Credit: Universal PicturesThe Jurassic Park franchise appears to be on the verge of its third heyday.
The first, of course, came when the original 1993 film stomped into theaters and changed cinema as we know it. In 2015, Jurassic World breathed new life into the then-seemingly-extinct IP, spawning an entirely new era for the multi-media franchise.
But since the latest sequel, Jurassic World Dominion (2022), which grossed over $1B at the global box office, things have simmered down. Now, yet another new “Jurassic” era is about to begin. While the new Netflix animated series Jurassic World: Chaos Theory (2024) has already premiered, there’s still a lot to be excited about.
Not only is Jurassic World 4 (2025) in production, with a targeted release date of July 2, 2025, a second season of Chaos Theory has just been ordered by Netflix.
There are also two video games in development: one, the third entry in the “Jurassic World Evolution” series, and the other, a direct sequel to Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park (1993).
Regardless of the fact there’s a seventh movie in development with Marvel alum Scarlett Johansson starring as one of the leads, the upcoming video game “Jurassic Park: Survival” (TBA) is shaping up to be one of the most exciting entries in the franchise to date.
Set just 24 hours after the first film, the first-person action-adventure game will invite fans back to the beloved Jurassic Park era, long before Universal Pictures slapped “Jurassic World” on everything (including plastic lunchboxes).
Check out the official trailer below, per Jurassic World YouTube:
The pulse-pounding cinematic trailer teases a nostalgic trip down memory lane — which, in the case of Jurassic Park, is actually pretty terrifying. Expect rain-battered buildings, dark jungles, and, of course, loose InGen dinosaurs lurking at every turn.
Now, Universal and Saber Interactive have shared exclusively with IGN an “internal Q&A” for the upcoming game conducted with Universal Products & Experiences executive producer John Melchior and Saber Interactive creative director Oliver Hollis-Leick.
Hold onto your butts.
Related: ‘Jurassic Park’ Official Sequel: Everything We Know
The Q&A reveals a lot of new information, with Melchior promising Isla Nublar locations both familiar and new, saying, “We have been working with all our stakeholders on what the island would have looked like after the events of the film,” and Hollis-Leick confirming “new characters” and “special dinosaurs” while teasing the gameplay and the environments.
“The island is full of different types of terrain, many of them quite challenging,” he said of what players can expect from the game’s “fully realized Isla Nublar” (per the official website).
“The player will need to use caution and planning in some cases, checking routes in advance,” he added. “There will also be times when the player will need to move very carefully through an environment to avoid the attention of certain predators.”
As for the character Dr. Maya Joshi, an InGen scientist who has been accidentally left to her own devices on the island after the evacuation, Hollis-Leick said she “is neither superhuman nor an action hero,” adding, “There are real risks for her around every corner and the player will need to use a mixture of intelligence, grit and patience to survive the island’s many challenges.”
Speaking of some of those challenges — specifically those of the genetically engineered and prehistoric variety — the IGN exclusive also includes new screenshots and concept art from the game, which include an ominous shot of the original T-Rex in a dark jungle clearing, and a shot of three Velociraptors against a dark backdrop.
Yes, three. Which makes no sense.
In the 1993 film, we watch — with unblinking eyes, we might add — as the mighty T-Rex, hero of the hour, lays waste to two Velociraptors. The third one? It was locked in the kitchen freezer by Lex Murphy (Ariana Richards) and Tim Murphy (Joe Mazzello) minutes before.
While the trailer for “Jurassic Park: Survival” suggests that the freezer-raptor somehow manages to escape (we figure they either now know how to lift latches using telekinesis, or some unlucky soul went snooping for ice cream), this still doesn’t account for the other two.
Related: All 4 Upcoming ‘Jurassic Park’/’Jurassic World’ Sequels Explained
Did these two raptors survive the T-Rex attack? We’ll spare you moments of consideration: NO. “Rexy”, as she’s more affectionately known by fans, absolutely killed those two raptors. So what does this new image mean? Are these three raptors, or at least two of them, different to the pack in the film?
We know from The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) that there’s a second island, Site B/Isla Sorna, where the dinosaurs are bred before being moved to Isla Nublar. Was there a new shipment at the docks on Isla Nublar that was forgotten about during all the chaos? Or were there always more than three raptors on the island?
If the latter turns out to be the case, it would be inconsistent with the 1993 film. While there are, of course, several more dinosaurs that exist off-screen, park warden Robert Muldoon (Bob Peck) says of the raptors during the tour, “We bred eight originally, but when she [the pack leader] came in she took over the pride and killed all but two of the others.”
That said, it’s possible the game is drawing on some ideas from the original 1990 novel by Michael Crichton, which reveals that there are raptors breeding in the wild on Isla Nublar.
But maybe we need to think outside the box.
This screenshot may be related to a “flashback” of some sort, perhaps detailing the moments leading up to the death of Ray Arnold (Samuel L Jackson), the park’s chain-smoking chief engineer who recklessly leaves the Visitor Center during the power-outage to restore power to the fences from the maintenance shed nearby.
Of course, Arnold had no idea the raptors had already broken out of their “pit”, although it’s unclear in the film at which point they escape. Was it before he made his way to the maintenance shed in the jungle, or afterwards? Either way, seeing this unfold in the game would be pretty neat.
If a sequence like this does appear in the game — whether you’re able to control Arnold or not — who knows, its purpose could be to show us that he actually survived the raptor attack, despite losing an arm as seen in the film.
As Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) once said, “Boy, do we hate being right all the time.”
Related: ‘Jurassic World 4’ Everything We Know: Plot, Cast, Release Date, Trailer, and News
Universal and Saber have confirmed that the game won’t be released in 2024. For more information about “Jurassic Park: Survival”, visit the official website.
Are you excited about “Jurassic Park: Survival”? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!