Orion: Prelude

Orion: Prelude is a sci-fi first-person shooter set in a prehistoric, futuristic world where players battle dinosaurs and other players. The game offers a variety of online and offline modes, including four co-op modes, two open world modes, and six PvPvE modes. Players work together using an arsenal of weapons, vehicles, and augmentations to survive dinosaur onslaughts, leveling up their characters and joining clans for a more structured experience.

Orion: Prelude: Review

Introduction

In the annals of video game history, few titles boast a legacy as paradoxical and fascinating as Orion: Prelude. A game that launched in 2012 to near-universal derision, branded by its own lead developer as “one of the worst games of all time,” yet one that would, through years of dogged persistence and community engagement, claw its way back from the brink of obscurity to earn a “Mostly Positive” rating on Steam and sell over two million copies. This is not merely a review of a cooperative dinosaur-shooter; it is a case study in redemption, a testament to the volatile nature of early-access development, and an examination of a game that dared to ask the question: what if Halo and Jurassic Park had a baby, and that baby was incredibly, fundamentally broken at birth? Our thesis is that Orion: Prelude is a flawed but ultimately significant artifact of its era—a game whose journey from catastrophic failure to cult-classic success story is far more compelling than its actual gameplay, yet whose core concept of sci-fi soldiers versus dinosaurs retains a certain chaotic, budget-price charm.

Development History & Context

From Mod to Commercial Catastrophe

The story of Orion: Prelude begins not in 2012, but in the mind of developer David Prassel in 1998. The core vision—a fusion of dinosaurs, jetpacks, and vehicles—remained remarkably consistent, but the path to realization was labyrinthine. The project first took public form as Orion: Source, a mod for Half-Life 2. In August 2010, Prassel and his team announced the formation of Spiral Game Studios with the intention of publishing a full commercial game, then titled Orion: Prelude, planned as the first entry in a trilogy for Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and Steam.

The development landscape of the early 2010s was a fertile ground for indie ambitions, fueled by the rising accessibility of engines like UDK (Unreal Engine 3) and crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter. Spiral Game Studios, an independent company consisting of Prassel and a team of over 20 industry veterans, launched a Kickstarter in early 2011, ultimately raising a modest $17,686. The game was heavily inspired by fast-paced, arena-style shooters like Unreal Tournament 2004, Halo, and Starsiege: Tribes.

However, the road quickly grew rocky. In February 2012, the studio announced a rebranding to Orion: Dino Beatdown, scrapping the planned console releases to focus on PC via Steam and OnLive. Prior to release, Prassel fired several employees who later alleged non-payment; Prassel countered that they were fired for “serious reasons” including attempted blackmail and theft, and that they were not employed during a paid period. After several delays, Orion: Dino Beatdown was unleashed upon the world on May 4, 2012—and it was an unmitigated disaster.

A Cycle of Rebirths: Dino Horde and Prelude

The initial release was so plagued with glitches—from crippling framerate issues and server connection problems to broken AI and endless respawn timers—that it was almost unplayable. IGN infamously gave it a 2/10, calling it “a broken, ugly looking, poorly designed mess of a game.” GameSpy noted it was “far from ready for prime time.” Three patches were rushed out within weeks, but the damage was done.

In a controversial move in February 2013, Spiral announced not a patch, but a “sequel”: Orion: Dino Horde. Offered for free to owners of Dino Beatdown, the gaming community and press were skeptical, viewing it less as a true sequel and more as a significant update attempting to shed the original’s catastrophic Metacritic score. Allegations of Metacritic manipulation flew, and Prassel initially engaged in banning critical users on Steam forums before ceasing and apologizing for being “too aggressive.” Dino Horde launched in May 2013, featuring new netcode, animations, dinosaurs, and game modes.

The final rebranding occurred on August 25, 2014, when the game was updated and renamed back to Orion: Prelude. This version, which exists today, represented the culmination of over 60 updates. A pivotal moment came in February 2014 when the game was offered for free for a week and its price permanently dropped to $0.99. This strategy worked spectacularly, moving over 500,000 copies and boosting the active player base from a paltry 100 to around 3,000. Spiral Game Studios was later renamed Trek Industries, under which the game continued to be supported for years, a rare commitment in the industry.

Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive

The “Bible” and the “Party Game”

Orion: Prelude, as played, is virtually devoid of narrative. The in-game experience offers no story focus, cutscenes, or character development. Players are simply thrust into maps as “Carriers”—futuristic soldiers—with the objective of defending generators and structures from waves of dinosaurs. As developer David Prassel stated on the Steam forums, “This game is a party game for friends hopefully to fill LAN-type events for groups of friends.”

However, this belies a deeper, largely unseen lore foundation. Prassel explained that an extensive “Orion Bible” was the first thing ever designed for the IP. The background lore, as pieced together from developer posts, is as follows:

“Earth went to shit (war-torn city footage). The ORION system was discovered (space travel / planets in space footage). Many moons and planets, all of which supported human life (world footage). One problem – Dinosaurs (dinosaur + world footage + combat). We later discovered they are nearly identical to the dinosaurs we had on Earth… The space rocks that housed the building blocks of life which had struck earth was actually originally part of a much larger space rock that broke off… The other space matter had traveled far past our home world and onward to what we now call ORION… We are the security team – protect and secure all standing military structures while they continue to build and advance defense systems.”

This setup establishes a classic sci-fi colonization theme: humanity, having ruined Earth, seeks a new home in the Orion system, only to find it dominated by deadly, familiar fauna. The players are the military vanguard, the “cleaners” securing these hostile worlds. It’s a premise ripe with potential, exploring themes of manifest destiny, environmental displacement (with humans as the invasive species), and survival against primordial forces. Prassel confirmed that Earth in this universe has its “own share of problems,” and the dinosaurs of Orion are unique to that new solar system, making them, from a certain perspective, alien lifeforms.

Tragically, none of this rich context is woven into the gameplay of Prelude. The narrative remains a promise, a backdrop for the mindless shooting, with the deeper story reserved for future, never-fully-realized titles in the franchise like The Orion Project.

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems

Core Loop and Progression

At its heart, Orion: Prelude is a cooperative wave-based survival shooter. The primary objective across most modes is to defend generators and other structures from escalating waves of dinosaurs. Players earn credits for kills, which can be spent during brief inter-wave intervals on weapon upgrades, new gear, and vehicle spawns. A character progression system allows players to level up, unlocking persistent perks such as slow health regeneration, credit gain increases, and even ammo regeneration at higher levels.

The game features a class system (Assault, Support, etc.), though in practice, the distinctions can feel minimal. The Assault class’s jetpack is a standout feature, enabling vertical mobility that recalls the Tribes series, but its utility is often hampered by the game’s level design and mechanics.

The Arsenal and the Menagerie

The weapon roster is extensive, if uninspired, running the standard FPS gamut from pistols and shotguns to assault rifles and sniper rifles. The “Adrenaline Weapons” serve as the game’s power fantasy, including:
* The Minigun: A classic bullet hose.
* The Rocket Launcher: Essential for dealing with larger dinosaurs.
* The Laser Rifle: A quintessential BFG that deals massive damage and penetrates targets but is often Awesome, but Impractical due to an extremely slow rate of fire.

The dinosaur enemies are the main attraction. The roster includes Velociraptors, Tyrannosaurs, Pterosaurs (Rhamphorhynchus), Stegosaurus, and Triceratops. Their AI is often cited as a major flaw, being either braindead or unpredictably cheap. The animations, particularly in the early versions, were notoriously stiff and comical. In certain PvPvE modes, players can take control of dinosaurs in a third-person perspective, a feature that sounds more exciting in theory than in practice.

Vehicles and Systems

Vehicles are a promised pillar of the experience, including combat buggies with turrets, mechs (Minotaurs), tanks, and even flying ships. While their inclusion adds a layer of spectacle, their handling was frequently criticized as floaty and unpolished, though developers claimed to have improved the “vehicle handling and suspension” with the Prelude update.

The game is bursting with content on paper:
* 4 Co-op Game Modes
* 2 Open World Game Modes
* 6 PvPvE Game Modes
* 3 Duel Game Modes
* Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels with names like “Noob,” “Insane,” “Redikulous,” and “Prehistoric.”

