Jurassic Park and Walking with Dinosaurs might’ve propelled Mesozoic reptiles to stardom, but we didn’t get many games which do them justice. Let’s take a look at those which did.
Sure, dinos often made an appearance in video games. But for the most part they’re just enemies, beasts to slaughter indiscriminately.
Are there any titles where they’re treated like living, breathing animals they were?
Are there any games which treat them with utmost respect?
Games in which encountering a dino, especially a theropod (i.e. a carnivore), means you’re in for some serious whooping?
Yes, there are, but they’re far and few between.
What we’re looking for
It’s simple: games where dinos act like, well, dinos. Like animals.
Where they protect their territories and themselves, but don’t necessarily attack you when they don’t feel like it.
Where they have their own needs to satisfy, like hunger, thirst, breeding, etc.
Where they seem at least somewhat scientifically accurate. We’re not going to delve into paleontology here — just wanted to say I don’t believe in feathered dinosaurs, lol — but you know, we’re looking for games with simulate dino behavior realistically enough to give you an impression of the real thing.
That means you won’t find games like Turok, Tomb Raider, ARK, Dinolords, The Bermuda Syndrome, Primal Carnage, Dino D-Day, etc., etc. You get the picture. No, not even Dino Crisis or Peter Jackson’s King Kong.
Instead, we’ll talk about real gems for all bedroom paleontologists and dino fans around the world.
The best worst game ever
There’s this one particular game that the gaming industry hated. But I love it very much.
Trespasser. Man, what a case of a massive, groundbreaking game lingering in development hell.
You think Half-Life 2, Far Cry or Crysis were revolutionary? Think again. Trespasser’s like “been there, done that.”
But we’re not going to talk about that here.
Dinos. Boy, does this game capture the awe and wonder of prehistoric lizards.
It’s Jurassic Park, after all!
To this day you probably still won’t find a game where you can interact with dinos like you can here (and I don’t mean riddling them full of holes using your assault rifle or whatever). At least not in the realm of action-adventure.
Dinosaurs in Trespasser are animated via inverse kinematics. No pre-made animations, it’s all generated on the fly. Sure, it lends to some awkwardness, but it’s something outstandingly unique to this day.
Originally, the devs wanted to make animal behavior even more complex and realistic. For example, the dinos were supposed to have all sorts of moods. Depending on the mood they were currently in they’d behave and react to you differently. Unfortunately, the system didn’t work — dinos just stood there, doing nothing — so it’s been simplified, but still.
Running around a T-Rex and trying to make it trip on its tail. Trying to get herbivores and carnivores fight each other. Bumping into a raptor who doesn’t attack you, but just sniffs you and follows you around. Maybe a bug, maybe a feature.
If you’re looking for an ultimate 90s dino game, this is the one.
The other 90s gem
90s gamers might remember Carnivores, a hunting sim where dinosaurs are game. And they can fire back.
See, if you encounter a carnivore, you better be quick with shooting it or else you’ll become a dino snack.
It’s not a level playing field and the fact you’re extremely fragile contributes to incredible sense of tension and terror. Yeah, this game is scary as heck.
Dinosaurs react to smell, sight, and sound. If you want to get your shot, you need to approach them windward, tiptoe towards your target, pull out whatever gun you have on you, and hope for the best.
If you miss, you’re going to have a massive hunk of meat racing towards you. And you’ll have a very little chance of survival.
You can use a bunch of gadgets, but they won’t necessarily bump your chances of survival (but you’ll surely score less points for killing/tranquilizing dinos).
Carnivores, as fun as it is, unfortunately fails to live up to its potential as a great dino sim.
Sure, the dinosaurs are menacing and believable, but what you get here is reptiles just wandering around. “Patrolling” the area, so to speak. They don’t interact with each other — carnivores don’t hunt herbivores like they did in Trespasser or defend their territory, pack animals don’t actually live in packs, etc. — and they don’t seem to do much else except for just walking.
Or attacking you.
Carnivores 2 didn’t do anything in this respect, either. Neither did fan-made mods (though I can totally recommend Jurassic Park: Hunter Legends).
It’s still a thrilling experience, though. Genuinely scary.
Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter Reborn
Release Date: May 27, 2015
Genres: Simulator, Indie
Anything else? Well, there’s Evolution: The Game of Intelligent Life, an interesting strategy game where your goal is to gradually evolve your animals to reach the top of the evolution chain, i.e. reach the “grand goal of intelligent life.” It features dinos.
More? Well, there’s also this BBC’s game, Dinosaur World. It’s an actual dino sim, but one where you’re just a spectator, so it kind of feels like a glorified screensaver.
Still, you can grab it for free from BBC’s website.
There’s this one game from 2003 that’s a real gem, though. Kinda even beats Trespasser in terms of simulating dino life.
Enter Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis, the predecessor of the Jurassic World Evolution series. Much simpler to get into and play than its descendants.
And the dinos? Man, what a joy to watch them walk around their enclosures, feed, drink, socialize with other members of their species, etc. Yeah, instead of your enemies they are your Tamagotchis.
Ones that can go on a rampage, mind you.
You need to keep your park’s visitors safe from dino jailbreaks or else you risk their lives (and your career).
The way the dinosaurs are animated, the way they sound, the way they behave — it’s still a joy to watch them in action, even after more than 20 years.
