Natural Instincts
- July 22, 2021
- DreamStorm Studios
- 2h median play time
Get on SteamImmerse yourself in the European wilderness of "Natural Instincts," where you'll safeguard animals, maintain the forest's delicate balance, and promote natural selection. Breed animals with care, ensuring a balanced ecosystem with both prey and predators. This engaging game offers insights into wildlife and requires strategic thinking to foster the growth of various species.
Mac OS
PC
Windows
Xbox One
Xbox
Reviews
- The game has a unique and engaging concept focused on wildlife conservation and management.
- The graphics and visuals are beautiful, creating an immersive environment for players.
- The game offers a calming and educational experience, making it appealing for nature enthusiasts.
- The game has been abandoned by the developers, with no updates or communication since December 2021.
- Gameplay is repetitive and lacks depth, with limited content and features available.
- Serious bugs and performance issues make the game unplayable for many users, leading to frustration and disappointment.
- gameplay23 mentions
- 22 % positive mentions
- 65 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The gameplay of this title is criticized for being shallow and repetitive, primarily revolving around basic actions like feeding and resting animals, which can lead to boredom. While it offers a unique educational experience focused on wildlife management and conservation, players note a steep learning curve and significant bugs that detract from the overall experience. Despite its potential and engaging concepts, many feel the game lacks depth and polish, leaving it feeling unbalanced and tedious.
“With a focus on managing and protecting different animal species, the game offers a unique and educational gameplay experience.”
“- Strategic gameplay: balancing the needs of animals, managing resources, and making crucial decisions create a strategic gameplay experience that keeps players engaged and challenged.”
“While it may have a learning curve and limited customization options, the game's engaging gameplay and stunning visuals make it a worthwhile choice for nature enthusiasts and those interested in virtual wildlife conservation.”
“This game has been abandoned with little gameplay and polish, and serious bugs.”
“Gameplay gets boring fast.”
“The gameplay loop is the same for pretty much all the animals.”
- graphics21 mentions
- 43 % positive mentions
- 43 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The game's graphics are widely praised for their stunning visuals and detailed environments, which enhance immersion and enjoyment, particularly for nature enthusiasts. However, some players report performance issues, with lag and low frame rates even on lower settings, indicating a need for optimization. While the backgrounds are visually appealing, there are mixed feelings about the quality of animal models, and the inability to adjust graphics settings mid-game has also been noted as a drawback.
“Beautiful visuals: the game's stunning graphics and detailed environments bring the virtual wildlife sanctuaries to life, enhancing the overall immersion and enjoyment.”
“To be honest, this game is a vibrant simulator with great graphics.”
“Great graphics, easy menu, and so far great playability.”
“My computer struggled to even play the game. I had to have it on the lowest graphics settings and still struggled.”
“The only drawback is that as of right now (early access 1.0.6) it needs major optimizations: on my Razer 7 3.4GHz, 24GB RAM DDR4 3200MHz, RX570 8GB GDDR5 256-bit (on which I can play most games on highest quality with at least 30-40fps), this game set on lowest graphics can barely do 17-20fps.”
“Somehow, on a laptop that can fairly easily manage Monster Hunter: World and Planet Zoo on high graphic settings, and at some of their most crowded, demanding times, Natural Instincts is the first to drain the battery faster than it is physically capable of charging, in addition to causing it to heat more so than either of the two previous games, and doing so in the span of half an hour.”
- story17 mentions
- 18 % positive mentions
- 65 % neutral mentions
- 18 % negative mentions
The game's story is perceived as having potential but ultimately falls short due to a lack of depth and variety in missions, leading to a repetitive experience. While the tutorial and initial campaigns provide some engaging moments, players quickly find themselves bored as the narrative fails to evolve beyond the basic quests. Technical issues, such as crashes and save failures, further detract from the overall storytelling experience, leaving players wanting more substance and detail.
“Being able to name animals, for example, is a small touch to the game, but it has a massive impact on storytelling because you can track the animals you've named.”
“So far I think this is a great game; I am not quite through all the missions yet, but I already love the basics of it.”
