Jurassic Park: Survival (TBA) is shaping up to be the closest the Jurassic franchise has come to recapturing the fear and suspense of the original 1993 film in almost 30 years.
Since it was announced during The Game Awards in December 2023 in the form of a cinematic trailer, the upcoming title from Saber Interactive has stood apart from the rest of the franchise because it isn’t focused on spectacle. Instead, it's set to throw players back onto Isla Nublar 24 hours after the events of Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park (1993).
That alone already makes it feel wildly different from the increasingly oversized direction of the later sequels.
Related: ‘Jurassic World 5' Will Draw Mixed Reactions Even Before Its Release : Disney Fanatic
Both Michael Crichton novels, Jurassic Park and The Lost World, were survival horror stories at heart. Spielberg carried much of that atmosphere into the first two films, Jurassic Park and The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), through slow-building tension, isolated settings, and sequences where characters were completely powerless against the dinosaurs.
But after The Lost World, the franchise slowly transformed into something else entirely. Dinosaur hybrids, military subplots, cloned humans, mutant creatures, and global extinction-level events became the new normal throughout the Jurassic World era.
There are now reports that another Jurassic sequel is already being discussed following last year's Jurassic World Rebirth, though nothing has been officially announced. If it happens, though, many fans expect Universal to continue chasing larger-scale spectacle rather than scaling things back.
That’s part of why excitement surrounding Jurassic Park: Survival has become so intense.
The game follows InGen scientist Maya Joshi, who becomes stranded on the island 24 hours after Jurassic Park falls apart. Players will explore familiar locations like the Visitor Center and the park gates and never-before-seen areas like hotel resorts and underground bunkers, all the while evading dinosaurs that have adaptive AI behaviors.
In short, Survival even looks and feels like a direct sequel to the original. And if anything's going to capture the tone of that first film, it's a video game set on the exact same island.
Jurassic Park: Survival Is Coming Soon
The official synopsis for the game states:
“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.”
Jurassic Park: Survival will be released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. No release date has been announced.
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