This game is a light "Metroidvania" combat platformer. You have to explore the map and learn how to use your traversal skills (which are mostly unlocked by skill points from leveling; most things strewn about the map are plot). The game doesn't hand-hold you, and it's very much "choose your path, you can progress with whichever skills you accumulate". Once you get enough mobility, you can move on to the next phase of the game that really makes you backtrack and fill in the holes in every corner of the map. Combat is fun. Challenging but not punishing. Resources are plentiful enough that you're never grinding for them, but are rare enough that you might pause to try to optimize use. There are LOTS of different directions you can take to level up your caveman + dinosaur pair. (If playing co-op, I do recommend making sure to power up the dino's combat.) XP comes rapidly enough there's always a trickle of skill points. But you do have to save up for some of the big upgrades. Contrary to what some bits indicate, this game isn't a "crafter" game or a "survival" game. There are around a dozen things you can make, and they're all consumables used in exploration and combat (weapons, traps, healing, etc). Your health only goes down when you take damage. Make sure to camp when you can! Dying resets you to the last save, which is either the last time you camped, or the last time you changed zones. Some big foes can dish out and take a lot of damage and you don't want to have to re-explore the zone again because you forgot to camp out before a big fight. The story is peak pulp: Do you want to be a caveman with his dinosaur companion riding a dolphin in an underwater alien space ship shooting a laser beam? Then this is the game for you! When my spouse and I finished the game, we both immediately expressed having loved the experience and wanting more.
Developers disrespectful of players. There's an unmarked, untelegraphed "point of no return" in this game. If you pass it, you will NOT be able to get the various endings. You MUST use a guide to find this out. If you do not, the game forces you not only to replay, but to replay on a higher difficulty (for an already really tough game -- so outside the realm of possibility for many if not most players). There is a work-around to modify your save game. Other than that, the game itself is great. Probably 4/5, but pushed up to 5/5 because of the amazing art.
This one isn't quite as nice as the rest of the series. There's too much menial "arbitrate ingredients between two merchants for a tiny profit" required to progress properly. It's stille an okay, quick game. But it would be much better if you weren't "buy honey/sell honey" or "buy wood, sleep, shovel manure, sell manure" in loop to afford things you need to progress... Making tools/wepaons not break would probably be sufficient to fix the "economy".
