While Jurassic World Evolution has proven to be one of the best park management games, many Jurassic World fans have wanted something more action-packed. That almost happened with Jurassic World: Survivor, while Jurassic World: Rebirth takes audiences back to the action and horror that made the original film famous. As such, many fans may be longing for a similar gaming experience.
Jurassic World: Survivor should not be confused with upcoming horror game Jurassic Park: Survival. Survivor was a survival action-adventure game set on Isla Nublar, where players had to evade dinosaurs that hunted them. The game was in development from 2014 until it was ultimately cancelled sometime after 2017. Over the years, both fans and developers have revealed various details about what the game would have been like. At various stages, it could have been a third-person survival game or a first-person one, depending on which studio was working on it. It would have filled in that same action/horror vibe in any iteration, at least it would seem.
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Jurassic World: Survivor Went Through Two Studios Before Going Extinct
In 2014, a Reddit post revealed that Cryptic Studios Seattle was developing a Jurassic World game to coincide with the film’s release. As a third-person game featuring crafting, comparable to H1Z1, the open-world dinosaur game came to an end when the studio closed. This led to its detailed assets being shared online later, which no doubt made a lot of fans sad to see. It clearly had promise, which may also be a factor in Splash Damage taking over the project. Renamed Project Raptor, this version of the game would have had first-person gameplay and an original custom character created by the player surviving on the dinosaur-infested island.
Project Raptor was set weeks after the fall of Jurassic World on Isla Nublar, as detailed by Jurassic Outpost, and players would have scavenged and survived while encountering various human and dinosaur threats. It has been described as a game like Left 4 Dead but with dinosaurs, which is an incredibly strong pitch for fans of the franchise. Some of the confirmed dinosaur species included Tyrannosaurus Rex, Velociraptors, Baryonyx, Suchomimus, Pteranodon, Apatosaurus, Stegosaurus, Ankylosaurus, and more. Additionally, a render of Chris Pratt’s character, Owen Grady, was revealed, suggesting he may have served as a quest giver or something like that.
Splash Damage’s version of Jurassic World: Survivor appears to have disappeared completely, as there has been no update in years. Given the success of survival games like ARK: Survival Evolved, this game could have arguably tapped into that success easily. The first Jurassic World movie became a major box office hit, demonstrating the staying power of dinosaurs, and some of that attention would have likely ended up on Survivor.
Jurassic Park: Survival Might Be The Closest Alternative
There has been a lack of quality games in the Jurassic World franchise, with the most recent being 2020’s Jurassic World: Aftermath. Unfortunately, the bar for entry there was considerably higher than most games since it was a VR title (except the non-VR Switch version). Fortunately, this may change with Saber Interactive’s upcoming horror game Jurassic Park: Survival. This game is set one day after the events of the original Jurassic Park movie. Similar to Jurassic World: Rebirth, the goal is to return to the more straightforward thriller style of the first film, moving away from the sci-fi action vibe of the later Jurassic World movies.
On Isla Nublar, players will control an InGen worker named Dr. Maya Joshi who failed to evacuate the island and must now survive the massive dinosaur breakout alone against fan favorites like the T-Rex, Velociraptors, and the Dilophosaurus. Many fans have already started comparing it to Alien: Isolation because of its horror vibes, stalking monsters, and environmental factors. Hopefully, it delivers the same thrills as past dinosaur games like Dino Crisis.