Wan Yama

Dinosaurs lived millions of years ago, which means that they were very different from the animals that live today, with a few exceptions. The planet and nature in general were supportive as well in regards to available plants, especially when you consider the size of most herbivore dinosaurs. However, one could only speculate on their life style and the challenges they had to overcome just to stay alive.

Wan Yama is a turn-based role-playing game that plays a lot more like some kind of roguelike with RPG elements. Instead of leading a party of heroes through dungeons and caverns, you play as a dinosaur doing his best to stay alive against all odds. In short, you have to feed, drink water and avoid larger creatures as you keep going from one place to the other in search of what you need.

The actual story puts you in the role of an operator for Geno Corp, a company that tries to better understand dinosaurs by simulating them using computers. Your task is to operate one of the creatures in question and see just how difficult it was back then, even if you were a vicious dinosaurs with razor-sharp teeth. While not necessary, a plot like this can certainly explain a few things.

Every time you kill and eat something, your dinosaur is rewarded with experience, which can then be used to increase your abilities and become more powerful. Strength, agility and endurance can be combined for different effects, but it also possible to increase concrete numbers too, such as stamina, energy and total amount of hitpoints. On the other hand, the strength controls the damage, so it seems to be the best choice every time.

Since this is but an early prototype, there’s barely any content to enjoy. The map is quite big, but it’s a pain to navigate due to the fact that you need to stay in the proximity of a water hole in order to make sure you do not die of thirst. Easy prey spawns randomly around the map, but it also moves, which increases your chances of dying as well.

Wan Yama is incredibly addictive, especially if you do not mind the luck element that seems to control everything. Seeing your dinosaur grow bigger and meaner is certainly exciting, but the game needs more content to be considered a proper release in the genre.