This is a topic devoted to the upcoming indie game, Saurian (link to website). I guess to summarise, Saurian is a game that’s set 66 million years ago in what would become the Hell Creek Formation in South Dakota and Montana, which is home to all sorts of prehistoric life, including dinosaurs. You will be able to play as four kinds of dinosaur: Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops, Hell Creek’s two most well known dinosaurs, as well as Pachycephalosaurus (link in case people aren’t familiar even if it’s relatively well known) and the recently discovered Dakotaraptor, which is basically the larger of the two “raptor” dinosaurs known from Hell Creek.
The idea of the gameplay is pretty simple: you play as your chosen dinosaur and try to survive from a hatchling to an adult, and of course you do stuff that real animals would do like eating, avoiding predators and hazards and mating. What’s particularly noteworthy though with this game is that the developers have tried really hard to be as scientifically accurate as possible, not just with the dinosaurs but with all of the other animals that lived in Hell Creek as well as the environment they lived in (stuff has even been redesigned like the Tyrannosaurus model and IIRC the kinds of plants that were in the game, the devs take accuracy that seriously). I guess basically, what the developers are trying to do is make a fun dinosaur survival/simulation game while also showcasing modern knowledge we have on dinosaurs that people don’t really see in a lot of other dinosaur media.
Also if anyone’s interested in the game, there’s a Kickstarter page that has a video and explanation of the game, as well as certain goodies you can get depending on how much you pledge. It’s already over 65% funded as of typing this despite the page being up for less than a day, but there’s other things the devs might be able to fit into the game if they get more than their goal.
So as you’ve probably figured, I’m pretty excited about this game, namely because I’m quite interested in prehistoric life and I’m excited about seeing a more modern view of it be represented in our media. Plus, I mean playing as a dinosaur in its natural habitat is something I’m surprised I haven’t seen more of (I remember they had that Big Al game on I believe BBC’s page for the Walking with series and I enjoyed playing that, so I know there’s at least stuff like that out there somewhere).
