Capcom has recently filed a fresh trademark for another one of its classic franchises – Dino Crisis. Caught by Games Radar, the trademark was renewed after originally being filed back in 1999.
The first Dino Crisis was released back in 1999 on the original PlayStation. Its gameplay was based on Resident Evil, with a similar control scheme and fixed camera angles. Dino Crisis also fell into the survival horror genre thanks to its effective use of dinosaurs to create tension and jump scares.
It is worth noting that, despite the renewal of this trademark, Capcom might not necessarily be working on bringing the Dino Crisis franchise back in a way similar to what we saw with Resident Evil.
The first two games franchise became available to purchase to play through GOG back in January. Both titles were released as part of GOG’s Preservation Program, which hopes to preserve classic games by making them playable on modern systems.
As part of these preservation efforts, they received quality-of-life improvements, including technical stability fixes and improved localisation. There were even new features like a more modern control scheme on current-generation controllers, including the DualSense and Xbox Series controllers.
The story of the original Dino Crisis revolved around protagonist Regina, who is investigating a top-secret military project. Things steadily escalate as she discovers more secrets about the project, which was originally meant to research a clean energy source.
The sequel followed things up with a series of escalations. Things kick off with the new energy source, Third Energy, being deemed too unpredictable by the powers that be. Players get embroiled in a rescue mission where, along with surviving personnel, they will also have to get their hands on research materials.
Despite featuring a gameplay style similar to that of Resident Evil, the Dino Crisis franchise didn’t go beyond three mainline games, with each one departing further and further from the original’s survival horror roots. While the Resident Evil franchise has seen something of a renaissance since the release of 2017’s Resident Evil 7 Biohazard, Capcom has so far chosen to let Dino Crisis remain in the past.
Capcom is currently celebrating the immensely successful launch of its most recent game, Monster Hunter Wilds, which managed to sell 8 million copies within three days of its release. For more details about Monster Hunter Wilds (available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S), check out our review.
The company is working on several other projects, including follow-ups to classic franchises.
One of these titles is a sequel to the seminal Okami, while the other is a follow-up to demon-slaying game Onimusha, dubbed Onimusha: Way of the Sword. The company is also preparing a remastered release of Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny on May 23.