“However, given I only got to the second campaign before it crashed, maybe I haven't seen the true story behind it all.”
“It didn't take me too long to feel quite bored because the game doesn't have enough detail in graphics and also the storyline.”
“The tutorial and campaigns are forced for some reason which means I was basically tired of the game for the day by the time I finished the 2 hours of buggy tutorial, endless restarts to fix quests and the wolves making the most awful noises I've ever heard in a game.”
“Now you can't play for more than an hour without the game crashing and losing any progress you had made for the paltry 3 missions that last maybe 4-5 hours.”
- optimization9 mentions
- 22 % positive mentions
- 44 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The game currently suffers from significant optimization issues, with players reporting poor performance even on high-end systems, resulting in low frame rates and general lag. Despite being in early access, there has been little to no improvement in playability, leading many users to express frustration and a desire for better optimization. Overall, the game's performance is a major drawback that detracts from the experience.
“This is an early access game, which results among other things in quite heavy performance requirements.”
“I want to enjoy this game, I really do - I've been looking for an ecology sim that lets you actually interact with the animals, and this looked so much like what I wanted!... except, it's so far from optimized, so far from any kind of finish, that it just isn't worth the space it takes.”
“I get it's in early access, and it's not optimized, but there's been zero improvement to the playability of this game.”
“I waited beyond the refund period hoping there would be an update, at least with optimization, but nothing.”
“The only drawback is that as of right now (early access 1.0.6) it needs major optimizations: on my Razer 7 3.4GHz, 24GB RAM DDR4 3200MHz, RX570 8GB GDDR5 256-bit (on which I can play most games on highest quality with at least 30-40fps), this game set on lowest graphics can barely do 17-20fps.”
- stability6 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- -33 % neutral mentions
- 83 % negative mentions
The stability of the game has received mixed reviews, with some players experiencing significant bugs and performance issues, while others report a smooth experience without crashes. Common problems include UI glitches, difficulty in interacting with game elements, and a frustrating tutorial that detracts from gameplay. Overall, while there are notable stability concerns, some users see potential for improvement.
“The game runs great for early access; it didn't crash once in 3 hours of play, and I personally didn't encounter any bugs or glitches.”
“I was pleasantly surprised by the stability of the game; it performed smoothly without any interruptions.”
“For an early access title, the stability is impressive, with no crashes or significant issues during my gameplay.”
“It's buggy, hard to run on even the best PCs, and overall boring.”
“I couldn't even see any of the animals when it tried getting me to select the rabbits. I'm not sure whether it's my PC or just some glitches, but I really would like to be able to play the game.”
“The tutorial and campaigns are forced for some reason, which means I was basically tired of the game for the day by the time I finished the 2 hours of buggy tutorial, endless restarts to fix quests, and the wolves making the most awful noises I've ever heard in a game.”
- grinding2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious due to slow camera movement and unbalanced gameplay, which detracts from the overall experience. Additionally, clumsy tutorial instructions contribute to the frustration.
“The camera moves so slowly through the environment that it becomes tedious at times.”
“Gameplay now appears quite unbalanced and tedious; tutorial instructions are rather clumsy.”
- music2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in the game is praised for its calming quality, enhancing the overall experience, though some players found the voiceover startling when the volume was increased to appreciate the soundtrack.
“The voiceover startled me because I turned my volume up to hear the very nice music.”
“The music and the narrator's voice are incredibly calming as well.”
- replayability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
Reviewers indicate that the game's limited selection of animals and lack of engaging activities significantly diminish its replayability, leaving players wanting more content to explore.
“It's a neat idea on its face; however, with such a narrow selection of animals to choose from and not much to do, there isn't any replayability.”
- monetization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The monetization of the game has been criticized as a cash grab, with users expressing disappointment over its short lifespan and lack of content despite initial excitement and potential.
“I was super excited for this game, but it was so short-lived. It was abandoned pretty soon and seems like a cash grab, which is incredibly disappointing, as the small amount of content that was released was pretty fun and the idea was great.”
