting three weapons for each class, the gunplay feels good, and gunning down waves of incoming raptors, giant insects, and Xenia warriors is a good time. The Cougar carries a shotgun-like blaster, while the Raven can fire a bow with exploding laser arrows. Each class also sports four special abilities that operate on a cooldown. The Bison can create a protective barrier for teammates to huddle under, and the Cougar can unleash a powerful sonic scream like Banshee from X-Men. When enemies are near death, they become vulnerable to an execution finishing move.
In the midst of mowing down targets, smaller objectives can surface. In the first mission, we needed to disable several shield generators to expose a larger target, for example. Large boss fights, such as a rampaging Tyrannosaurus Rex armed with rocket launchers on its back, require coordination. Against these bigger foes, using a scanner can reveal weak points to home in on.
As you race from objective to objective, taking time to explore can uncover secrets, including hidden areas, special enemy encounters, and collectibles such as weapon skins. Platforming challenges complement the firefights. Some revolve around using a grapple hook to zip across gaps and hazards. One mission inside an ancient temple tasked us with leaping across waterwheel platforms without falling to the watery depths below.
Missions are designed to be highly replayable, according to Castillo. “There are plenty of planets, and some planets you have multiple quests on, and then you come back to them, to different parts of them, because you know they’re very big,” he tells me. Castillo promises a substantial endgame that includes a new difficulty option that unlocks post-game, as well as enduring progression systems. He also confirms Saber has post-launch content planned.
While there is an overarching narrative that Castillo says fits organically within the Turok mythos, I’d be lying if I said that, as I coordinated with my teammates, cheered when we took down a tough opponent, and laughed when someone mistimed a jump, I cared about the narrative. It remains to be seen if Turok: Origins tells a compelling story, but playing it gave me flashbacks to blasting through Outriders with two friends; I could not confidently tell you what happened in that game’s story because it was more fun to shoot things while chatting with my buddies about literally anything else. I can already see Turok: Origins becoming our next “hangout game”, and the demo, frankly, was more fun than I expected it to be going into it. The strong gunplay, fun abilities, and, if you desire it, enjoyable co-op position Turok: Origins as a potential sleeper hit for shooter fans this year.