What at first glance looks like a bizarre mixture of Red Dead Redemption and Jurassic Park turns out to be an unusually cleverly designed Genre mix. In a world where evolution has taken a fork in the road, you fight your way through deadly biomes, tinker to survive and desperately search for your kidnapped sister - while Raptors lurking in the undergrowth and the next sandstorm is already approaching.

The Wilderness Law in Dino Path Trail

Players start with one goal: survival. And not in just any wilderness, but in a version of the Wild West that forgives no one. Each region - whether scorching desert, cursed swamp or frosty mountain ridge - places its own demands on tactics and equipment. The rule is: if you stop, you die. And those who fail to plan will be eaten.

The biomes are not only beautiful to look at, but also full of variations: Sub-biomes, hidden paths, random enemies and environmental hazards provide real roguelike flair. Every route, every run is different - not least because players constantly have to weigh up "move on quickly" against "plunder even more resources". And these decisions cost time. Time. Nerves. Lives.

The camp as the last bastion - improvise, expand, survive

What is called a base elsewhere is a rolling bulwark here: the mobile camp. In the midst of the unpredictable landscape, it is the only safe retreat - if you use it correctly. With workbenches, storage crates and useful upgrades, the rolling pile of shelter becomes a vital survival tool. Fortress on wheels.

The clever crafting system forces you to plan ahead. Resources are scarce, and anyone who wastes water or uses a hammer too early will regret it later. The highlight: even the warehouse can only be expanded if there is enough material - which in turn means new risks when scavenging. Everything interlocks, everything costs something. Sometimes it's wood. Sometimes it's blood.

Gun-toting reptiles and vengeful outlaws - welcome to hell

In the heart of Dino Path Trail lies his Combat system. Instead of pure shooting action, players experience tactical ranged combat with increasing intensity. Pistols, rifles, throwing weapons - everything needs to be used carefully. And when your bounty level increases, things get hairy: stronger opponents, more frequent attacks, few breaks to catch your breath.

The dynamics of the enemies are particularly entertaining. Sometimes velociraptors rush through the tall grass, sometimes an outlaw lures you into an ambush with a bitten steak. Or lightning strikes because some madman with thunder god airs appears. Yes, Dino Path Trail doesn't always take itself too seriously - fortunately. Because between the struggle for survival and black humor, a subtle self-irony shines through.

Improvisation or exitus - the true heart of the roguelike

The game rewards clever thinking and punishes routine. If you hoard resources, you can survive longer - if you use them incorrectly, you will learn the hard way. You not only have to manage your equipment, but also your hunger, thirst, temperature and general condition. And as with all good survival games: first you think of wood, then water - and promptly forget that the Sun burns down mercilessly.

The lack of persistent progression may be a point of criticism for some, but it fits in perfectly with the merciless nature of the game. Each run stands on its own, but as you gain experience, a certain routine comes into play. Those who tame the beast are rewarded with a flow that oscillates between the urge to collect, adrenaline rush and Nightmare commutes. And that is addictive.

Sand in the gearbox, raptors in the rear-view mirror - what Dino Path Trail makes it so special

The mixture of western aesthetics, overdrawn survival and clever roguelike design is so unique that it immediately stands out. Visually, the game relies on coherent cartoon violence, but with a well thought-out style. The soundscape creaks, rattles and bangs - and reinforces the feeling that nature is not your friend here.

Particularly worth mentioning: the controller control. It is precise, intuitive and clearly superior to the keyboard. The handling feels fluid, even if it occasionally gets hectic in the turmoil. But that is exactly what suits the game. It is unpredictable, challenging and sometimes simple absurd - in the best sense of the word.

The post Jurassic Park meets hail of bullets - Dino Path Trail and the merciless Roguelike in the Wild West first appeared on SPIELECHECK | English.

Prehistoric Kingdom is a classic tycoon

Gaming veterans may still remember the big wave of the Tycoon games in the Nineties. Spurred on by Railroad Tycoon and the Rollercoaster Tycoon series, which is still popular today, a veritable flood of economic simulations flooded the video game market. One of these games was Zoo Tycoon, which implemented the idea of prehistoric animals in a zoo in an add-on. Well, that was a long time ago and the genre has been quiet ever since. No doubt spurred on by the success of Jurassic World in the cinema, as well as Jurassic World Evolution and especially Planet Zoo the studio "Blue Meridian" breathes new life into the idea of Prehistoric Kingdom. As is usual in the genre, it is initially a simulation of economic processes. Logically, after all, dinos want to eat and the park needs to be expanded.

