Phaser Lock Interactive, the VR studio behind Final Assault (2019) and Twisted Arrow (2017), announced the release date for Primal Hunt, its upcoming co-op dinosaur hunting game which pits you against a Jurassic Park’s worth of the mighty beasts.

Update (December 22nd, 2022): Primal Hunt is slated to arrive on Quest 2 and Pico headsets starting January 19th, 2023. The game is also targeting Vive Focus, however the studio hasn’t mentioned whether it’s launching concurrently on that headset.

Additionally, Phaser Lock threw out a new trailer which shows off some of its archery-based gameplay. The studio says that as you progress, dinosaurs become even more deadly with the inclusion of cybernetic implants, armor, and weapons such as machine guns, rocket launchers, and the lethal ion cannon—something that ought to up the ante as you encounter all of its different dinosaur species.

Original Article (September 7th, 2022): Called Primal Hunt, the cross-platform co-op game gives you a variety of armor and weapons as you track down and fight the deadliest creatures to have ever walked the Earth.

The game, which is inspired by the Turok series and TV show Westworld, is slated to land on Meta Quest 2, HTC Vive Focus, and Pico headsets sometime in early 2023.

The studio also released a short teaser video (below the article) and a few images, showing off what looks to be a bow-heavy hunting experience that features plenty of pushback from the native fauna.

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Image courtesy Phaser Lock Interactive
Image courtesy Phaser Lock Interactive
Image courtesy Phaser Lock Interactive
Image courtesy Phaser Lock Interactive
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There’s still much to learn about Primal Hunt. Here’s how Phaser Lock describes it on the game’s website:

Face the ferocity of a pack of Raptors, the strength and power of a Triceratops, and the terror of coming face to face with a 30-ft Tyrannosaurus Rex, all in VR!

With a variety of armor and weapons at your disposal, you are poised to become the ultimate hunter…if you can survive. As you master each challenge, your prey will also become more dangerous as they are outfitted with advanced cybernetic enhancements and weapons, including carbine machine guns, rocket launchers, and more!

The studio promises that more information is coming, and that’s there’s also the possibility of a closed beta coming at some point this year.

We’ll be keeping our eyes out for all things Primal Hunt as Phaser Lock promotes its first game in the past three years since it launched Final Assault out of Early Access of PC VR headsets in 2019.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 3,500 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Sven Viking

    For a moment I thought the headline was announcing a VR Vet game where you treat dinosaurs.

    • That actually sounds entertaining! Somebody get on that.

    • Sven Viking

      (The headline has changed since I wrote this. It was something like “VR Vet’s Dino Game…”)

  • Jonathan Winters III

    That’s one hell of a confusing mouthful of a headline.

  • Vanessa Cadwallader

    Can mojo vision contacts be attached to the bone making it impossible to remove without surgery

  • Nevets

    I’ve almost forgotten what good VR graphics look like. The dinosaur that marches up the corridor toward you in the old Oculus Dreamdeck is, to me, the blueprint for what we ought to expect in a VR dino game. Not these single-digit-poly mockups. The hardware limitations of Quest are largely insurmountable, but let’s hope the rot doesn’t extend to all Psvr2 games. There are already a worrying number of mobile conversions heading to the latter, but Sony’s hardware is capable of PC-grade VR, so let’s hope there’s enough interest to encourage devs to take the gamble. Let’s see some real dinos!

  • Runesr2

    Worst graphics ever, lol – look like the Turok game made for PC in 1997.

    • Octogod

      Well yes, your phone is not required to run at 72 frame per second, not dropping a single frame, while tracking multiple bluetooth controllers.

      That said, I think the Turok style is 100% intentional. They even cribbed the gradient fog!

      • Runesr2

        You don’t understand – do let me explain, the new high-end phones have faster gpus than the old Adreno 650 (part of the XR2) in the Quest 2. The extremely poor capabilities of the standalone Quest 2 is an insult to VR.

        Are you awere that the 1.2 tflops of the Adreno 650 are a mere of 3 (three) percent of the 36 tflops of a RTX 3090? So I’m running like 30 Quest 2s in parallel when I enter proper VR ;-) That’s something to consider.

        Don’t defend the Quest 2 garbage – there’s nothing to defend. 2c.

        • MeowMix

          and 2023 will bring the next generation of VR, with the Quest3 bumping up to 3 TFlops; now surpassing the Rift min spec. This should make for much better standalone VR titles.

          Jesus …. I have a 30 TFlop RTX 3080, and I’m playing mostly Quest titles because graphics are only 1 part of the experience; another big part are the game mechanics. That’s where games like Hubris (your GOTY) falls short – great eye candy that makes your RTX card fan ramp up to 90%, but the actual gameplay falls short.

          Lets celebrate GREAT GAMEPLAY.

          • duked

            Great gameplay gets so much better with great graphics – at least if you’re sick’n tired of the same low poly models.

    • MeowMix

      what happened to you Rune ? You used to be a likeable user on the Oculus forums, that was good natured and respectful with your comments.

      Now you’re just spewing toxicity left and right. Maybe too much time in r/ValveIndex and r/VirtualReality. Please get out of the bubble and go back to the old Rune that was likeable and valued real discussion.

      • duked

        Toxicity is just another way of saying that you don’t share the same thoughts. If ValveIndex makes him realize just how good VR can be, then that’s a good thing.
        Unfortunatley, though, indie-graphics like these are what we have to get used to and be thankful of.