Similarities with KD:M-like titles
- It's a fully cooperative campaign game centered around a serie of boss-fights against huge monsters.
- Each session of the campaign has a settlement phase, in which you can craft weapons and gear using the resources earned from defeating the monsters.
Main differences
- Gameplay/Combat system: the gameplay of Primal offers a completely different experience compared to KD:M. The combat is card-driven, diceless and completely based on cards interaction and hand-management mechanics. The system aims to give the players a significant control over the outcome of their actions.
- Deck construction & character progression: There is a deck building element from session to session as your character earns experience. Each hunter has a unique deck of ability cards (which is based on their weapon specialization) that you can customize and upgrade in multiple ways during the campaign. Also, the deckbuilding rules are determined by the specific weapon you use and the customization becomes even more interesting when considering the synergies with the equipment you craft.
- Monsters and variety: in Primal you can play an entire campaign fighting a different monster almost every session you play, based on the quest path you choose.
- Setting and theme: The setting, as you already pointed out, draws inspiration from the Monster Hunter serie and from other titles as well such as Final Fantasy or God Eater. While KD:M focuses on dark and horror elements, the world of Primal is about a wild nature, where prehistoric and tribal elements are mixed with epic and mystical features belonging to the high fantasy genre.
Of course there are a lot of other elements in the game (such as the AI system or the quest tree structure of the campaign) that I cannot mention here and that they should be included into a more precise comparison at a gameplay level.
Anyway, I hope this brief overview can give a good idea for now about what to expect from the game if you are a KD:M fan.
I hope the answer was helpful!
Tommaso
RG