Yet, this abundance often feels like a distraction from the core, repetitive loop of defend-repair-upgrade. The UI is functional but dated, and the game is notorious for its Quick Melee being bizarrely more effective than firearms in many close-range encounters, a balancing issue that persists.

World-Building, Art & Sound

Aesthetic Ambition and Technical Limitations

Orion: Prelude utilizes the Unreal Engine 3, a competent but aging foundation even at its release. The visual direction aims for a sci-fi aesthetic reminiscent of Halo or Crysis, with players clad in bulky, futuristic armor. The dinosaur designs, as Prassel admitted, were consciously modeled after the “visually pleasing” clichés of Jurassic Park rather than modern paleontological accuracy, resulting in scaly, oversized monsters that fit the B-movie tone.

The game’s seven maps are large and open, but often feel barren and generically “prehistoric” or “sci-fi outpost.” Textures are frequently low-resolution, and environmental details are sparse. The game’s tumultuous development is reflected in its assets; the studio was later found to have used stolen assets from Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Black Ops III in The Orion Project, and had previously been criticized for assets from Primal Carnage and Natural Selection 2 appearing in early versions of Prelude.

The sound design is a significant weak point. Weapon sounds lack punch and impact, failing to sell the fantasy of powerful futuristic artillery. The dinosaur roars are serviceable but unmemorable, and the soundtrack is often described as repetitive and uninspired. The overall audio-visual package contributes to a sense of jankiness that, while partly endearing to its cult audience, severely undermines the game’s atmosphere and immersion.

Reception & Legacy

Critical Annihilation and Player Resurrection

The initial critical reception was brutal. On Metacritic, the game sits at a 36/100 aggregate score. Reviewers universally panned its technical state.
* IGN (2/10): “A broken, ugly looking, poorly designed mess.”
* GameSpy (1.5/5): “Far from ready for prime time.”
* Hooked Gamers (1/10): “A good sign to delete it from your drive forever.”

Even the more positive reviews, like one from PC PowerPlay that called it “dumb entertainment,” were backhanded compliments. The re-releases as Dino Horde and Prelude did little to sway professional critics, who saw them as iterative updates on a fundamentally flawed product.

The player base, however, told a different story. After the price drop to $1 and years of consistent updates, the Steam review status slowly shifted from “Overwhelmingly Negative” to “Mixed,” and finally to its current “Mostly Positive” (75% positive from over 28,000 reviews). This disconnect between critic and player sentiment is the core of Orion: Prelude’s legacy.

Industry Influence and Enduring Cult Status

Orion: Prelude did not directly influence major industry trends, but its story is a precursor to the “live service” and “early access” narratives that would dominate the following decade. It stands as a stark example of the perils of launching too early and the potential for developer redemption through persistent post-launch support. Its embrace of its own infamy—epitomized by a trailer that stated, “In 2012 we released one of the worst games of all time and almost everyone hated it”—was a bold marketing strategy that resonated with players.

The game found a second life as a “so bad it’s good” experience for YouTube personalities and streamers, including Markiplier, who played it for its chaotic, laughable fun with friends. It occupies a unique space as a “jank” masterpiece—a game whose sheer broken ambition and eventual recovery make it a fascinating subject for game historians. Its legacy is not one of polished design, but of resilience, community engagement, and the enduring appeal of the simple, stupid fun of shooting dinosaurs with a jetpack on.

Conclusion

Orion: Prelude is a game of two starkly different realities. There is the reality of its objective qualities: its clunky gameplay, its dated presentation, its repetitive missions, and its deeply flawed launch. Judged solely as a piece of interactive software, it is, at best, a passable $1 diversion for a chaotic hour with friends.

But there is another reality: that of its journey. It is a testament to a developer’s refusal to let their vision die, a case study in how player feedback and relentless patching can transform a product, and a monument to the power of a compelling, if silly, core concept. It is not a “good” game in any traditional sense, but it is an important one. It serves as a cautionary tale for developers and a beacon of hope for players who believe in second chances. In the final analysis, Orion: Prelude earns its place in video game history not for what it was at birth, but for what it became: a phoenix risen from the ashes of its own extinction-level event, a little rough around the edges, but forever stomping, roaring, and jetpacking its way into the hearts of those who appreciate a good underdog story.