Early Access code used, with many thanks to Crytivo.
Prehistoric Kingdom is a new modern take on the tycoon simulation genre, released on Steam on Early Access on the 27th of April. The game has been developed by Blue Meridian and published by Crytivo.
Yay Dinosaurs!
The name of the game already gives it away, the game centers around building and managing a park. A prehistoric zoo, with dinosaurs as the main attraction for visitors to view.
The game was originally a Kickstarter campaign. Over two thousand backers pledged $88,950 to help bring the game to life.
Building the park
Narrated by Nigel Marven
Prehistoric Kingdom starts with a tutorial with a narrative by Nigel Marven. Those of us in the UK will know Nigel as a wildlife TV presenter, naturalist, conservationist and author. I loved listening to Nigel explain the basics of the gameplay.
The tutorial gives you enough information about the game to get you started. There are three maps available to play. They are Temperate (United Kingdom), Scrublands (Spain) and Coastal (Costa Rica), with more maps due to be added later.
Simulation Park Management
Prehistoric Kingdom plays pretty much like other simulation park management games. You have to take care of the animals’ welfare and the basic economy of your park. In addition, you’ll be designing the layout of your park and placing amenities for the visitors. Amenities such as food vendor stalls, bathrooms and viewing platforms.
The main attraction to entice visitors into your park is the dinosaurs; there are twenty-three prehistoric animals to excavate from a map. I’m not going to list them all, but you will find dinos such as Triceratops, Protoceratops, and mammals like the Coelodonta (Woolly Rhino). The dinos are well animated and move about their enclosures, eating and drinking. They are fascinating to watch going about their business in the game.
Science Points
Once you have collected enough science points, which you collect passively at each exhibit’s enclosures, you can unlock more dig sites on the excavation map. Then grow some dinos in the Nursery in the park.
The dinosaurs are released into an enclosure that requires specific fencing, paddock size, water, and habitat. There are many different kinds of fences to choose from, such as wood, steel or brick, and of different heights. Best pick the right sized fence, you wouldn’t want a giant dino to escape and run amok in your park,
Decorate the Park and Terraform
As well as decorating each dinosaur enclosure to make them comfortable and meet their needs. You can also decorate the park for the visitors. There are over 600 custom modular items in the game. Such as wall structures, roofs, doors & windows, lights, props, scenery items, trees, and even VFX fire, smoke and water, to name a few.
The modular items can be customized by scaling to increase or decrease their size, allowing for more creative customization. In addition, the developers have an update planned that you can save your modular creations for repeated use around the park or in other saves. I liked playing around with the modular items, as I enjoy the decorating side of simulation management games just as much as I enjoy the management.
You can also terraform the dinosaur enclosure and the rest of the park by adding water pools, trees and shrubs and elevating the terrain higher or lower. The terraforming tools are easy and simple to use.
For an Early Access game, Prehistoric Kingdom performed well on my laptop. The developers are very active on the Steam page and are quick to release update fixes.
In addition, further updates to the game content are planned. Eventually, new animals, exciting locations to build your next park in, and much more, will all be implemented into the game. Prehistoric Kingdom is a lot of fun to play, and you can check it out here on the game’s Steam page.