Why I can't stop thinking about Dinolords, Gamescom's weirdest game
Dinolords feels like a five-year-old child's dream made into an ARPG/RTS hybrid. Here's why it's worth a look.
Lloyd Coombes
22nd Aug 2024 20:29
Images via Northplay
It's been a little while since I was at school (OK, maybe a little longer than that), but I don't remember the English losing their war to the Danes in 1002 AD because the Danes had dinosaurs.
That's the very specific scenario that unfolds in Dinolords, however, with the rampaging armies knocking down castle walls atop a T-Rex or two. It's a bizarre mix, but it might just be crazy enough to work.
No pain, no Dane
Dinolords is, as Northplay CEO and Game Director on the project calls it, a "Hack and Strat" that blends action-RPG mechanics and movement with real-time strategy.
Not unlike the dinosaurs roaming the English countryside, it sounds far-fetched, but through some smart control options and a Warband system that lets you command your forces while you lead them into battle, it's more intuitive than you might think.
Players in Dinolords take on the role of a Lord, tasked with constructing and defending a castle settlement from those pesky Danes and their rampaging raptors.
Initially, it can feel a little like a city builder - players create their town hall, attract villagers, and start to produce things like food, manufacture castle walls, and work to keep morale up.
What's interesting here is that every single person in the village and every single resource is accounted for - if your workers chop a tree down to make wood for houses, you can literally count every single one of those beams before they're put to use.
You can even get your hands dirty yourself, helping speed up construction. Everything your villagers do, you can do, including taking up a position on the castle walls to look out for invaders.
Invaders must die
And come they will, often mounted on dinosaurs and in surprising numbers. While you're defending your castle, Dinolords essentially becomes an action RPG, complete with a red health ball in the corner (thanks, Diablo).
Players can swing their swords but also attach themselves to a group of troops to form a Warband which unlocks additional abilities. How deep the ability customisation goes will be interesting, but the game will also feature co-op, meaning you can all leap from the battlements to take on big, angry reptiles and dashing Danes alike.
And, naturally, you'll be able to rear and tame your own dinosaurs, too, giving you a scaly bestie to ride into battle with. All of this is plastered over a beautiful visual style that looks like how you'd remember playing old strategy games on a PC in the '90s, except it looks much better and your nostalgia filter is tricking you.
Subtle details like the wind moving through the grass and the pin-sharp bricks in the castle walls make it clear a lot of love has gone into Dinolords.
Final Thoughts
While it may sound like a daydream that's gone too far, Dinolords was one of the most refreshing games I've seen this year - and that's actually got very little to do with the premise.
Come for the dinosaurs, stay for the chance to build a town and slay an army, I say.
Dinolords is available to Wishlist on Steam now.
About The Author
Lloyd Coombes
Lloyd is GGRecon's Editor-in-Chief, having previously worked at Dexerto and Gfinity, and occasionally appears in The Daily Star newspaper. A big fan of loot-based games including Destiny 2 and Diablo 4, when he's not working you'll find him at the gym or trying to play Magic The Gathering.
