The upcoming video game Jurassic Park: Survival is in active development, and this week IGN got an exclusive look at the game and unveiled some brand new concept art and in-game screenshots! Their exclusive reveal also included new information about the game plus some hints at the plot, characters, dinosaurs and a whole lot more.
A summary of the new information shared by IGN:
- Jurassic Park: Survival will unfortunately not be released in 2024
- Brand new locations will feature that weren’t seen in the original movie
- Maya Joshi won’t be the only character in this game
- There is a chance that non-movie dinosaurs will feature
- Jurassic Park is Universal’s “most requested game”
With many a tease leading up to Summer Game Fest, Jurassic Park: Survival was expected to make an appearance – with most of us assuming a new trailer would play during the Xbox portion of the event. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be, but thanks to an IGN exclusive on the anniversary of Jurassic Park’s release, we have a new behind-the-scenes look at the game.
Included within the update was concept art that shows us new areas of the island that we might be able to explore. Also included were some new in-game screenshots – a first for this title. It’s important to mention that concept art doesn’t confirm it will appear in the game, but it’s a pretty good sign that it might.
The first piece of concept art shows us an InGen building marked A1, a sort-of bunker and the Communications tower on Isla Nublar. A Jurassic Park staff jeep is parked outside, the doors wide open. A beautiful rainy night captures the island we know so perfectly, this must be the night of the storm…
You might recognize this building as the one from Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom! It’s the radio tower bunker that was first featured in that movie. The structure itself – built on Kualoa Ranch in Oahu – was part of the original Jurassic Park, but repurposed by Jurassic World staff to track the islands’ dinosaurs.
What we are now seeing is that same – or what we assume is the same – dilapidated radio tower, but back in its prime at Jurassic Park in 1993. This is pretty damn cool and for fans of Fallen Kingdom, an awesome way to connect the two movies.
Next up is an even cooler piece that will resonate with most fans: Maya Joshi rushing down the river in a yellow dinghy being pursued by two raptors.
A scene originally planned for the first movie and similar to moments in the first novel featuring Dr. Grant, Tim, and Lex navigating down the river while being pursued by a T. rex. The scene never made it to production but Jurassic Park: Survival represents the perfect opportunity to bring it to life. Just the thought of having to navigate a boat of some kind down this river while being pursued by the escaped dinosaurs of Jurassic Park is very exciting.
IGN also shared a few in-game screenshots from the Alpha stage of development.
We see the tropical jungle of Nublar and a stealthily approaching T. rex, three Velociraptors stalking in the night, seemingly as a pack, and then something different – the theatre. The rotating theatre from Jurassic Park in which multiple John Hammonds and Mr. DNA explain InGen’s miracle of dinosaur cloning.
We knew as much but now we see it, in-game: We will be able to walk through the Visitors Center’s many buildings and attractions. This is a fantastic aspect of this game, and is something fans have wanted since the movie was released!
These updates didn’t make everyone happy – the anticipation for a new trailer was real, but this establishes something important. The game might not be as far along as we all thought, and that is okay. More time for the game to be the best it can be is a good thing.
But the game still looks promising, and is still promising to deliver all of the things that Jurassic fans have wanted for a long time, as IGN details in their article.
While there is a lot to unpack, the information they’ve shared is all positive and it’s hard not to remain excited. We wish they could have confirmed whether or not the game will be open world, but either way it sounds like survival will be the key, as the name implies. Here’s hoping Alien: Isolation is an inspiration for them.
Saber has a lot to live up to with how long for this type of Jurassic Park game to come to fruition, and they surely understand that. That being said, let’s not push and let’s not force them in any way to rush because this game deserves the time to develop correctly. Wherever they are in the development phase right now, the first trailer holds a lot of promises for what Survival is going to be. It makes sense that the development is still going to take a while. The game will not be out in 2024, that much we know. It’s more than likely now going to be late 2025 or sometime in 2026.
But we’ll have plenty of new Jurassic to consume between now and then!
This tease from IGN was awesome, and as much as it feels like a bit of a response to the lack of appearance at Game Fest, it’s exciting just to hear and see more about the game! It’s in development, it’s on track, and it’s looking great!
Sort of brings to mind the kind of updates we got for… Jurassic Park: Survival… back in the day…
How excited are you to play this video game and what did you think about this update? Let us know in the comments, and stay tuned for more news!