Isn’t “Dinocide” a great name? It feels like it should already exist as the title of a flourishing franchise. Similarly, the game that bears the name often feels like it already existed as a classic game which we’ve all played on our home consoles as kids.
Dinocide is an upcoming game from AtomicTorch Studio (who made the rather good open-universe Privateer/Elite-style game VoidExpanse). Their avowed goal with Dinocide is to create a game that feels like a classic NES platformer. They’ve definitely accomplished this. Dinocide doesn’t necessarily adhere to the technical restrictions of the console, but it certainly feels like an NES game.
Dinocide is something of a metroidvania, though it feels much more Castlevania than Metroid. It also has hints of other platformers of the era like the Wonder Boy series (and perhaps Joe & Mac, though it came out a little later). You’ll acquire different types of crude shot or thrown weapons, each of which is more suited to taking out some enemies than others. You’ll also find dinosaur eggs and hatch a number of different young dinos that you can ride all Yoshi-style.
The creature designs are fabulous. Setting the game in a fantasy version of prehistoric times allows (in addition to dino-riding) the inclusion of anachronistic and off-the-wall enemy types, such as pirate skeletons, zombie pigs, and a two-legged, one-eyed jumping thing that looks familiar, though I can’t quite place it…
Of course there’s plenty of running and jumping and killing things, but the defining game mechanic is keeping your life meter from running out. The life meter indicates both your hit points and your hunger. Your time on this wacky Earth is constantly dwindling, and getting mauled takes away big chunks of it, so every second is a struggle for survival. The only way to replenish your strength besides finishing a level is to eat, so you must continuously collect the food that’s scattered around everywhere. This means that you can never really take your time; you’ve got to keep moving or perish. It lends the game a frantic pace that feels fresh, as well as quite un-metroidvanian.
Dinocide has been Greenlit on Steam and is expected to be released in January , 2016. In the meantime, give the Dinocide demo (for Windows, Mac, and Linux) a try!
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