Jurassic Park: Survival resurfaces with a pre-alpha tease

Jurassic Park: Survival is still alive – but don’t expect it soon

This caught my attention because we’ve been waiting decades for a proper single-player Jurassic Park survival game that isn’t a management sim. Saber Interactive just dropped a six-minute behind-the-scenes video for Jurassic Park: Survival, pitched as a love letter to the 1993 film and set one day after the movie. It confirms the basics-PC, PS5, and Xbox Series, new protagonist Maya Joshi, Isla Nublar as the playground-but it dodges the one thing players want most: actual gameplay and a release window. The footage shown is pre-alpha, which is polite PR for “this is still a ways off.”

Key Takeaways

• Set immediately after the original film, with you playing scientist Maya Joshi—expect stealth and improvisation over heavy combat.
• A six-minute dev diary focuses on collaboration with Universal and screen-accurate locations, not systems or mechanics.
• Only pre-alpha snippets shown; no date or window. Temper expectations—this isn’t a 2025 game.
• Big potential if dinosaurs behave systemically (think Alien: Isolation), but that’s unproven here.

Breaking down the announcement

Saber’s video leans into authenticity. They’re recreating Isla Nublar’s landmarks—the visitor center, maintenance corridors, jungle paths—with an archivist’s eye. That’s catnip for fans who can pinpoint the exact angle of the T. rex paddock shot. The studio also highlights close coordination with Universal, which usually means access to original schematics, props, and audio references. If the goal is to make you feel like you slipped back onto the island after the film’s evacuation, the ingredients are there.

What’s missing is a clear sense of how this plays. The pre-alpha slices are blink-and-you-miss-it: lighting tests, environmental passes, and quick cuts of first-person movement. No UI. No sustained sequences showing how you evade a raptor, manage noise, or navigate power outages. It’s classic “dev diary before gameplay” energy. I get why—pre-alpha is messy—but it leaves us with promises and production values instead of mechanics to chew on.

Why this could actually work

The setup is promising. By casting you as a scientist rather than a soldier, the game signals a stealth-survival tone that fits Jurassic Park better than gunplay ever did. The best moments in the film weren’t firefights—they were trembling cups, malfunctioning flashlights, and clever use of the environment. If Saber leans into systemic tension—sound propagation, scent and visibility cones, dynamic dinosaur AI—it could channel the same panic that made Alien: Isolation a classic, only with pack-hunting raptors and a roaming apex predator that you cannot face head-on.

Saber also has tech chops. The studio made its name on sturdy, scalable engines and shipped games with big creature counts and complex environments (World War Z and SnowRunner come to mind). Translating that know-how into convincing dinosaur behavior—herding, ambush tactics, territorial patrols—would set this apart from the usual theme-park nostalgia tour. The premise practically writes scenarios: restoring power to a sector while a raptor stalks ventilation routes, navigating storm-soaked maintenance tunnels with unreliable comms, or luring a Dilophosaurus away using motion sensors and timed distractions.

Red flags to watch

All that said, the emphasis on “faithful recreation” can be a double-edged raptor claw. Perfectly matching the movie’s sets is great for screenshots, but if the design stops at accurate hallways, you end up with museum-grade environments instead of playgrounds for emergent gameplay. The tension lives or dies on AI and systems, not on how exact the signage font is.

The other concern is timing. Announced at The Game Awards 2023 and still in pre-alpha now, this project clearly isn’t near the finish line. That’s fine—take the time to get it right—but I’d rather see one solid five-minute stealth encounter than another mood piece. Also, Saber needs to show how variety is maintained across the campaign. Survival horror can turn into “crouch, toss bottle, crawl, repeat” without escalating tools, evolving enemy behaviors, and mission structures that push you out of your comfort zone.

Finally, the franchise baggage looms large. Jurassic Park games have mostly thrived as management sims (Frontier’s Evolution series) while narrative-driven outings haven’t always stuck the landing—Telltale’s 2011 attempt is a reminder of how quickly tension evaporates with clumsy pacing. If Saber wants to be the exception, it needs confident, systemic design, not QTE escapes and canned cutscenes.

What gamers need to know

• No release date or window. Plan on a long wait.
• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S.
• Positioning: single-player survival set one day after the 1993 film, starring Maya Joshi.
• Current proof: a behind-the-scenes look, pre-alpha footage, heavy focus on authenticity over mechanics.

I’m rooting for this. A tightly executed Jurassic Park survival game—minimal HUD, rich audio design, unpredictable dinosaur behavior—would be an instant wishlist add. But the next update needs to earn trust with uninterrupted gameplay that shows stealth, tools, and AI interacting in real time. Show me a raptor learning from my tricks, a T. rex whose footsteps rewrite my plan, and a level that forces improvisation rather than scripted scares. That’s the difference between a museum tour and a classic.

TL;DR

Jurassic Park: Survival resurfaced with a glossy dev diary and pre-alpha glimpses, but no release timing. The premise—scientist protagonist, day-after-the-film Isla Nublar—has real potential. Now Saber needs to show systems-driven gameplay that proves the dinosaurs are as smart and scary as we remember.