Modern gaming, modern dinos
Alright, so these were the late 90s and early 2000s. But what about modern times? Did we finally get a game which finally lives up to the title of the ultimate dino sim?
Well, there’s quite a bunch of contenders.
First off, there’ this trend of games which actually let you play as dinosaurs themselves. You know, you can become, say, an Allosaurus and then wander around, pick fights with other dinos, and tend to your needs.
These games include The Isle, Pangea Survival, Beasts of Bermuda, Saurian, Primeval, and Dinosaur. They all seem to do a good job simulating dinosaurs and capturing the awe and sense of wonder of Mesozoic life. Some of these even feature human vs. dinosaur conflicts, meaning they could finally serve as games where you, as a human hunter/explorer, could explore a thriving, living ecosystem where you’re just a guest (or even a pest).
Unfortunately, these titles (except Dinosaurs, which is yet to see a release, and Primeval) are stuck in early access, with players reporting that as fun as they are, the development has been slow.
Sometimes it feels as if the developers abandoned their — surely promising — projects.
If you love dinosaurs, these are the games you should totally check out. But be sure to read user reviews before you make a purchase.
Second, there’s the whole Jurassic World Evolution series, which takes the formula of Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis to the extreme.
If you want complete games with awe-inspiring dinosaurs, these are totally the ones you should get. Especially the latest installment, Jurassic World Evolution 3. It reportedly alleviates most of the issues the series previously had and is the best in the series so far.
It even introduces dino breeding, meaning your pet T-Rexes/Allosauruses/Triceratopses/what have you can start their own families and produce lovely offspring!
Myself, I couldn’t get into the series, though I love the concept. I loved Operation Genesis and really wanted to dig into these, but I find them a bit too complex and difficult to learn. JPOG is a breeze compared to that.
Jurassic World Evolution
Release Date: June 12, 2018
Genres: Simulator, Strategy
Jurassic World Evolution 2
Release Date: November 9, 2021
Genres: Simulator, Strategy
Jurassic World Evolution 3
Release Date: October 21, 2025
Genres: Simulator, Strategy
If you don’t care for Jurassic Park/World, be sure to check out Prehistoric Kingdom, JWE’s direct competitor.
Prehistoric Kingdom
Release Date: January 01, 2021
Genres: Simulator, Strategy, Indie
Third, there’s the upcoming Jurassic Park Survival game. Set right after the events of the 1993 film, JPS puts you in the shoes of Dr. Maya Joshi. Stranded on Isla Nublar, she’s stuck with rampaging dinos.
Some say it’s Alien: Isolation, but with dinosaurs — and it sure seems influenced by this survival horror classic. Others say it’s beginning to look like a glorified walking simulator.
Guess we’ll find out soon enough (though it will probably take a couple more years).
Anything else?
If you take a look at the Dinosaurs tag on Steam, you’re going to find all sorts of games, including a whole slew of upcoming survival horrors which seem to draw inspirations from Peter Jackson’s King Kong (the 2005 game) among others.
But are there any promising dino sims?
There’s Prehistoric Hunt. It’s a game whose developers seem to finally understand that the Carnivores formula is something stale and outdated and it’s time to make it more fun and realistic.
It seems to draw massive influences from theHunter series (which also had its dino-themed spin-off, theHunter: Primal — unfortunately, it got dropped by the devs and delisted from Steam).
And it seems it gets a whole bunch of things right.
First off, dinos don’t just hunt you, but each other as well. I mean, imagine how thrilling it would be to track, say, a Parasaurolophus to see it killed by a mean big theropod and get your shot at scoring a much more rewarding trophy? Dynamic weather and day/night cycle — it’s all there.
Prehistoric Hunt looks very promising. You can give the demo a shot, too.
Looks like Jurassic World Survival will have its direct indie competitor, too.
The Lost Wild seeks to offer a thrilling dino experience where them terrible lizards act like animals. Scary as heck and super threatening, but also utterly fascinating and very life-like. We’ll see.
More fun games that you might want to be on the lookout for include Dinos Reborn (seems like another spiritual successor of Carnivores, but with a different underlying idea) and Aldian of Ancients, another “dino controller.”
Why are there some weirdo dragons, though?
Final remarks
As you can see, there’s plenty of reasons to rejoice for dinosaur fans.
Today’s hardware has just the capabilities to easily achieve what Trespasser strove to do back in the 90s.
The dino mania seems to live on, fueled by new Jurassic Park/World movies and some very promising titles to come out in the (near-ish?) future.
Why the heck did the people behind Jurassic World Rebirth think dinosaurs are boring?
Anyways, you might totally be like: dude, what are you talking about? How can games where dinos and humans face each other be realistic? This premise is totally ridiculous!
Fair enough, but even a game with a ridiculous premise can boast a convincing, realistic portrayal of Mesozoic critters.
That was the premise of Jurassic Park, anyway — dinos are back, baby! Kind of life-like, too (yeah, I know they’re genetically-engineered hybrids, but I don’t care).
There’s also a bunch of games which seem to be set in the prehistoric times. These saurian sims, sometimes created with support from paleontologists (BTW even Phil Tippett is far superior to Jack Horner, lol), might scratch an itch no other game ever tried to scratch.
We’re in for pretty good times, that’s for sure!