Project DINOZ

Howdy! First off don't write reviews much but as the steam dino guy, who follows all the dinosaur steam game releases I felt like I should write my first review since I am really into this genre and have played a ton of the steam dinosaur games. First off the flashlight seems a little too bright and doesn't illuminate as much as it is the sun blinding whatever you look at, and the movement feels more like I am gliding rather than a person walking. There wasn't a lot of explanation, from the start and I quickly found some boxes with a E marker on them but hitting E did nothing, but at the end of the room those were in I found a weapon and they turned out to be ammo, so not too. Despite picking up the shotgun, It took me ages to figure out how to use it. You have to hold right click for it to appear in your hand, which they call aim even though its more like raise, and then you can shoot weirdly. Also felt like I was wandering around a little aimlessly it just says survive the night 0/3 and I stood in the shelter waiting for ages, which felt lame like why just wait for morning instead of giving me an objective. I wish I had a map or something but understand why there might not be one. Honestly my biggest complaints are just the walking/flashlight, if it was easier to see with the flashlight(which again currently makes the object you point it at so bright you cant see it, and moving felt less like gliding (maybe by giving footsteps or something? cause its weirdly silent while walking/theres no walking feedback), I think I could see myself diving in a lot more! Update: I got lost when it randomly said objective reach the comms area, but when the night broke the game felt much more enjoyable to explore (no burning flashlight) but thats when the Ai showed up. Its cool, I can see the AI trying to pack hunt or surround me, literally like how Alan Grant in JP says raptors come in from the front to distract you and two from the sides to finish you, but instead I had a horde of raptors just bunch up around me. They are just as slow as I am (cause sprinting is quite slow) and instead of frantically running away, I very easily walked backwards and 1 shot ever raptor that followed me. I must have killed like 12 before realizing I could just keep walking. Their walking animations arent even right, they take like 2 steps and freeze return to a idle positon take 2 steps freeze, its pretty weird I think it must be some bug. The actual map itself was pretty, and when I finally found the comms area because it popped up as a marker in the hud after wandering for a while Honestly, the game has decent roots. If combat was a bit more polished and if the world had a little more charachter to it, I could definitly see myself sinking some time in as just a survival sim, see how long I can last sorta thing. It was a fun experience, and I hope the devs work on it to really make it something special Also it severely bothered me I cant walk off a small ledge lol, I get no jumping but I was on a crate and was forced to use the stairs to go back down lol. and going uphil was annoying cause without jump I got stuck on rocks and stuff After you reach the comms building you get a mission to turn on power with 3 markers all super far away. I went to the closest one and after hitting E 3 times on a thing, realized I would have to spend a nother like 5-15 minutes just walking to turn these stations on. At this point it felt more like a walking sim than anything and so I turned the game off. There may be vehicles somewhere (as the game description says it has them) but I did not see them. In fact the forest seemed much too thick to drive anything. Maybe if the Movement, Flashlight, and Dinosaurs get some QOL tweaks the game would be much better, that and maybe adding roads / vehicles so its easier to go from place to place because a good 30 of my 36 minutes played was all walking. I've waited for this game to release for a while, and I follow all upcoming steam dinosaur games and am dissapointed, but hopeful in this games future!! I still recommend it, and think there could be some more fun I just haven't hit yet, and will update this if I come back to the current walking sim. Also wish I could just start on the survival mode, that unlocks after you beat the story, that sounds more interesting to a degree than the current story missions in my opinion. Tldr: It feels like a walking sim with janky AI right now but has a future if updated. 6/10 on the Dino Score Update, some update came out shortly after writing this. Not sure what it fixed but I now realize there is no save function so if you don't beat the game in one go I guess you have to replay . . . safe to say I may not be putting too much more time in till a save feature is added . . . Also idk what AI was used but if it was for the screenshots, I promise the game does not look as good as the screenshots. the raptors specifically didn't look as good as the one in the screenshot on the page.