Dinosaur Fossil Hunter: Prologue

About

ABOUT THIS GAME Dinosaur Fossil Hunter: Prologue is a beginning of the full game. Play as a paleontologist, exploring different lands and searching for dinosaur fossils. The Prologue tells a story about young Paleontology enthusiast and his passionate pursuit of success and self-determination. The story inspires you to face challenges head-on and achieve your fulfilling goals despite various ha…

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

Dinosaur Fossil Hunter: Prologue screenshot

79%

Audience ScoreBased on 379 reviews

gameplay6 positive mentions

grinding33 negative mentions

The game offers a unique and engaging experience for dinosaur enthusiasts, allowing players to dig, clean, and assemble fossils.
The graphics are visually appealing, and the game provides a satisfying sense of accomplishment when completing tasks.
The prologue serves as a great introduction to the full game, showcasing the potential for a fun and educational experience.

The controls can be clunky and unresponsive, leading to frustration during gameplay.
The gameplay can become repetitive and tedious, particularly during the cleaning and assembling processes.
There are several bugs and performance issues, including slow loading times and occasional crashes.

gameplay
49 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
12%
80%
8%
The gameplay of the demo for "Dinosaur Fossil Hunter: Prologue" has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it clunky and unpolished, leading to frustration during simple actions. While the core mechanics of scanning, digging, and assembling fossils are appreciated for their potential, the overall experience is marred by confusing instructions, tedious busywork, and problematic driving mechanics. Despite its interesting concept, players feel that the gameplay loop can become repetitive and lacks the refinement needed for a satisfying experience.
- “The process of scanning, digging up a fossil, transport, and in-depth cleaning of the fossils truly is a chill and relaxing gameplay loop.”
- “Pretty good balance between realism and user-friendly gameplay; can’t wait to see how it plays in the full game.”
- “Using the gameplay concepts of search, discovery, cleaning, preparation, and reconstruction, so many different aspects of history can be presented in a fun and engaging way.”
- “The gameplay and messaging/objectives system are clunky and slow.”
- “Despite the quality graphics, the gameplay feels rough and unpolished, so simple actions become a bit frustrating and less intuitive at times.”
- “The main gameplay loop becomes boring very fast; putting the fossils together seems like the only solid game mechanic, but since you get shown where to put the bones, even this part is kind of boring.”
story
45 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
56%
7%
The story in the game is generally well-received, with many players appreciating its heartwarming introduction and the integration of a paleontologist's journey. However, some critiques highlight that the narrative feels rushed or like an afterthought, with a desire for more depth and additional missions. Overall, while the storytelling is engaging, players hope for further development in the full version to enhance the experience.
- “Dinosaur Fossil Hunter is a storytelling simulator where you play as a paleontologist, exploring different lands and searching for dinosaur fossils.”
- “The prologue tells a story about a young paleontology enthusiast and his passionate pursuit of success and self-determination.”
- “It has such beautiful graphics and the way the developers integrate a story into this is extremely interesting.”
- “Other things which annoy me is that the game is telling this story as if the story belonged to a child who is now a developer and forcing me to play with too many children's dinosaur puzzles before I was allowed to start the real adult game.”
- “I don't really know why, since the story seems mostly like an afterthought, and so does this little escapade.”
- “I found that the storyline was the biggest problem for me.”
grinding
33 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The grinding aspect of the game has been widely criticized for its tedious and repetitive tasks, particularly in fossil cleaning and preparation, which many players found to be dull and time-consuming. While some appreciate the realistic simulation of these processes, the overwhelming sentiment is that the gameplay becomes frustratingly monotonous, leading to a loss of interest for many. Overall, the game may appeal to those who enjoy slow-paced, meticulous tasks, but it risks alienating players seeking more engaging and dynamic experiences.
- “Finding bones in rocks is tedious and not fun.”
- “Cleaning the bones before assembling the fossil was really tedious.”
- “Preparing each part of the dinosaur is long, tedious, repetitive, and very boring.”
graphics
27 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44%
44%
11%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many praising their quality and beauty, especially at maximum settings, while others criticize performance issues such as low frame rates and unpolished visuals. Some players find the graphics enjoyable and fitting for the game's theme, but others note that they feel generic or indicative of low-effort development. Overall, while the graphics show potential, they are often marred by gameplay and technical issues that detract from the experience.
- “Great game, great graphics.”
- “Excellent graphics, looks especially good at maximum settings.”
- “It has such beautiful graphics and the way the developers integrate a story into this is extremely interesting.”
- “The graphics are typical of the low-effort early access simulator games, probably flipped assets from the Unity store and the animation for the first-person activities are non-existent.”
- “The game is quite empty, I've seen games like GTA 5 running on half my graphic card, it does not even work at the lowest quality. I'm very disappointed; I expected more from this game but I got only FPS lag, frustrating, stressful, and the absence of a narrator makes it boring to play.”
- “The controls are janky and imprecise, the graphics are very plain and unthought-out (like your tools being physical objects that get stuck on/in bones/rocks during cleaning), and this team will use its Kickstarter money to ensure the maximum amount of micromanagement, not fun.”
stability
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The stability of the game has received mixed reviews, with many users reporting a significant number of bugs and glitches that hinder gameplay, such as issues with controls and missing items. While some players did not encounter major problems, the overall consensus suggests that the game is currently unstable and requires further development to address these issues.
- “Other than that, it was a bit of a buggy mess.”
- “Full of bugs and glitches; the game, in my opinion, is broken.”
- “It's a good idea for a game, but it's so buggy.”
music
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
33%
33%
The music in the game has been widely criticized for being overly repetitive, featuring only one song that loops continuously, which detracts from the overall experience. Many players find it grating, especially during slower, more laborious tasks, and have requested additional tracks to enhance the atmosphere. Overall, the lack of variety in the soundtrack has left players feeling frustrated.
- “And if the developers see this, can you add more music, please?”
- “I like the music, which is some traditional action-adventure loop that just loops even during the most slow-paced and laborious chore portions of the game.”
- “One slow task after another while the music thinks you are out on a grand adventure.”
- “The music is just one song on repeat, and it gets on your nerves.”
- “Like the music, which is some traditional action-adventure loop that just loops even during the most slow-paced and laborious chore portions of the game.”
- “Everything is bare bones (no pun intended), and the looping music will make you go crazy.”
optimization
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
33%
50%
Overall, the game's optimization has received mixed reviews; while some players report solid performance with 60 fps, others highlight significant bugs and poor optimization, suggesting that the game feels incomplete and requires further improvements.
- “I expected I might have some performance issues, but so far I'm getting a solid 60 fps.”
- “The game is interesting, but there are a lot of bugs and the optimization is very bad.”
- “A better performance expectation to strive for would be similar to a game like Viscera Cleanup Detail.”
- “Performance definitely needs some work, but overall, the tools felt pretty good.”
emotional
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the emotional aspect of the game to be heartwarming and indicative of a passionate development effort, despite some technical rough edges. The initial gameplay experience, while slightly hindered by visual issues, ultimately leaves a positive impression, fostering excitement for the full release.
- “While there are some rough edges that need some touching up, it's clear to me that this is a love project and not something that is being rushed for fast and basic production.”
- “I found the quick story to be incredibly heartwarming and I'm extremely excited to play it upon full release.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is mixed, with some players finding it hilarious while others feel it can be frustrating or unnecessary. Overall, the comedic elements vary in effectiveness, leading to a somewhat inconsistent experience.
- “Some of it is hilarious, some of it is fascinating, and some of it is frustrating, but you don't really need this extra stuff like this.”