Dino Topia Preview

There’s something about dinosaurs that just meshes so well with gaming, be it horror or park management. However, the latest title by XA Studio wants to see what it would be like to have dinosaurs take the form of Digimon/Pokémon parallels. I got the chance to try out the Early Access version of Dino Topia to see if this will be an attraction we should keep our eyes on, or one that needs a little more time in the gene labs.

Dino Topia sees you take the role of a caveman who lives in harmony with dinosaurs, until monsters destroy everything you ever knew. As the sole survivor, it is up to you to rebuild your prehistoric paradise while raising a new generation of dinosaurs. 

With that said, the plot isn’t important, and you won’t be meeting a host of interesting new characters. Instead, it’s only there to an end and allows you to know what you need to do and gives you a bit of an emotional investment in the game. I’ll be honest, the lack of any real characters can be a bit disappointing. In concept, you would think that the dinosaurs would take the place of characters for you to connect with, but honestly, they don’t really have a personality.

Let’s talk about gameplay and what you’ll be doing while you play. Dino Topia describes itself as an action roguelike with base-building elements, and for the most part, that’s accurate. There are two separate gameplay sections: the first is the home base, where you’ll gather materials and construct new buildings while hatching and training your dinosaurs. The second is the combat routes, which are separated into rooms, with each run ending with a boss. 

If you’ve played Hades, then you’ll kind of know what to expect, and Dino Topia isn’t particularly revolutionary. Essentially, you’ll enter an arena and will need to kill several enemies; once that’s done, you’ll have the option to move on through one of several doors, each leading either to another fight, a shop, or something else. I found the design did what it needed to, but there was nothing that really jumped out at me as being revolutionary. 

The combat is where the game differs somewhat, as you won’t be fighting alone. Instead, you’ll be able to take three dinosaurs with you into the arenas. Each possible dinosaur comes with its unique basic attacks and one special move. You can only control one of the dinosaurs directly, the one that you’re riding, but the others' AI does everything that it needs to. I liked the power-ups that you find throughout each run, which improve your dinosaur's basic attacks and its stats. The issue is that, in the early game at least, I saw mostly the same ones over and over again.

It isn’t just the power-ups that repeat, and that leads to my other issue. Here’s the thing: you will slowly find eggs that you can hatch into new and exotic beasts, but a lot of the different beings you can hatch are just recolours of the same basic types. I came across several different versions of the T. rex, for instance.

I do like how the dinosaurs do more than just fight, however, as any you don’t have in your party will gather resources around the camp and help you to build and farm. It means you have a reason to keep hatching eggs even when you have a full party. However, their AI leaves a lot to be desired.

The thing is, while the gameplay has its annoying parts, it’s actually pretty fun if you turn your brain off. This isn’t a game for grand tactics and plans, Dino Topia wants you to simply chill, look at the colourful levels and animations and just relax. It isn’t very hard, but it’s got its own sense of challenge. I think the game has a lot to offer for anyone looking just to turn off their brain and fight with some dinosaurs, but the developers need to add some more variety in the early game if they want to keep players invested.