Works under Linux with Lutris. I have been playing this for about 2 hours, everything works, no issues.
Great metroidvania game for all who enjoy this genre. Fight dinosaurs (smaller and bigger), gather resources, craft items, explore to your heart contents. Unreachable at first places just ask to be reached with your skills and smart inventory use - secrets are waiting to be found there. All connected with a touching family story.
Primal Planet feels like someone took an early-90s PC platformer, added metroidvania elements, and thought: what if we threw in dinosaurs too? Here you’ve got dinosaurs, cavemen, high-tech gadgets, and aliens all put into one lush, pixelated jungle. It’s gorgeous but more importantly, it plays like an old-school adventure with minimal handholding, big open maps, and the thrill (and occasional frustration) of figuring things out yourself.
The first hour pushes you along a set path, but after that you're free. How you explore depends on how you build your character, invest in diving skills for deep waters, or craft torches to burn thorned brambles. Story comes in brief, wordless cutscenes, surprisingly touching at times.
Exploration is the heart here. You’ll wander, get lost, make mental notes about obstacles, figure out which plants you need, and decide when to fight or run. Early on there’s a nice survivalist angle, emphasizing collecting, crafting, and using what you have. I loved touches like burning grass to reveal hidden paths or planting your spear to reach higher ground. Combat’s snappy but simple. Unfortunately, exploration isn’t always rewarding. Many secrets just give resources. The map is also unhelpful, making aimless wandering common. Underwater sections feel restrictive since you lose much of your moveset.
Visually, it’s mostly jungle. Pretty but repetitive. Survival elements fade as resources become plentiful, some upgrades feel pointless, certain mechanics like luring enemies with food are only useful early on, and the day/night cycle barely changes anything. The pacing stumbles near the end when you’re forced to backtrack for items, and the abrupt ending doesn’t help.
At 8–10 hours, it’s short, but despite the flaws, Primal Planet is still a great retro-styled pixel Metroidvania with a strong identity and some clever ideas.
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.
I completed the game today and it´s really great!
Presentation:
It´s has got really nice pixelart and the storytelling works, even without a written and / or spoken word. Also the music is a great mix: Reminds me of synthie wave combined with X-Files, Monkey Island and others.
Gameplay:
The gameplay countains of running, jumping, doging, fighting, exploring, upgrading, crafting, building and surviving. All of those components are well combined with each other and necessary for beating the game. It feels like the game would have got it´s origins the 1990´s. But instead of being like a game of the last century, it expanded the "Metroidvania" expierence, with crafting and building. The game has got his own twist. Sometimes it´s challenging, sometimes it´s hard, but it´s never not fair.
Technical issues:
After nearly 12 hours of playing, I hadn´t even seen a bug! Currently, I am using Windows 11. Works and runs great, especially with a X-Box Controller.
Recommendation:
I would recommand everyone this game, who is into games like Ark, Subnautica and the genre of "Metroidvania". Generally, the game isn´t hard. But it´s really a special, positive gaming expierence.
There are several allusions to the pop culture, which are waiting to get found by you!
I hope to see more of this game!
Maybe an add-on or a new entrie into the series? ;)
