A life-farm sim with dinosaurs as part of its core. Oh, how I love that. So of course Paleo Pines was going to be an instant purchase. And it’s an enjoyable one. What Italic Pig has done is craft a cute world to reside in where the dinosaurs are the stars. These loveable friends come in a variety of colours, showing off their personalities through their movements and their calls. And they are very useful friends to have when it comes to the ranch, as the first night alludes to.
From the off there’s a cutscene told through photos of the player character and their Parasaurolophus Lucky growing up together. A letter sent to them brings the duo to Paleo Pines, a paradise where dinosaurs coexist with humans. This first night spent at the ranch shows that dinosaurs can utilise their strengths to help on it, such as instructing Lucky to remove the massive pile of debris caught in the ladder up to the ranch’s house.
It’s not just that bit of debris, as from the off there’s so much debris around. Little of the space on the ranch is useable. Looking around, there’s plenty of smaller debris piles, which Lucky can easily clear up. But then there’s also giant bushes, hollow logs, and giant stones. I could see this was going to be a make the best of the space you can game until I could get some more dinos with the skills needed.
Beginning the first full day, Mari and Owynn are the first people seen as they come to greet the new owner of the ranch. And gush over seeing a real Parasaurolophus. Which is the main mystery of Paleo Pines. Where did the Parasaurolophus go? Such a discovery will come in time, but first, its time to meet everyone else. Agami, though she prefers Granny, will be waiting outside the village. She will also be excited at seeing Lucky, but there’s a no dinosaurs allowed policy within Pebble Plaza, so Lucky has to wait outside while Granny shows us around.
The layout of Pebble Plaza is a simple one, but that is to its benefit. At the entrance is a fountain, with the important things around it. Seeds for crops, the general store, and the carpenter, along with the town board where quick jobs will be available to earn rewards. Granny mans the seed stall, and gives a welcoming gift of carrot seeds with the promise of showing us how to tend to crops the next day.
Corlan owns the general store, which is where produce is sold to. Marlo is the carpenter, who gifts a set of tools and tags along back to the ranch upon exiting the village to see what has become of the ranch. And teach the basics of building. That building is easy enough, with a top-down view providing an easy way of seeing what is being placed. But there’s a limitation in that once it locks the view into place, that section is all that can be worked with until leaving the building view and repositioning. It’s not a problem with small pens or when decorating them, but marking out larger pens will demand backing out a few times.
With Marlo finished explaining building, and Lucky’s pen now complete, he will leave. Which means the rest of the day was mine to do as I wanted. So off I went exploring, riding on Lucky to see what was around. Which is where I noticed that dinosaurs gain experience and have levels. Gaining a level improves the stamina of a dinosaur and returns some of the stamina it may have lost. Experience is gained slowly by just allowing a dinosaur to follow, which is great for improving its stamina before it has become a helper. A larger amount of experience is gained when a dinosaur uses one of its skills, however.
Each dinosaur species, at least the large ones, have two skills that can be put to use in exploring and farming. Lucky, being a Parasaurolophus, is able to sprint fast along with clearing the small piles of debris. The Gallimimus also can sprint fast, but can also help to water crops. Gaining the trust of one will be the task of day two, where Pippin will be met. But first, the flute. At the start of the second day, Lucky finds the flute the player character owns near the entrance of the ranch. This flute is instrumental in managing dinosaurs.
There are four coloured bubbles that represent dino-speak that this flute can produce. Each bubble, when played three times, has a specific command. Follow, wait, dismiss, and gaining the attention of a dinosaur. Do that last one to a dinosaur that isn’t a friend, and it will approach and start issuing its friend call. Each species of dinosaur has a specific friend call that it will use, utilising all four of the colours, including holding down a button to make those bubbles bigger. Mastering the call once will initiate the befriending sequence.
That sequence is easy enough to learn about, utilising feed and soothe commands to get the needle into the green section of the friend meter. The food you give needs to be something it likes, otherwise it will run away. Soothe it too much, and it will sleep, which at least gives time to record information about it in the journal. When in the green, a Poppin will seal the trust a dinosaur has for you fully, or have a chance of not working if not in the middle of that section.
Pippin is the one who will sell the Poppins, and make more flavours of them once you discover and fail to befriend dinosaurs who like other flavours of food. It is an enticing core gameplay loop that has me trying to befriend as many dinosaurs as possible. Which isn’t possible, as to start with there’s one dinosaur which is more important than the others thanks to the ability it holds. I’m not revealing which that is, but it does lead me to talk about caring for the dinosaurs after befriending them.
Dinosaurs will not become helpers unless they are kept happy. They can refuse to help any longer if their happiness drops, and if they stay unhappy for too long, they will also run away. As such, maintaining their happiness is an important part of the game. Managing their pens, such as making sure they have a dreamstone to sleep at, and a well-stocked trough, will keep them happy. Those dreamstones are in limited supply to start, with each dinosaur in a pen needing one. So those species that prefer being in a herd need a large space and enough dreamstones within the pen to keep them all happy.
There’s a lot to manage and a lot to discover with Paleo Pines. As a cosy life-farm sim, it has enough to keep me invested for quite some time. That mystery involving the Parasaurolophus is also driving me forward to open the new areas of the world. And new areas means new exploration potential, with new dinosaurs to befriend or just watch. And watching them can be a lot of fun. One time while trying to befriend a Compsognathus, I accidentally overexcited it. When it ran off, another ran to stand in its spot, crying at me as though berating me for overexciting its friend. It then ran off in that direction.
As life-farm sims go, this is a very charming one with how that dino-AI is programmed. The core of Paleo Pines is engaging, providing natural means of progressing to new areas through how well you can care for the dinosaur friends you have housed at the ranch. For its price, this is an easy one to recommend for life-farm sim players. Or even anyone who likes dinosaurs and wants to see a softer side to them. It’s a beautiful thing to see in action.
Images Taken From:
Paleo Pines | Nintendo Switch [Handheld]
