Prehistoric Kingdom

[Melpardus]

This is an indie game that's been in development for a several years now, and they just released their official early access announcement trailer to promote the game's release in Q2 of next year. (Before you ask, it's been in development longer than Jurassic World: Evolution.) It's not my most hyped game on my short list, even among just the dinosaur-related content, but it's definitely in the top three and i hope you can understand why.



As you can see, it's basically a scientifically accurate park builder, combining modern paleontological understanding with the likes of Zoo Tycoon and Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis. If you're familiar with the relevant BBC program from 2006, you'll even recognize a certain voice-over from another project that this game clearly draws some inspiration from. (The fact that they were able to get him is a great homage; hit a lot of people in the feels.)

As this is early access, this is planned for the first iteration of the game upon release; additional features like other creatures, types of enrichment, and I think habitat-creation tools will all be released in future updates.

 

[DoomRulz]

I have every intention of playing this. I recently got into sim games courtesy of Jurassic World Evolution. For years, I avoided sims because of the learning curve they came with, but JWE was very intuitive and easy to learn. I hope PK is the same way.

 

[Melpardus]

It just released to the pre-early access folks and those I've seen and heard speak on it generally seem to be saying it's pretty intuitively designed and does in fact look like the trailer presented. It think it's planned to go public (i.e. for folks to actually buy on Steam) at the end of Q2 and seems really fun if you're into this kind of game. Folks have already been making some really cool habitats and exhibits for their creatures, which at present don't actually needs, so they're pretty chill with whatever you give them; I really want to make a whole open safari-type map if/when I eventually get the game myself.

 

[DoomRulz]

It just released to the pre-early access folks and those I've seen and heard speak on it generally seem to be saying it's pretty intuitively designed and does in fact look like the trailer presented. It think it's planned to go public (i.e. for folks to actually buy on Steam) at the end of Q2 and seems really fun if you're into this kind of game. Folks have already been making some really cool habitats and exhibits for their creatures, which at present don't actually needs, so they're pretty chill with whatever you give them; I really want to make a whole open safari-type map if/when I eventually get the game myself.

Heh, one thought I've been having since I played JWE and I'm noticing that PK will have the same "issue", is that it wants us to accept that you can place gigantic prehistoric animals (sauropods, large theropods) inside what appear to be relatively small enclosures. I remember playing the Return to Jurassic Park DLC and I thought, the way that map is designed, yeah, it'd be perfect for perhaps three Brachiosaurs and one Rex. Anything more, and they'd need the entire island. I recall that each animal has land and space requirements but in reality, they'd be much greater.

 

[Iceman]

Looks like fun. Visuals are decent too. Never hard to sell me on a dinosaur game.