Humans and dinosaurs didn’t live at the same time and absolutely nobody who’s ever written or read a good dino-planet story cares. Just because history got it wrong doesn’t mean fiction has to, with the latest example being the metroidvania adventurePrimal Planet. When a caveman is separated from his wife and child after a dinosaur attack he sets out through the forest to catch back up, accompanied by a helpful small dino-pet who acts independently of its guardian. The wilderness is dangerous but the caveman has a few basic tools to survive, and what he doesn’t have he can scavenge and craft to build. It’s not safe but it’s home, and he knows how to navigate the jungle’s dangers.
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For that matter, so do his wife and child. Despite the name carrying a bit of emotional weight thanks to Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal, Primal Planet is nowhere near as mercilessly brutal as anyone who’s seen that show might think. The caveman catches up with his family and, as evidenced by the launch trailer, not only builds a nice home base for everyone he meets on his journey but can bring others along to help. At the start, though, he’s alone aside from his little dino friend, running, jumping, and slashing his way through the jungle.
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Thankfully the jungle is fairly rich in resources, from fruit that heals to spears for throwing. you’re able to only carry so much, though, and everything is designed to be used rather than hoarded. A spear tossed into the wall makes a great platform but there’s no practical way to retrieve it when you’ve scaled the cliff, so you’ll need to keep an eye out for more stashes. Spears can also be set on fire to become torches, burning down thorn walls or, when you can’t quite get there directly, the long grass growing up to them. Secret walls are also fairly common, hiding bonus items and other extras to make life a bit easier for the curious adventurer-caveman, and the occasional campfire acts as a resting and crafting point to turn all the goodies into handy new tools.
Eventually things get out of hand, as in any good adventure, with enemy tribes and alien portals making life even more difficult than it had been, and you’ll need to pay attention to sort it all out. The story is told clearly but without words, and the lovely pixel-art does a fantastic job of conveying the cave-people’s actions and emotions. The world of Primal Planet is dangerous and strange, but with a strong community backing up the caveman adventurer he might be able to wrest a little peace and quiet from the dino-centric world he lives in.
Primal Planet
