Paleo Pines

Paleo Pines is an open-world game full of dinosaurs, with whom we can make friends and use their help while exploring and farming. It was developed by an indie studio Italic Pig and published by Modus.

Plot

The main protagonist moves in to Veridian Valley alongside their dinosaur friend Lucky, as they both need to work on renovating an old, neglected farm. Though the area is full of friendly reptiles, there's no Parasaurolophus, Lucky's species, who she was looking forward to meeting. The Valley's friendly residents, however, offer their help in finding her brethren.

Mechanics

One of the basic mechanics of Paleo Pines is repairing and expanding our old farm. After cleaning up the area, we can start building structures, such as dinosaurs enclosures, water sources and decor. We can also start farming, preparing the soil, sowing, watering plants every day and harvesting them after a while.

An important part of the game are dinosaurs we can befriend, communicating with them through a flute and giving them snacks. Their diverse abilities will help us with farming and exploring. Some are speedy, others strong, others even more niche, for example - being able to spit water to water plants from a distance. After putting a saddle on a dinosaur, we can mount it and command it with our flute.

The player can also build up relationships with the Valley's residents, completing quests for them, purchasing goods and talking. Occasionally there are local events we can attend to integrate ourselves with the community.

At all times, we have a journal where we can record information about our discoveries: new plants, dinosaurs, historical and mysterious objects. Our dinosaur friends will often come in handy while discovering new areas, being able to clear blocked paths.

Game modes

The game only supports singleplayer.

Trivia

All in-game dinosaurs and archosaurs are based on real discovered and studied species, their appearance consistent with current scientific knowledge - some of them are heavily feathered. The developers have hired a real paleontologist, Natalia Jagielska, to help them with this aspect of the game.

Last updated on 28 September 2023