Rollercoaster Dinosaur Tycoon

The main aim of making money is - of course - to make park visitors happy. In addition to the enclosures and fences, we also build carousels and other attractions. Of course, we shouldn't forget food stalls and toilets. But the real highlight is of course the Dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals, which we revive in a separate research area of the game. We have the choice between dozens of dinosaur species. We clone celebrities such as brachiosaurs and velociraptors, but also enjoy Argentinosaurs and smilodons, the large sabre-toothed tigers of the Ice Age. Besides the running costs and the We should always keep an eye on safety in the park to ensure the satisfaction of our guests. After all, we learned from the Jurassic Park films what a lack of investment in safety can lead to.

Prehistoric construction kit and creative expression

Speaking of the eye: the developers attach great importance to ensuring that no two parks are the same. So we embellish our surroundings with a variety of plants and stones, build fences and, unlike the Tycoons of that time, we can even build rounded curves. A small detail, but one that makes Prehistoric Kingdom look much more real. We can also customize our prehistoric inhabitants and change their colors, for example. But the really special thing about Prehistoric Kingdom is the wide range of building options, which is made possible by a mass of components and their scalability. Planet Zoo sends its regards! 😉

And by the way: there are mammoths too, of course!

The post Prehistoric Kingdom - Your own dinosaur zoo first appeared on SPIELECHECK | English.

With a rifle against dinosaurs

Games like Dino Crisis still work today, apart from the outdated gameplay. Instinction nevertheless polishes up the intellectual template. More than 20 different species of dinosaurs make the players the Life to hell. If you don't get to the top early End of the food chain is quickly processed into fresh meat. In between the shooting, all kinds of environmental puzzles beg for attention.

In a way, the shooter is similar to later Tomb Raider or Uncharted games, although the atmosphere is far darker and more threatening. Don't worry, by the way, if the Goddess of luck in solo mode The co-op feature allows you to invite up to three friends to explore the swamps, forests and caves together.

Top graphics thanks to Unreal Engine 5

Stylistically, Instinction corresponds to its quasi-stepbrothers. It goes without saying that the graphics are completely new. The developers have given the shooter a realization with the Unreal Engine 5 on the Body tailor-made. The player consistently feels transported into a semi-open world in which every step can mean inevitable death. When Giant dinosaurs in the firmament or velociraptors creeping through the corridors, goosebumps are guaranteed. If the gameplay is even half as good as the graphics, the dinosaur shooter has great potential to make a lasting impression on the entire industry.

Is Instinction more than Hammer optics?

In any case, it is clear that the developers seem to know what they are doing with the action adventure are planning. The release is currently scheduled for the second half of 2023, so further trailers can be expected in the coming months. It is worth staying on the ball and waiting for the next development steps. It is simply too early to draw a comprehensive conclusion at the moment.

The post Instinction - At eye level with the lizards first appeared on SPIELECHECK | English.

Instead, Path of Titans offers us the opportunity to take control of powerful and impressive Dinosaurs which are controlled from a third-person perspective. The basic task is to complete quests with the prehistoric lizards, collect experience points and so the survival of the dinosaurs.

The individual needs of the dinosaurs in Path of Titans

To the playful strengths of According to the developers, the fact that players can choose from 26 dinosaurs - including twelve carnivores and 14 herbivores - is part of Path of Titans. The playable prehistoric lizards include the Alioramus, the Spinosaurus, the Styracosaurus and the impressive Stegosaurus. As each of the dinosaur species has its own individual behavior and needs, each of the lizards plays differently.

At the same time, appropriate strategies must be devised to ensure the survival of your own giant. In the visual area, various customization options provide variety, while experience points are collected by successfully completing quests and events, which can be invested in the obligatory Level Ups culminate.

The skill points collected in this way can in turn be invested in different attributes to increase your Dinosaurs and tailor them for survival in a dangerous world.

A housing system and cross-play support

According to the developers of Path of Titans Alderon Games was developed with the aim of enabling dinosaur enthusiasts to slip into the role of their favorite lizards and lead an exciting virtual life with them in a prehistoric world. The "Home Cave" housing system acts as the basis and pivotal point of your own adventure, allowing you to move into your own cave and continuously expand it.

To ensure your own survival, you can use skills such as swimming, diving or fishing and join forces with up to 200 other players on a server to master particularly tricky quests and the associated challenges. Rewards to collect. At the same time, it will of course be possible to compete in PvP duels to determine the king of the jungle.

