If you’ve been reading Cheat Code for a while, you might know that I’m always searching for something to replace boring ol’ zombies as the new hot enemies in video games. My clever werewolf plan didn’t work out when The Order: 1886 turned out to be a bit of a dud, but now I’ve got an even better candidate: dinosaurs! There haven’t been nearly enough dinosaur games, and I have no idea why. Dinos are diverse, interesting, mysterious, and can be really scary. Plus, many of us had a dinosaur phase when we were kids – I know I did. How many little kids want to learn all about different kinds of zombies? Dinosaurs can bring out the child in all of us while also scaring us shitless. Here are three upcoming games that will hopefully bring the big lizards into the forefront of gaming culture.
Robinson: The Journey
Crytek is always looking to be a part of new frontiers in gaming, so of course it’s going to be one of the first companies to debut a VR title. Robinson stars a kid who is lost in a mysterious world full of dinosaurs. He has to explore and survive with the help of his friendly spherical robot buddy. That’s all we know so far, but the dinosaurs in the trailer look super-cool. Virtual reality is a great way to feel properly small in the face of these huge beasties. Just don’t run into your walls when the T-Rex comes at you.
No Man’s Sky
I suppose the critters in the ambitious space exploration game No Man’s Sky aren’t necessarily dinosaurs, but the ones we’ve seen sure look a lot like dinosaurs. You can play xenobiologist to these prehistoric-style critters in uncharted space, discovering them in the name of science. Or blowing them up, I suppose. If you’re a monster . I’m one of those people who is a bit skeptical of No Man’s Sky , but one thing I’m interested in checking out is just how diverse the game’s selection of alien lifeforms will be. What can I say, I’m a zoology nerd, and frolicking in the pink grass with technicolor dinosaurs sounds pretty fun to me.
Horizon: Zero Dawn
There’s only one thing more awesome than dinosaurs, and that’s robot dinosaurs. Horizon is the number one game on my hype list for numerous reasons, but its ecosystem of robot dinosaurs is at the top of my list. This game’s designers have definitely thought of their cybersaurs as animals, assigning them behaviors similar to those that flesh and blood dinos might have exhibited in prehistoric times. I can’t wait to learn the story of how these faux dinos came to rule the Earth, not to mention discover fun ways to hunt them down as a bad-ass female warrior.
All three of these games feature dinosaurs in different ways, but the theme of exploration runs strong throughout them all. That’s one of the most compelling things about dinosaurs, the fact that they can be much more than just enemies you have to shoot. At the same time, they can be terrifying foes, Jurassic Park -style. That makes for a nice variety of themes and gameplay types that can be paired with the big beasties – survival, exploration, action-adventure, FPS, RPG, you name it. I know I’m excited to get my dino on in these upcoming games, how about you?