Turok is back, but it’s a third-person co-op shooter now

During The Game Awards 2024, Saber Interactive and Universal announced Turok: Origins, a brand-new entry in the legendary first-person shooter franchise about strong warriors who fight powerful dinosaurs.

Turok: Origins does look very fun and promising so far: The character designs are solid, the dinosaurs (and other prehistoric creatures) look threatening, and there’s a brilliant new gimmick centered on absorbing the dinosaur’s DNA in order to use their own abilities, as confirmed by Saber Interactive in the game’s official Steam page. Everything looked pretty good, but how it’ll go down is anyone’s guess after looking at the footage.

Weirdly enough, Turok: Origins is a third-person shooter instead of a first-person shooter like every previous game in the series. On top of that, this is not going to be a traditional single player adventure, but rather a multiplayer co-op game where players can team up to fight hordes of enemies. Fan reaction to this announcement has been quite divisive so far, with many claiming that this is not exactly what they wanted, although others remain optimistic that Turok: Origins has the potential to be quite fun. If anything, most of them are glad that the series is finally back.

The Turok series really needed a proper comeback

Image via Saber Interactive/Steam

Turok is a really fun and unique franchise about fighting dinosaurs and other prehistoric beasts, and it used to be one of the staples of the FPS genre, especially during the 90s. The original trilogy is made up of Dinosaur Hunter, Rage Wars and Shadow of Oblivion, amazing first-person shooters that fortunately are now available on modern consoles.

But the Turok IP slowly died down during the beginning of the millennium, and the divisive reception of 2003’s Turok Evolution certainly didn’t help. To make things even worse, in 2008, Propaganda Games and Disney Interactive Studios released a reboot that had nothing to do with the previous games, simply titled Turok. This reboot also received mixed to negative reviews, and it’s single-handedly responsible for killing the franchise for a very long time.

The Turok IP kept appearing here and there during the late 2010s and early 2020s, with the occasional spin-off, like the now delisted Escape from the Lost Valley or the aforementioned remasters of the original trilogy, but it was never the same. Until now, because Universal Studios Interactive Entertainment owns the rights to the franchise, and they collaborated with Saber Interactive in order to create this fascinating new co-op experience. There are reasons to remain skeptic but, regardless of how good or bad Turok: Origins turns out to be, it’s great that a franchise as iconic as this one is finally back from the dead.

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