Other features of the ambitious dinosaur MMO include the fact that the final version with will feature full cross-play support. This means that players on PC, the consoles and the mobile platform interact and form cross-platform groups.

The post Path of Titans - A survival adventure in a prehistoric world first appeared on SPIELECHECK | English.

Indiana Jones of the dinosaurs

The job of a paleontologist is much more time-consuming than simply going somewhere and making a perfect Skeleton to find. Among other things, you have to use special geological scanners to examine the various excavation sites presented to you by the game in order to find the places where dinosaur bones might be buried and mark them with your little flags.

You dig for conspicuous accumulations of rock, which you return to your Base then have to carefully break open layer by layer before you can even get to the bones. Then it's time to clean the bones, prepare them so that they don't disintegrate over time and finally assemble them into a complete dinosaur.

Creative freedom

Dinosaur Fossil Hunter allows you to discover the fossils you collected and restored dinosaur bones in your own little Museum on display. To do this, you can build exhibition platforms, decorate them as you wish and arrange the bones however you like. If you have several bones of the same dinosaur species, you can stage a small hunting scene, for example. But you can also depict peaceful herbivores doing their favorite pastime: eating the leaves of tall trees.

With the Time the museum can be enlarged and expanded so that you can also present the really big finds. Will you manage to find all the fossils to show them to posterity in your museum?

An eye for detail

The developers of Pyramid Games have included a variety of different dinosaur skeletons for you in Dinosaur Fossil Hunter, which you can find at a wide range of excavation sites. The locations are modeled on areas of the USA. By excavating, you not only collect exciting information about the dinosaurs, but you can also discover new ones over time. Unlock equipment and skillsthat make it easier for you to find and excavate the fossils. For example, if you only have a simple shovel to hand at the beginning, you will later be given a pickaxe for harder layers of rock or a chainsaw to remove trees in the excavation site.

But even if the game of paleontology Dinousaur Fossile Hunter follows the real-life processes of excavating and processing dinosaur remains. The Developer have consulted with scientists and invested a lot of time and effort to create the most realistic gaming experience possible.

The post Dinosaur Fossil Hunter - Hunter of the lost dinosaur bones first appeared on SPIELECHECK | English.

Now, however, alternative concepts are sneaking past the top dog and clearly show what Planet Zoo is missing even at the alpha stage: greater variety when building (e.g. through the scaling function), more powerful tools for terrain design and even more impressive details for the animals. Prehistoric Kingdom scores with dinosaurs, but you get the impression that details have been created with much more love - even in the alpha version.

What lasts a long time...

Admittedly, the current stage of Prehistoric Kingdom does not (yet) make your hair fly off your head. The path of the Blue Meridian game studio and the development of the game have shown that they are not satisfied with the "middle class". Every post on the dev blog shows real and steady progress.

This may not be fast enough for some, but quality takes time. And the past has shown that when the pressure is on and expectations are very high, the numbers can get in the way of a publisher. In 2016, for example, Sony had an unfinished No Mans Sky was brought out. It wasn't until 2018 that Hello Games was able to turn things around and provide great new content.

Not all dinosaurs are the same

While you can run around as a dinosaur in Path of Titans and compete against other players in a Open World has to assert itself, works Prehistoric Kingdom slightly different. You get very close to your favorite animals and can even drive through the enclosures in a vehicle. Of course, the genres are clearly separated here.

Frontier Developments has worked with Jurassic World Evolution 2 in 2021, thus also making a statement in terms of Simulation want to set. In my opinion, however, this did not work out. While many Planet Zoo and JWE players were hoping for a combination of both games (or at least parts of them), Frontier delivered the same JWE. Sure, the graphics are better and there are slightly different game mechanics, but basically all that was done here was add the "2" to the title. The dinosaur card was played and unfortunately sold for dollar signs.

Precision landing for Prehistoric Kingdom

We have to separate two tastes: Some like Dinosthe others don't. There will certainly be plenty of people who prefer Planet Zoo now and in the future. But the big question is who does it better. For me, Prehistoric Kingdom has great potential to overtake the top dog. The range of functions in the alpha already reveals a lot about where the journey is heading. Many game mechanics and highlights have already been implemented: Details and the closeness to them, very good graphics, building functions, terrain design, economic aspects, to name but a few.

What do you think about it? Let me know in the comments section.

The post Why Prehistoric Kingdom could be better than Planet Zoo first appeared on SPIELECHECK | English.