Jurassic Park: Survival – What We Know So Far

A Return to Isla Nublar

Jurassic Park: Survival is a title steeped in nostalgia and ambition. Developed by Saber Interactive and published by Universal Games, this new entry in the long-dormant Jurassic Park game lineage aims to do what many before it have failed to: deliver an authentic, tense, and story-driven experience set in the original Jurassic Park timeline. Unlike previous games in the franchise, which leaned into theme park management, arcade shooters, or dino-brawling action, Survival is shaping up to be a focused single-player survival horror game. One that leans heavily on mood, suspense, and the slow dread of being hunted in the dark by creatures that should not exist.

What immediately separates Jurassic Park: Survival from its predecessors is its placement in the timeline. This isn’t a sequel, a reboot, or a park simulator. This game takes place directly after the events of the original 1993 film. Isla Nublar has been evacuated. The dinosaurs roam free. The systems have failed. The park has become a tomb of glass, steel, and concrete overrun by prehistoric giants. And somewhere in that chaos, a lone woman has been left behind.

The Protagonist: Dr. Maya Joshi

Players take on the role of Dr. Maya Joshi, a scientist who was working at the park during the events of the original disaster. While most staff members were evacuated, Maya was left behind, and now must navigate the broken infrastructure of Jurassic Park to survive. Maya is not a soldier, not a mercenary, and not a genetically enhanced hero. She is a researcher. Smart, resourceful, and human. This choice grounds the experience in tension and vulnerability. The game is about survival, not domination.

Trailers show Maya creeping through overgrown visitor centers, crawling under collapsed fences, and hiding beneath desks while velociraptors stalk the corridors. Her tools are improvised. Her knowledge of the park’s systems is her greatest asset. Terminals, ventilation systems, and backdoors into secure facilities become lifelines. The emphasis is not on fighting dinosaurs, but avoiding them.

Gameplay Focus: Stealth, Exploration, and Puzzle Solving

Jurassic Park: Survival is being developed in Unreal Engine 5 and is described as a narrative-driven survival game with stealth and puzzle mechanics. From what’s been shown, the gameplay draws heavily from classic survival horror design. Think Alien: Isolation with dinosaurs. The player is rarely safe, and the environment itself is as much of a challenge as the creatures within it.

Stealth plays a key role. Maya can hide, distract, and create noise, but direct confrontation with larger dinosaurs is a death sentence. Enemies have dynamic behavior, reacting to movement, light, and sound. Velociraptors are shown patrolling in coordinated groups, while a lone T. rex dominates entire biomes of the island. Environmental storytelling plays a major role, with the remnants of the original park—banners, maps, abandoned vehicles, and shattered enclosures—telling their own tragic tales.

The developers have emphasized that the dinosaurs are not just enemies. They are part of the world’s ecosystem. Players will encounter herbivores, scavengers, and predators. Some areas of the island may be safe at one moment, only to become hunting grounds hours later. The park is a living space, constantly shifting, adapting, and becoming more dangerous as the story unfolds.

Visual and Audio Direction

Visually, the game is aiming for a faithful recreation of Spielberg’s original film. Isla Nublar is rendered in painstaking detail. Familiar landmarks such as the Visitor Center, the Raptor Pen, and the East Dock have been recreated with cinematic realism. The lighting is moody and atmospheric, often forcing the player to rely on flashlights or flares. Storms roll in, reducing visibility and distorting audio cues. The jungle is dense, dark, and full of movement.

Audio is critical. The sound design borrows heavily from the film’s iconic cues, with distant dinosaur calls echoing through the trees. The flutter of wings. The snarl of a raptor in the dark. The heavy footfalls of something much larger approaching from behind. The developers have layered the audio with subtle environmental changes—rustling leaves, falling debris, malfunctioning machinery—to ensure that the player is always alert, always listening, and never fully at ease.

Story and Themes

At its core, Jurassic Park: Survival is about isolation. Maya is alone, trapped on an island that was never meant to be sustainable. The systems have failed. The dinosaurs are thriving. The communications are down. As Maya explores the island, she uncovers logs, emails, and emergency broadcasts that piece together the final moments of the evacuation. There is no rescue. There is only escape—or understanding.

Themes of corporate negligence, scientific overreach, and the arrogance of control return with full force. Players will encounter remnants of InGen’s operations, unfinished projects, secret labs, and ethically questionable experiments. The story explores not just survival, but responsibility. Maya was a part of the system that built Jurassic Park. Her journey is as much about self-reckoning as it is about staying alive.

The narrative will unfold in chapters, with flashbacks and hallucinations used to fill in Maya’s backstory and motivations. Unlike other characters in the franchise who were swept up in events, Maya was there from the beginning. She helped build the park. She believed in it. Now she must reckon with what it has become.

Unique Approach to Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs in Jurassic Park: Survival are not enemies in the traditional game sense. They are animals. Unpredictable, majestic, and terrifying. The game aims to present them not as villains but as beings out of time, trapped in an unnatural habitat. Some will ignore the player. Others will observe. And some will hunt.

Behavioral AI is at the center of their design. Raptors hunt in packs, communicating and adapting to player tactics. The T. rex roams freely, sometimes clashing with other predators or causing destruction that changes the environment. Herbivores like Triceratops and Stegosaurus can be territorial or docile, depending on conditions. The idea is to make every encounter feel emergent, not scripted. You never know what’s waiting around the next corner.

The Legacy of Jurassic Park in Gaming

Jurassic Park games have historically been uneven. The original tie-in games in the 90s were varied in genre and quality. Some were 2D shooters. Others were side-scrollers or early 3D explorations. Over the years, the franchise shifted toward management sims like Jurassic World Evolution, which found a solid niche but never explored narrative or immersion in depth.

Jurassic Park: Survival is a conscious attempt to reclaim that narrative space. To put players inside the world of the original film, not just as observers but as participants. The use of an original character allows the story to remain grounded while still respecting canon. The setting—Isla Nublar post-evacuation—is ripe for exploration. And the genre—survival horror—is a perfect fit for the tone of the first movie’s most terrifying moments.

Release Window and Expectations

As of now, Jurassic Park: Survival does not have a confirmed release date. However, the developers have stated it is targeting a 2025 release across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. Given the scale of the project and the expectations surrounding it, fans should anticipate a late-year launch. The game is being built with next-gen hardware in mind, with no plans for backward compatibility or cloud-based versions.

Early reactions to gameplay previews and developer interviews have been positive. The emphasis on environmental tension, narrative depth, and faithful adaptation of the original film’s aesthetic has struck a chord with longtime fans. The hope is that Jurassic Park: Survival will not only live up to the legacy of the franchise but redefine what a Jurassic Park game can be.

Final Thoughts

Jurassic Park: Survival is more than a nostalgic revival. It is a reimagining of one of cinema’s most iconic settings, built with modern storytelling and design philosophy. It is a survival game that asks the player to think, to listen, to feel. It is a horror game without jump scares. An action game without a gun. A thriller where the monster is real, but the terror is deeper.

If Saber Interactive can deliver on its vision, Jurassic Park: Survival could be the game that finally does justice to the franchise in interactive form. Not as a shooter. Not as a sim. But as a journey. Into fear. Into wonder. Into the jungle.

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For more immersive survival horror coverage, explore our features on The Midnight Walk and Death Stranding 2: On the Beach.