Nestled in the indie section of PAX East 2023, a game called Primal Omen was stuck between several other games, and if you had merely glanced down the aisle, you would have missed it. This would have been a big mistake as this game is doing something that fans of the ill-forgotten series from Capcom, Dino Crisis, may be interested in.
Fans of Capcom’s Dino Crisis have been begging for a follow-up or a remake of the series; it just hasn’t happened yet. However, there still might be some hope, as a developer known as Sean Herron is working on a game called Primal Omen, similar to Dino Crisis. His name should sound familiar, as Sean has worked as a level designer for several AAA games, including Dead Island 2 and Hogwarts Legacy. Now, he’s trying his hand at being an indie developer.
The game is being called a “modern survival horror” experience, inspired by Dino Crisis, Resident Evil, and Jurassic Park. So far, I think he and his team are off to a decent start. Sean has some lofty plans for the game, and as of PAX East 2023, he is looking for a publisher.
The timed demo at PAX East 2023 introduced the game and had players attempting to get past several Velociraptors. It was pretty short if you were familiar with this type of game, and while I’m not flexing, I managed to clear the demo in about 5 minutes. Armed with a handgun, you’d travel through a jungle, eventually making it to a complex ravaged by various dinosaurs, leaving no one alive. Tasked with getting through the complex, several Velociraptors surround you, and you’d have to figure out to get past them. Once that was done, a Triceratops busted through a warehouse door, and the demo ended.
I enjoyed it, despite the demo being rough. The player’s and dinosaur’s animations were incomplete, as were many other things out of place. I would have also liked to have seen a better variety of dinos, but again this was a demo, so I get it. This demo game a general idea of the direction that Primal Omen is headed. I’d imagine this was an early build that was put together for PAX East. I wanted to speak with the people at the booth, but it was noisy and hectic, and they were also busy trying to court a publisher. I really hope they get one so this game can become more fleshed out, and we (hopefully) get a worth contended to the Dino Crisis throne, seeing how Capcom has all but forgotten the game.
It’s been a while since anyone has attempted a single-player experience game that featured dinosaurs as the baddies. There were also shades of Dino Crisis in the game, especially given that the main character is an unnamed heroine with red hair. This makes sense since the game, again, has been influenced by Dino Crisis.
The game has potential, and I look forward to seeing the finished product. More than anything, I want this to be good, and thus I have my fingers crossed. There’s no release date Primal Omen game, and I doubt we’ll see or hear much about it until a publisher is found. If you want more information about Primal Omen, head over to the Steam page and Sean Herron’s Twitter page.
I wasn’t able to record any footage of the demo, so this Primal Omen reveal trailer will have to do.