‘Jurassic Park: Survival’ Is Everything I’ve Ever Wanted in a Game

There were a lot of big announcements to come out of Thursday night’s Game Awards but for me personally, nothing was more exciting than seeing the trailer for Saber Interactive’s new game, Jurassic Park: Survival.

Saber Interactive has an extensive track record of well-received games based on existing franchises, including The Witcher, World War Z, and Evil Dead. Now they’re turning their sights on the Jurassic Park franchise and while I’m trying not to let my hopes soar too high, well, it’s hard after watching this announcement trailer:

This is everything I’ve ever wanted in a Jurassic Park game

Here’s the plot description of Jurassic Park: Survival via Saber’s website:

Return to Isla Nublar the day after the events of the beloved 1993 Jurassic Park film in an original adventure 65 million years in the making.

Survive thrilling first-person action as InGen scientist Dr. Maya Joshi, who was unable to evacuate Isla Nublar, in this single-player action-adventure game and discover a never-before-told story.   

Through thrilling encounters, experience the wonder and danger of dinosaurs, each with their own distinct and adaptive behaviors brought to life by John Hammond’s vision.

That’s right, the game takes place in the immediate aftermath of the first (entirely perfect) movie. After the dinosaurs break out and go on their disastrous rampage, it turns out, not everyone made it off the island.

Here, we play as Dr. Maya Joshi, an InGen scientist who was left behind. The trailer shows Joshi running around the island, fighting for survival, and also has some fantastic references to the original film, including a nod to the kitchen scene that terrified a generation of children, and the iconic T-rex roar.

The Jurassic Park franchise has expanded massively in the 30 years since its launch. It’s gone to some fun and interesting places but nothing has ever even come close to comparing to that original film. I don’t expect this game to recapture that magic but I’m so excited to revisit that story from this new angle.

What will this game be like to play?

There’s only a tiny snippet of actual gameplay shown at the end of the trailer but it looks fun—and scary!—as hell.

Saber promises the game will allow players to explore “a fully realized Isla Nublar filled with reactive wildlife, dinosaurs, and other surprising threats.” This is clearly going to be an action-packed game but we’ll also have to find “intelligent solutions” to “outsmart, escape, and interact with the film’s iconic dinosaurs.”

The game drew immediate comparisons to Alien: Isolation, a stellar 2014 game from Sega that has you playing as Ellen Ripley’s daughter Amanda, an engineer trying to survive being hunted on a deserted space station.

When can we play Jurassic Park: Survival?

Not soon enough! So far there’s no release date announced for Jurassic Park: Survival. When it does come out, it will be available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

(featured image: Saber Interactive)