Saber Interactive just announced their next big project, and they’re ready to address the skepticism that will revolve around it.
Turok: Origins is advertised from the onset as a reimagining of the franchise, coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Steam. They share this description on the game’s official website:
“Play as the legendary Turok warriors to face off against ferocious dinosaurs and a terrifying alien threat that seeks to destroy all human life in the galaxy. Unleash devastating attacks on your enemies with weapons and abilities, and harness fallen enemies’ DNA to upgrade your arsenal.
Embark on a high-stakes adventure — solo or with friends — to unravel mysteries that hold the key to saving humanity.”
The website also makes it clear that players can play solo or multiplayer, will have various melee weapons and guns, and will have a story unlock slowly in an alien world. It also says this about the DNA mechanic:
“Extract DNA from fallen foes and the environment to unlock game-changing powers that evolve your suit in real-time. Each DNA power not only enhances your look but also offers upgradeable skills and abilities to give you an edge in combat.”
From that description, one can easily piece together that Saber is building on what they accomplished with Warhammer: Space Marine 2. It’s easy to see that there would be Turok fans who would take offense to it as well. So, it would make sense for Saber to address it as soon as they could.
Turok: Origins’ game director Jesus Iglesias shared this statement to GamesRadar:
“If there’s one thing we know how to do at Saber, it’s how to treat games based on well-known IPs respectfully, and Turok: Origins is no exception.
Space Marine 2 players have experienced the quality and production values that are standard at Saber, and they can be found in Turok: Origins as well. We hope that a compelling narrative and great single player and co-op gameplay will also appeal to players who enjoyed Space Marine 2.”
Well, that might not please everyone, but it would be somewhat foolhardy to allude to a classic or original Turok that this new game is betraying. Turok was originally published by Western Publishing, the same publisher of the Little Golden Books, in a Gold Key comic from 1954.
Turok has passed hands through several comic book publishers through the decades, across Valiant, Dark Horse, Dynamite, and of course, has a huge video game legacy. In the same way that the Valiant series supersedes all the other comic book versions, the first three video games by Iguana Entertainment on Windows and Nintendo 64 are the games everyone remembers the best.
Saber Interactive is unlikely to erase that memory of N64 Turok, but they do make it clear that they just want to make a new Turok game everyone would like to play. That’s as good a basis for a return as anything.
